I planted carrots for the first time this year and they look fabulous. Leafy tops and fat orange bases, no sign of disease. Pulled a couple last night to have for dinner and the base (top bit where the leaves join) is more like a round apple with a skinny tap root of no substance.
They are planted in nice home compost. Is there something else I should have done!
wayne472,
Feb 2, 10:03am
You problems is are they were planted in nice home compost and were the wrong variety! Next time compost free soil.Plant A variety called Chantenay, Its very important to thin them out to about 25mm apart,later when the size of your finger (baby carrots yum) thin them out again to about 50mm apart!
kiwilion,
Feb 2, 10:33am
Yes sounds like you grew the wrong type. How long have they been in!
Maybe the quality of the soil does not go down deep enough.Carrotslike to have well drained, soft soil, which their root (which then becomes the carrot itself), can grow down nice and deep. If your compost was only 1 or 2 inches thick, the carrots may have been restrained by poor soil underneath.
stevee6,
Feb 2, 11:05am
Have a look at the seed packet again - what variety were they! Carrots don't need luxury - free draining soil with no lumps and bumps works fine. Too much compost can make them fork.
annies3,
Feb 2, 12:40pm
Agree your compost is the trouble carrots dont need fresh compost causes them to fork.
arielbooks,
Feb 2, 1:40pm
I am not sure what the variety was. I just got them from the garden centre in punnets and labelled carrots - no variety. They have been in a few months andthey are about 2cm round.They were not forked.
crackerjack19,
Feb 2, 2:51pm
Like Celery growing carrots takes practice and a knowledge of your garden soil. Once you discover what works then whoopee you have the jack pot.
lythande1,
Feb 2, 4:37pm
Ah well, round carrots for dinner.they'll still be tasty.
mothergoose_nz,
Feb 2, 5:41pm
the ones sold in punnets are plants for the little round carrots like radishes.long carrots are grown from seed.
annies3,
Feb 2, 8:39pm
Gosh Ive never planted carrot plants ever we always just use seed, didn't even know you could buy seedlings carrots, we live and learn.
arielbooks,
Feb 3, 9:14am
Oh well better luck next year. I will try seed then.
arabelle,
Feb 3, 9:07pm
Call into a coffee shop for next year and ask for their old coffee grounds, mix your carrot seed in that about one cupful for a packet of seeds and then that helps sprinkle and thin out as you go, and prevents the worm that likes carrots. I then sprinkle more coffee grounds around to keep slugs/snails and other bugs away. the past 2 yrs had fantastic carrot crop.and yes dig deep for nice long carrots. I now grow another crop first in the manured ground and put carrots there the following year.
cantabman1,
Feb 4, 8:52am
Another thinning method is to obtain a bucket of good river sand. Allow it to dry and mix three of four hand fulls with your seed and sow out. I have two thirds of my carrot bed surrounded by some old clearlite roofing, and am told that the carrot fly/bug wont infest my crop.So far all is to plan with great carrots all healthy and nill problems.
medicina,
Feb 5, 10:31am
Sounds like watering too frequently and carrots not needing to grow deep for water and nutrients !
macandrosie,
Feb 14, 6:18pm
Sounds more like the variety of seed you planted.It's not a good idea to transplant carrot seedlings (I have seen them for sale this year, it really is a no no) I see Egmont Seeds have a carrot called "Baby" it is a little round one.If you want a long variety try "Touchon", "Manchester Table" or "Topweight". The theory of digging deep for long carrots or parnsips, is it real or a fallacy! They say they only grow as deep as you dig, like the length of your spade. But I have found that parsnips ALWAYS surpass the spade length! They have a strong root. Carrots only grow a big the the room you give them to grow. If you don't thin well you'll have a whole lot of pencils!
bev00,
Feb 14, 10:29pm
the secret to success with growing carrots - never have any luck myself
shimmygirl,
Feb 15, 6:52am
Yep.sounds like you bought the globe type carrots.
missmuppett,
Mar 8, 4:50pm
We had some seedling carrots from Mitre 10 - they were called Roly Polys - they might have been them!LOLRound carrots!We planted seeds that rocked, they did so well!
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