At what temperature do carrots grow in spring. Fresh Carrots All Year Round: Temperature and Tips for Proper Storage. When to sow carrots before winter in different regions

How to grow good carrots

Among not very experienced gardeners, there is an opinion that in order to grow good carrots with your own hands, it is enough to sow it in time, thin out and ensure timely watering.

However, there are many more factors influencing the production of a high-quality carrot crop:

lack of lighting - inhibits growth;
poor-quality soil composition - in dense and heavy clay soils or if there are stones in the ground, carrots cannot grow normally, take on a disproportionate shape and bad taste, and the increased content of acid in the soil “take away” the sweetness from the fruits;
excess moisture with too thinned crops - contributes to the increased growth of fruits, they coarsen and lose their suitability for human consumption;
prolonged drought - deprives carrots of juiciness;
a sharp change in drought with prolonged rains - leads to the fact that the fruits begin to crack;
careless thinning - damages the roots, which causes them to branch and deform;
the introduction of fresh manure - has the same sad consequences as careless thinning.

A great advantage of carrots is its high cold resistance. This root crop remains viable during a fairly long cold snap and is not afraid of frost.

Suitable neighbors for carrots

Carrots are very "friendly" in relation to neighbors and previous inhabitants of the site, but some predecessors are most desirable for her. These include tomatoes, cabbage, and especially onions and garlic.
They drive away the carrot fly, and the underground beauty, in turn, protects them from the moth.
Carrots grow very well in the country in mixed plantings next to fragrant herbs and vegetables. The smell that the tops of carrots emit, mixing with the aroma of sage, parsley, marjoram or rosemary, makes it difficult for pests to find their favorite vegetable.

Despite the extensive good-neighborly relations of carrots, there are still cultures incompatible with it. These include dill, celery, anise, horseradish and beets. Planting carrots near apple trees is not desirable - they bring bitterness to the fruits.
The arrangement of carrot-onion beds has its own characteristics. Onions are recommended to be sown early, and carrots - in the heat. The fact is that in the second year it gives seeds, so the carrot sprouts that survived the spring frosts “mistake” them for winter period and "think" that the second year of their life has come. And instead of developing "to the root", they begin to bloom.
One plot gives the richest crops of carrots for three years, then it should be transferred to another garden bed.

Soil preparation

A plot for planting carrots in the country begins to be prepared in the fall. In September, they dig it up on a bayonet and choose stones. Such measures will make it possible to obtain even root crops without deformation caused by the high location of solid soil and the presence of stones that interfere with their growth.

During digging, large lumps should be left, which will help retain moisture from melt water, as well as freezing the larvae of the carrot fly. In the spring, the bed is leveled with a rake when the ground becomes slightly damp.
For carrots, sandy and light loamy soils are recommended. The use of slightly acidic soils is also allowed. If necessary, they are enriched with compost (humus), and the acidity is neutralized with lime or chalk, heavy ones are lightened with peat, sand and sawdust. All these substances are introduced before the autumn digging of the beds.

In the spring, one to one and a half weeks before sowing, the surface of the beds is leveled, watered, covered with a film and left in this form to warm up.

Preparing carrot seeds for sowing

Carrot seeds require the same careful preparation. It should be borne in mind that this seed has a very low germination rate. Of all the seeds, only half can sprout, at best, two-thirds of them. Moreover, this figure decreases rapidly over time, so it is advisable to use only fresh seeds for planting. When sowing seed older than 1 year it must be checked.

Another not very pleasant property of carrots is long and non-simultaneous germination. Sprouts appear only two to three weeks after sowing, which is due to the slow swelling and germination of seeds due to the high saturation of essential oil, which prevents moisture from penetrating into the seed. Germination can begin only after there is no oil film left on the seed shell. Therefore, on dry days, the emergence of sprouts is significantly delayed.

To remedy the situation, carrot seeds are properly prepared using the following methods:

Soak

Seeds are placed in cloth bags and kept in heated water for 24 hours, filling them with new water every 4 hours. Experienced gardeners recommend using an aqueous solution (suspension) of wood ash (a spoonful per liter).

hardening

This procedure is performed immediately after soaking. To do this, the bags with seeds removed from the water (if from the ash solution, then additionally washed) are immediately placed in the refrigerator and left for 3-5 days.

Heat treatment

Another procedure useful for carrot seeds. First, the bags with seeds are kept for 20 minutes in warm (+50 °) clean water, then 2 minutes in cold water.

bubbling

Some gardeners perform seed sparging instead of hardening. This process involves keeping them in the refrigerator at very low (0 ... -2 °) temperatures for two days. After sparging, seeding will be done immediately. It must be observed that the bag is constantly wet.

Digging into the soil

Another "test" for carrot seeds, for which the seeds are also placed in cloth bags and buried in cold ground to the depth of a spade bayonet. Leave for 12 days. After such treatment, carrots sprout in 5-6 days.

Germination

For this method, you need to take moistened peat, mix it with seeds and leave it warm for 6-8 days. When the seeds germinate, they are sown.

After any method that involves soaking the seeds, they are first dried a little to facilitate the sowing process, and sown in the ground.
Pre-sowing seed preparation is very important for a high-quality carrot harvest. Thanks to her, shoots appear faster, carrots become resistant to stress and grow well.

Sowing carrots

In the open ground in the country, planting carrots is carried out:

in spring: at the end of April and at the very beginning of summer;
for the winter: in early November and December, when the ground freezes.

Since it is inconvenient to sow very tiny carrot seeds, in order to avoid the appearance of too dense crops, it is recommended to mix them with sand in a ratio of 1:50 (a teaspoon to a glass of sand). A glass of this mixture should be enough to sow 10 square meters of beds.

Experienced gardeners recommend creating narrow (no more than a meter wide) beds with 4 furrows for carrots. It is very convenient to work in such areas, since they can be worked without putting your feet on the ground. The optimal width of the tracks is 0.4 m. On a large plot, you can lay several tracks wider - about 0.7 m, you can carry a wheelbarrow on them.

If the bed is reserved only for sowing carrots, then " technological process» landing will be as follows:

grooves are cut on the prepared site:
- for early and medium varieties - with an interval of 15 cm;
- for late varieties - after 20 cm;
pour water into the grooves;
powder them with ashes;
seeds are sown.

The depth of the grooves and the degree of maturation of the seeds are determined by the time of planting. In spring and summer, swollen seeds are sown in grooves 3-4 cm deep. Soil is poured on top and mulched using peat or rotted manure. The sown area is covered with a film laid on beams or bricks so that it is at a height of 5 cm.

Planting carrots before winter is carried out only with dry seeds in grooves 1-2 cm deep, and then mulched with a layer of 3-5 cm.
Winter sowing is recommended only when the soil temperature is close to 0°C. If little snow falls in winter, then it must be raked onto the beds to make a layer with a height of at least 0.5 meters. With winter sowing, the crop is harvested 15 days earlier.

Carrot care

The process of growing carrots in the country should be organized taking into account several factors:

Temperature regime

Seed germination begins at +3°, and normal development is possible only at +20…+22°.
Since carrots are quite cold-resistant vegetables, their seedlings withstand frosts down to -4°C and die only during prolonged cold snaps down to -6°C. Mature leaves freeze at -8°C.

Watering

The amount and frequency of watering is determined according to the age of the carrots and the weather. Under normal conditions, it is recommended to water once a week:

at the initial stages of vegetation - 3 liters per square meter;
after repeated thinning - 10 liters each;
with active growth - 20 liters each.

Approximately 60 days before harvesting, the amount of watering is reduced to 2 times a month, 10 liters per square meter. Stop watering completely 2 weeks before harvest.

For high-quality carrots, soil moisture is important, excluding the presence of excess moisture or its insufficiency. In too wet ground, it begins to rot very quickly, and with prolonged drought, development stops.

Weeding

Due to the slow development of seedlings, beds with carrots are quickly overgrown with weeds. Therefore, timely weeding can save the entire crop. The first time weed control is carried out approximately on the 12th day, repeated weeding - after 10 days.

Work better after rain (watering).

top dressing

Even and fresh carrots can only grow if they have the necessary nutrients. The first time it needs to be fed a month after germination. To do this, I use diluted mullein or chicken manure, ash and humus. Repeated top dressings are carried out during the growing season and the formation of fruits.

If the site has previously been fertilized with organic matter annually, then a sufficient amount of humus should already accumulate in the soil, so top dressing can be excluded.

thinning

It is useful to thin out growing carrots twice:

12 days after germination
on the 22nd day.

The first time between plants is left 3 cm, in the second - 5 cm. The work is carried out in the morning and at the end the entire area is watered.

Mulching should not be neglected, which will help seedlings develop.

Pest control

So that the carrot fly does not attack, you need to place the beds in a windy place next to the onion. For prevention purposes, in May-July, the aisles should be sprinkled with ground hot pepper, tobacco dust and ash.

To protect carrots from diseases, it is enough to follow the rules of crop rotation and change the location of the beds in time.

To protect carrots from gray rot, you need to sow it in the beds where cabbage or parsley grew.

Harvest

There is an unspoken rule that carrot harvesting must be completed before September 13th. This is quite justified, since during a cold snap the roots do not grow, and when the temperature drops to -3 ° C, the likelihood of gray rot increases. Therefore, it is recommended to dig up root crops before the beginning of October. It is not advisable to harvest too early, since the moved from warm earth V cold cellar carrots can start to spoil quickly.

The above time limits apply only to late varieties, and when to harvest carrots of mid-ripening varieties, you need to calculate it yourself, taking into account the ripening period (80-100 days). A sign of "readiness" of root crops is the yellowing of the lower leaves.
Early and winter-planted carrots are harvested in July.
On light soils and peat bogs, digging is done with a pitchfork, in other cases with a shovel. The harvested crop is first placed in a dry place shaded from the sun, and dried for about 5 days. The tops are cut off during harvesting, leaving 2 cm at the top of the root crop.
Carrots are stored in a cool dry place in cardboard boxes sprinkled with dry sand.

How to grow carrot seeds

Carrots for seeds are planted at the end of May. For planting, they take a strong healthy root crop, place it in a pre-prepared hole in vertical position, fall asleep, watered and covered with mulch. Over time, leaves will appear from the ground, and then a stem with small flowers in an umbrella inflorescence.

At the end of flowering and the darkening of the umbrella, the stem is cut and brought to maturity in the shade. Spines on the seeds are removed in a metal sieve or simply by hand, after which they are sieved.

The highest quality seeds appear on the central shoot. They are heavy, large and have good germination.

What kind of carrot is best

When choosing a variety of carrots, the main importance is most often attached to yield. But in addition to this parameter, it must be taken into account that carrots of foreign selection have an impeccable appearance and shape, while domestic varieties contain more carotene, have a better taste, are stored longer and are maximally adapted to the climatic features of the region.

The most useful are sweet varieties of carrots, which contain a lot of vitamin A. They can only be obtained with properly organized cultivation.
The best varieties carrots:
Anastasia is a bright orange mid-season hybrid, stored for up to 8 months. The fruits are large, sweet, with a high content of carotene. They give a high yield.
Golden Autumn is a late-ripening universal variety with large beautiful roots and high yields.
Carotan is a late-ripening variety, called "carrots for health" for its high content useful substances. The world's best grade for processing.
Nastena is a mid-season variety with smooth fruits, a small core and tender pulp. Suitable for juicing.
Flakoro is a late-ripening high-yielding variety with beautiful even fruits.
When choosing varieties of carrots, it is necessary to choose those that are best suited for the existing growing conditions.

Summing up, we can say that growing carrots is useful not only for human health, but also for the state of the garden in the country.

Carrots have been known for over 4,000 years. It comes from the regions of the Mediterranean coast and Central Asia, where it is still found in the wild. At first, carrots were cultivated as a medicinal plant, later they began to grow them as vegetable crop. Nowadays, carrots are grown everywhere and are hard to find. country cottage area without this beloved vegetable.

Carrots have a unique composition of nutrients, they contain vitamins (A, C, K, E, all B vitamins), minerals (iron, fluorine, magnesium, potassium, iodine, etc.), natural sugars, essential oils, anthocyanins, bioflavonoids, antioxidants, fiber, etc.

Raw and boiled carrots, as well as carrot juice, are used in clinical nutrition for diseases of cardio-vascular system, liver, kidneys, with anemia, eye diseases, oncology, to strengthen nervous system and in the treatment of many other diseases. Carrots contain a lot of fiber, are low in calories, and therefore are indispensable in the treatment of obesity.

Carrots are not only healthy, but also tasty, it’s not for nothing that children love to crunch on fresh carrots. You can cook many dishes from carrots: soups, side dishes, salads, drinks and even desserts.

Biological features of carrots

Carrots are quite whimsical and require strict adherence to agricultural practices when growing, otherwise you can be left without a crop.

The soil. For growing carrots, dry, sandy soils. On dense, heavy soils, short, deformed root crops can grow. Also, carrots do not like too damp soils, since with an excess of moisture, the root system does not develop well. The best predecessors for carrots: potatoes, beets, onions, cereals.

Moisture. Carrots are much more drought tolerant than other root vegetables. However, for normal development, the plant needs constant soil moisture, especially during periods of seed germination, active growth of the root system and during the mass growth of leaves. Watering should be uniform - large breaks should not be allowed. This can lead to cracking of root crops and a deterioration in their taste.

Temperature. Carrots are tolerant of low temperatures; its seeds germinate already at +4+5°C. Under these conditions, seedlings will appear in about 3 weeks. When the temperature rises to + 20 ° C, the seeds germinate in 8-10 days.

Shoots of carrots calmly tolerate frosts down to -2°C, older plants down to -5°C. For the growth of leaf mass, the optimum temperature is + 22 + 25 ° С, for the formation and growth of root crops + 18 + 20 ° С. Carrot plants tolerate cold weather better than heat - when high temperatures the development of carrots slows down, and at temperatures above + 35 ° C it stops.

Light. Carrots are very demanding on lighting, as they are a long day plant. With a short day, carrots grow more slowly, increase the mass of the root crop worse, accumulate less useful substances, including carotene.

Technology for growing carrots

Bed preparation. The yield and quality of carrots directly depends on the illumination of the site and the place must be chosen accordingly, carrots grow much worse in the shade. Also, beds for carrots should not be clogged with perennial weeds - carrots grow slowly at the beginning of the growing season and the weeds will simply drown it out.

It is better to dig up the site in the fall. When digging, 5 kg are added to the soil. humus or compost, 30-40 gr. superphosphate and 20 gr. potassium chloride per 1 sq. meter. In the spring, when the soil is ready for sowing, scatter urea over the beds at the rate of 15 g. per 1 sq. m. and embedded in the soil. Then you need to carefully level upper layer rake so that there are no lumps and seals. If carrots are not sown immediately, then it is better to cover the bed with a film - this will prevent the evaporation of moisture, and at the same time the earth under the film will warm up better.

Timing. Carrots can be sown in spring or before winter. Podzimny sowing is carried out in late October-early November (in middle lane), after the first frost and a week before snow falls. With winter sowing, early production can be obtained, but this method of cultivation is not possible in all climatic zones. At too low temperatures in winter, the seeds can freeze even under cover.

In the spring, carrots are sown in April-May, as soon as the soil thaws.

Seed preparation. Due to the content in carrot seeds essential oils, they hatch for a long time and pre-sowing treatment is required to accelerate germination.

First you need to separate the non-germinating seeds. To do this, the seeds are poured with a warm saline solution (1 tablespoon of salt per 1 glass of water) and stirred, kept for 20-30 minutes, the empty seeds that have surfaced are thrown away.

There are several ways to speed up seed germination:

scatter the seeds on a damp cloth in a warm room and keep moist until the seeds begin to hatch, after which they are sown immediately;
pour the seeds into a cloth bag (old sock) and bury in the area, on the bayonet of a shovel, 7-10 days before sowing. The seeds will swell, become much larger and sprout faster;
soak the seeds in nutrient solution for 1 day. To prepare a nutrient solution, you can use ash (1 tablespoon per 1 liter of warm water), Effekton-O (1 teaspoon per 1 liter of water), Sodium Humate (1 teaspoon per 1 liter . water), "Epin" (10-20 drops per 1 liter of water), boric acid(1 g per 1 liter of water), "Zircon" (10 drops per 1 liter of water). After processing, the seeds must be washed, wrapped in a damp cloth and put in the refrigerator for hardening. Let the seeds dry before sowing.

To combat internal infections, the seeds are kept for 15 minutes in hot (+ 52 + 53 ° C) water, then immediately immersed in cold water for 3 minutes.

Sowing. On the bed, form transverse strips 1-2 cm deep, depending on the density of the soil. The heavier the soil, the shallower the sowing depth. The distance between the grooves is 15-20 cm. Spread the seeds at a distance of 3-5 cm from each other, cover the grooves and lightly compact, slam with the palm of your hand or a board.

Care. The most important in the care of carrots are: loosening and weeding. Loosening should be carried out as often as possible - after each watering or rain, in order to destroy the soil crust, which prevents the penetration of air to the roots, and also contributes to the curvature of root crops. Even in dry weather, loosening is necessary to retain moisture in the soil.

It is necessary to weed crops in a timely manner, weeds drown out seedlings and inhibit the development of carrots. Thinning is another one of the "secrets" of growing carrots. The first thinning is carried out as soon as the real leaves appear. Seedlings are plucked, leaving at least 3 cm between plants. The next thinning of grown plants is carried out after 4 weeks, leaving a distance of 10-15 cm between them.

Watering important for carrots at all stages of development. Watering is carried out to the depth of the roots. The older the plant, the more water is required for irrigation. In dry and hot summers, to avoid lethargy of root crops, you need to water every 5-7 days.

top dressing. During the growing season, carrots need to be fed 2-3 times. The first dressing is carried out three weeks after germination, the second - a month after the first. To prepare the solution, take 15-20 gr. urea, 15-20 gr. superphosphate and 20 gr. potassium salt in a bucket of water or dilute any complex fertilizer for vegetables. It is not bad to feed the carrots with a solution of mullein (1 liter of slurry per 10 liters of water) with the addition of 1 cup of ash per bucket of solution.

The third top dressing is carried out, when growing late-ripening varieties, a month after the second, only in this case you should not use nitrogen fertilizers.

Cleaning. The grown carrots can be harvested as needed during the season, or used for food selected during thinning.

The main growth of root crops occurs in late August-early September (up to 40% of the total mass), so you should not rush into harvesting. Harvest should be when the temperature is +4 + 5 ° C, but before the onset of frost.

Varieties with short fruits are well pulled out of the soil, and it is better to dig up long root crops with a pitchfork. It is better to harvest carrots in dry weather. Cut the tops with a knife, capturing a small part of the root crop - then they definitely will not germinate if the temperature in the cellar is above the permissible level. Before storage, carrots are sorted, damaged or ugly root crops are rejected.

Carrots are a traditional vegetable crop. Afghanistan is considered its homeland, where it grew wild and was bright purple, less often white and yellow. The orange variety was bred by breeders in the Netherlands. Carrots have become completely domesticated. But for a good yield, it is not enough to throw seeds into the hole. Simple procedures for preparing seed for planting will increase and improve the quality of the crop.

Germination period for carrots

Carrots can be attributed to plants with difficult germination. The temperature of the soil determines how long the carrots germinate. Seed germination of a cold-tolerant crop can start at +5°C, but the best temperature for seedlings to emerge when sown outdoors is between +15°C and +20°C. The shoot of carrot seeds is 45-70%. When sowing carrots with dry seeds, sprouts can linger, up to three weeks. The average germination period, depending on the climate in the place of growth, fertility and lightness of the soil, ranges from 5 to 25 days.

carrot sprouts

Some factors that affect how many days carrots can sprout:

Seed shelf life. The seeds of an orange vegetable are stored for 2-3 years, but last year's seed material is considered the best for planting;
Varieties different terms ripening: early (50-80 days), medium (80-125 days) and late (125-150 days);
Seeds produced in a granular shell germinate, on average, a week later than usual;
Regionalization of a variety - relation to the climatic zone of growth;
Shaded places for planting seeds delay their seedlings;
Excessive or insufficient sowing depth. The optimal depth is 1.5-2 cm;
Unfavorable predecessors that can reduce yields: parsnips, parsley, fennel, celery. Carrots are a bad predecessor for themselves. A break in planting for one place for culture is 5 years. Favorably grows after cabbage, potatoes, cucumbers, onions and beets.

The shell of the carrot seed contains essential oils that inhibit germination, prevent the rapid penetration of moisture into the seed germ. During long germination, the increased content of spring moisture, favorable for germination, disappears from the soil. If the seedlings have not risen well, when re-planting after mid-June, the root crops may not have time to ripen. Therefore, in order for the carrot to germinate faster, apply various methods seed processing.

Methods for pre-sowing seed preparation

Grandmothers also knew how to speed up the germination of carrots and parsley, a method that gardeners still use today. Two weeks before sowing, dry seeds are poured onto a piece of cloth, folded into an envelope or a bag and added dropwise to the site in damp, unheated ground. Before sowing, the seeds are taken out and dried until crumbly. This method softens seed coat and hardens the seed. After such treatment, the seeds will germinate within a week, which is much less than without treatment.

Seed sparging

There is a method that prepares the seeds for planting along with the determination of live seeds. The method is called bubbling. For this, water saturated with air is used, which enters through an aquarium compressor. The seeds are placed in a jar of warm water, the air supplied through the compressor permeates the water with oxygen. The duration of such treatment is 18-24 hours. When seeds germinate in the container ahead of time, air treatment is stopped. The water is drained, the seeds are dried and then sown. In this way, a good and quick result is achieved in stimulating the biochemical processes occurring in the seeds. Bubbling allows you to accelerate germination, increase the field germination of seeds. Seedlings after such treatment begin to appear after 4-5 days.

Method for germination after 4-5 days

To wash off the essential oil from the shell of seeds for quick germination, soaking them in hot water is used. A method that is convenient to use while in the garden, so that after processing the seeds are immediately sown, but the method is also suitable for remote preparation.

For processing, prepare hot water at a temperature of 50-60 ° C, which the hand can endure. Hot water is poured into a container and the seeds in a gauze bag are immersed in it, leaving them there until the water cools. Such immersion of seeds, followed by cooling of the water, must be done 3 times. After the procedure, the water becomes dark yellow, then it starts to lighten, which means that the essential oil has been washed out. Seeds during the procedure can be slightly peeled and squeezed out very carefully, and after washing they are left to dry.

seed processing

The bed is prepared in the fall, the soil is dug up to a depth of 35 cm. In the spring, the bed with fertile light soil is loosened with a flat cutter and leveled with a rake. Furrows for sowing should be made not in width, but in the length of the ridge, for optimal ventilation and illumination of vegetables. In holes arranged along the width of the ridge, carrots will strongly obscure themselves. Culture grows better at the edges, and a bed of 2 furrows - the best option sowing. The distance between the lines is 15-20 cm. From above, the hole can be covered with earth or prepare a more suitable substrate for germination:

Coconut substrate. For cooking, open the briquette and put it in a bucket, pour warm water, after 10-20 minutes. the substrate will turn into loose organic product. Seeds covered with dissolved coconut substrate are easier to germinate because, unlike soil, the substrate does not compact the soil and retains moisture well, creating a favorable environment for germination. Coconut substrate is an environmentally friendly, natural product that is not populated by pathogenic microflora;

coco substrate

Sawdust. To be applied to the soil, they should not be fresh, but only rotted. For the correct use of organic fertilizer, sawdust is shed with a solution of urea, leaving it for a month in a tightly closed container. From natural remedies, it is soaked with mullein, infusions: herbal and bird droppings. Holes filled with sawdust will create a breathable and lush surface that increases the rate of seed germination.

Sawdust

Furrows filled with such substrates do not form a crust on the soil surface, which carrots do not like. Crops after filling the furrows are covered with non-woven special material, for example, spunbond or large mulch.

After sowing, with insufficient soil moisture, the bed can be watered over the covering material. Such watering will compact the soil less, helping the seeds to sprout faster.

Apply the seed awakening method with hot water it is possible in another way. The seeds are soaked once in 50°C water for one hour. The water is drained, the seeds are evenly laid out on a cloth laid on a plate. The fabric is pre-impregnated in a fertilizer solution. A plate with seeds is covered with a plastic bag or cling film and placed in a dark place for several days. Then the seeds are taken out, the bag is removed and allowed to dry directly on the material. Dried seeds are poured into a container - they are ready for planting.

Such processing methods are effective, give good germination and high yields of root crops.

How to plant carrots for better germination

Carrots do not like acidic soil. But you should not deoxidize the soil for carrots, which will contain a lot of potassium, which is also not suitable for culture. If the soils are acidic, it is recommended to deoxidize them for crops such as cabbage and onions. An indicator of the normal acidity of the soil will be onions and cabbage that have grown well on it; after such crops, next year the soil will become most suitable for planting carrots.

Vegetable culture loves fertile light soil. On loams and heavy soils, germination will be weak, and the culture will spend half of the photosynthesis to try on unsuitable soil. Root crops in such an environment will grow clumsy and short.

It is important to choose the right soil

It is important when sowing to know the depth of the arable layer. You can determine the amount of the fertile layer using an ordinary stick, immersing it in the soil without any effort. With a close occurrence of the clay layer, elongated cylindrical root crops should not be grown, you need to choose the average size of cone-shaped forms. Growing in loamy conditions for greater carrot yields involves a device high beds, with the introduction of fertile soil.

Watering carrots after sowing is carried out only after germination. This important agricultural technique allows you to grow long, healthy, even root crops. At the stage of root formation, in search of water, it goes deep into the earth, thus forming correctly. And with excessive watering, at the seedling stage, the root, receiving moisture from the upper layer of the soil, is formed uneven, bizarre shapes and weaves. A multi-finger root crop will be poorly stored in the future. Over-watering compacts the soil and cools it, delaying seed germination.

Important! When thinning a crop, its tops and tails should be immediately removed from the garden. The smell of freshly plucked carrots attracts carrot flies. For the same reason, you should not cut off and leave cut dill, celery and parsley nearby.

Root crops are harvested in time, according to the instructions for the variety, adding the germination time to it. By keeping the carrots in the soil, you can get the resumption of its growth, the coarsening of the roots and the appearance of a hard core.

Podzimny sowing

Slow-germinating carrot seeds require high soil moisture and are sown as early as possible in spring. When sowing late, the seeds, falling into dry soil, give weak seedlings or will not germinate at all. Landing before winter is favorable because melt water the best way nourishes the seeds. Soil temperature +4°C is when winter carrots can sprout. At this time, you should not be afraid of frosts, shoots of a cold-resistant culture tolerate a drop in temperature to -3-4 ° C.

A ridge for sowing is chosen horizontal, quickly freed from snow. From a plot located on a slope, seeds can be washed out in the spring. A place for planting is prepared after harvesting the summer crop, the soil is deeply dug up, and fertilizers are applied. Furrows are planned on loose soil, in October, making them twice as deep as for spring sowing at 4-5 cm. The soil will be compacted by the time of sowing, and the depth of the furrows will become 2-3 cm. The bed is covered with non-woven material from erosion by precipitation.

Podzimny sowing

Winter sowing of carrots is carried out with the onset of frost. A thaw can provoke the beginning of seed growth, and during frosts they will die. The soil for filling the furrows after sowing is stored in a warm room. The seeding rate for winter planting should be increased by 25% compared to spring planting. When snow falls, a special material is thrown over the bed to warm the crops.

In order to recognize where they are sown and how the carrots and seedlings look, you can plant markers, such as lettuce, in the hole along with the plants. Lettuce will rise early and indicate where the carrots are sown, allowing you to properly weed and loosen.

What to do when carrots sprout poorly

With poor germination, carrots can be fed with diluted chicken manure 1:15, mullein 1:10 or herbal infusion 1:3. Add 1 cup of ash to a bucket of water.

To accelerate seedlings, watering should be abandoned; the plant brings the green mass to the surface only after rooting. With a decrease in watering, the root goes deeper, developing better.

In order for the seedlings to sprout better, they are covered with non-woven material.

Watering carrots diligently after seeing a strong root

If seedlings did not appear within the maximum germination period of the culture - about one month, then a new sowing should be prepared. It is recommended to re-sow until mid-June, otherwise the root crops will not have time to ripen.

With simple agricultural techniques for growing carrots, pre-sowing preparation of seeds with a long germination becomes important for productivity. Healthy smooth root crops are better stored and delight their owners. Carrots are useful in any form, decorates bright color dishes and soups.

Video

Carrot is a rather finicky vegetable that is able to respond to unaccounted for nuances in the growing process with a strange-looking crop and disappointingly low yield. Carrot care open ground implies a strict sequence in each of the points of the successive stages of development of the root crop, and to miss any of the points means to jeopardize all the labor expended. How to care for carrots correctly?

How to grow carrots the right way? High yields begin with the preparation of the soil for planting, and initial preparations should be made in the fall. A flat place is chosen in the garden, sufficiently illuminated by the sun during daylight hours and, preferably, previously used for planting cucumbers, white cabbage or cereals. Depending on what kind of soil carrots like, namely, neutral or slightly acidic, it is regulated alkaline balance soil.

First, you need to assess whether the soil is suitable for carrots in terms of this indicator. The easiest way is to collect a pinch of earth from the desired area on a piece of clean glass and pour it with table vinegar. Alkaline and slightly acidic environments will react with strong or moderate protrusion of foam (as when soda is extinguished), while acidic ones will not show changes.

You can also pay attention to the clogging of the area with grass:

neutral soils are rich in lush long vegetation: nettle, quinoa, clover;
acidic soils, on which it is impossible to grow sweet carrots, will abound in mint, horsetail, violet and buttercup;
on the ground with low acidity, there will be burdock, alfalfa, small pharmacy chamomile and thistle;
alkaline environment, the poorest and also not very suitable for growing carrots in the open ground, as well as acidic, it is characterized by: poppy, sweet clover, bindweed.

The second task in the question is how to grow good harvest carrots is to create conditions for saturating the soil with oxygen. This is required so that the carrot tastes sweet and grows slender in length, and does not go horned and squirm in all directions, bumping into the firmament of unloosened earth. A clumsy carrot occurs when a vegetable begins to branch out in search of a convenient direction and softer soil, and not sweet - due to lack of air.

Light fluffy soil, not clogged with clay, is enough to work out with a garden rake, and hard, caked layers must be completely broken by deep digging.

How to plant carrots

How to grow carrots in even rows and evenly distributed along the groove? In order to get a good harvest, the vegetables should not sit tight to each other, which means that a distance must be maintained between the seeds that is convenient for thinning later. There are many such convenient ways in agricultural technology:

with a mixture of flour and water, to a strip from a paper towel or napkin, the seeds are glued at a distance of 2-3 cm from each other, then these tapes are inserted directly into the grooves after preplant irrigation;
combine the contents of a bag of seeds with 1 glass of clean sand, mix everything and this mass is injected into a dug groove in a thin stream;
two tablespoons of starch are boiled in a liter of water and this barely warm substance, with the seeds added to it, is poured into the prepared grooves;
most gardeners, when planting this crop, traditionally plant seeds in the soil with a distance of about 4 cm and a gap between rows of 15 cm.

What to do immediately after landing? The bed is covered with polyethylene, which is held until the first shoots appear. The vegetable is quite tolerant of low temperatures and even soil frosts, but prolonged cold is the reason why carrots go to the arrow to the detriment of root development.

Watering carrots

Carrots in the open field do not require as much regular as uniform watering - it does not matter to the plant how often the soil is moistened, but the moisture level must be constant and unchanged. Deviation from the level of water saturation in the soil that is comfortable for the root crop leads to pathologies of root formation:

surface and slight soil moisture leads to the formation of a woody rhizome - the pale core of such a vegetable tastes bitter, and the carrot itself sometimes grows to bulky shapeless balls;
when growing carrots, it is also dangerous to oversaturate the soil with watering - there is a risk of getting nondescript twisted freaks with branchy tops.

One of the signs of improper and uneven watering is a horned carrot that has two or more root forks. To avoid mistakes of this kind, it is better to water the root crops, adhering to the approximate scheme:

when the first shoots appear, 7-8 irrigations are carried out during the month, 6 liters of water per 1 m 2 of the plot;
in the first month of summer, the rate increases to 11-12 liters, multiplied by 5-6 irrigations;
in July, there should be only about five waterings, but 13-15 liters per square meter;
the onset of August entails a decrease in water consumption and labor costs - carrots are already growing on two irrigations of 6 liters of water each.

14-20 days before the day scheduled for harvesting, watering is stopped. Then a single moistening of the soil is carried out to facilitate the digging process.

Weeding and thinning carrots

Growing carrots in the open field should be accompanied by repeated weeding, especially in the period before germination, when weed grass with powerful rhizomes may not allow the vegetable crop to sprout. Weeds must not be allowed to grow too tall - late weeding is one of the reasons why gardeners do not count subsequently a useful crop, because along with the grass, young tops of an uncultivated vegetable are also in the common heap.

How to get high yields with regular weeding? There are two theories equally substantiated by the experience of gardeners on how to weed a vegetable:

after watering or rain - thus, the weeds are easily pulled out with the entire root system;
before watering, when the ground is dry - in this case, thin grass roots remain in the ground and dry out, which prevents the germination of new weeds.

Another mandatory procedure, without which the cultivation and care of this crop in the open field is impossible, is the competent thinning of plants in the garden. When the seeds are initially planted with the same distance from each other of 2-3 cm, thinning is a rather corrective procedure and is not always necessary. Solid sowing in any of the ways, when the seeds went randomly into the furrow, in the long term always means one or two stages of breaking through the excess shoots. Should it be done? Necessarily. The first thinning is carried out immediately, as soon as individual leaves can be distinguished from the hatched greens.

Often the answer to the question: why do carrots grow ugly lies precisely in the wrong actions when removing extra sprouts.
There are certain secrets of how to perform this simple operation correctly.
What to do and in what sequence to perform actions:
before thinning, the beds should be shed abundantly from a garden watering can;
the sprout should not be pulled, but pulled straight up from the ground, without swinging it;
it is necessary that there be a distance of 3 or 4 cm between the saved bushes;
immediately after the procedure, the garden is watered with warm water.

At the same stage, it is customary to carry out the first hilling of carrots and the first loosening between rows. And, if the second part of the algorithm does not raise big questions, a lot of controversy arises about the first.
So - do you need to spud carrots?
We spud correctly
Often even from experienced gardeners you can hear that carrots are not spud. However, if you are not too lazy to do this painstaking work at least three times during the development of the vegetable, you can protect the future harvest from three misfortunes at once:
from the defeat of the open part of the root by a carrot fly, which loves to lay eggs at the base of the vegetable;
from the protrusion of greenery at the top of the rhizome;
from the impact of direct sun rays, which leave burns on the surface of the root near the tops.

Mulching a vegetable
How to grow large carrots and at the same time, knowingly eliminate the risk of overdrying the soil, the danger of pest invasion, and also significantly reduce the number of weeding and loosening? To do this, there is a technology for covering the soil with mulch, and the technique itself is called "mulching".
How to mulch a carrot bed? The most common way to mulch a garden bed is to cover the space between the rows of planted vegetables with hay, straw or sawdust. The latter option is preferable, since the shelter with sawdust retains moisture longer and is a more reliable shield against the invasion of cabbage and other pests.
Covering the soil with sawdust has another important advantage over grass flooring - weeds do not germinate through it, while the dried grass itself can by default have mature and ready-to-sprout seeds that will grow when in contact with moisture. The same properties, along with sawdust, have small chips.
It is recommended to mulch carrots when the outer part of the plant reaches 14-16 cm, and the vegetable itself will be about 7-8 cm in diameter at the widest part of the root. Is it possible to mulch late varieties of root crops? It is not only possible, but also necessary, since the shelter retains the temperature for a long time, which it receives from the sun during the daytime, and as a result, the roots turn out to be juicy and not cracked.
There are often complaints on the forums, like the following: “I mulch a vegetable crop according to all the rules, but the vegetable wilts, the tops fall, and the result is a horned or otherwise ugly carrot that does not have sweetness.” An important condition before the procedure is the drying of the material. Whatever mulching is done, the cover should not rot and thus serve as a habitat for the reproduction of harmful microorganisms. And the secret of the withering, falling tops is the rotting of the root, to which oxygen does not reach through the dense crust of damp mulch. That's all the secrets of proper mulching.
Common Mistakes
Let's name the most common mistakes of gardeners, answering the most frequent complaints why carrots do not grow:
the seeds were planted without prior soaking or in insufficiently heated soil (the norm is 7-9 C);
too deep sowing or incorrect formation of a furrow (it is necessary to deepen the groove by 2 cm, then tamp its bottom with a palm edge or a chopper handle);
lack of watering before or after planting, or watering with cold water;
abundant watering of the soil during the time until the sprouts have hatched out of the soil (until the green brush of sprouted plants appears on the garden bed, you cannot water the garden);
frequent waterings big amount water in which moisture does not penetrate deep enough;

Why does carrot grow poorly? Perhaps due to the lack of a feeding element throughout the development of the plant. In unrested or depleted soil, vegetables will be thin, pale, covered with white hairs. A lack of potassium will immediately affect the density of the root - it will become stiff, and the absence of phosphorus will affect the taste - the carrot will become tasteless or even sour.

Many gardeners are wondering how many days carrots sprout after sowing and what to do if they linger or do not manifest themselves at all. From this article, you will learn accurate information regarding the sowing of carrots, namely the problems of poor seedlings and what exactly affects the process of growing healthy carrots.

Optimal planting dates for carrots

Let's start with how and when to sow carrots so that they sprout quickly. There are several options for planting a root crop (winter sowing and spring sowing). Also, the timing may vary depending on the precocity of the variety.

Winter sowing. For this option, only those varieties that are not afraid of soil freezing are suitable (for example, "Moscow Winter"), so immediately discard winter sowing if you use non-frost-resistant varieties or doubt it. Sowing is carried out in late autumn, after the onset of small frosts, so that the seeds do not begin to germinate immediately. Sowing depth - no more than 4-5 cm.

As soon as the first frosts began, we sow dry seeds in the ground and sprinkle them with previously prepared black soil or other fertile soil. Humus or compost can be added to the soil mixture, which promote the growth and development of young plants.

If snow fell during sowing, then after planting the seeds in the ground and sprinkling fertile soil a snow “blanket” is laid on top to secure the seeds.

Important! If you want to get quick shoots of carrots, cover the beds with lutrasil or other insulation in the spring.

Spring sowing. Seeds are sown when the snow is completely gone, and the upper part of the soil is dry and loose. A couple of days before sowing, cover the cultivated beds with a film (to further warm the soil). The optimal depth of ditches for sowing root crops is no more than 2 cm. Unlike winter sowing, in spring you do not need to be afraid of soil freezing, and additional centimeters of soil will take away strength from seedlings.

In order to make a groove of the desired diameter, put the handle from the shovel and push it in. So you spend less time and effort. Before planting the seed, water the grooves abundantly, pour out the seeds and cover them with a layer of soil with humus.

Important! It is necessary to compact the soil at the place of sowing so that the seeds are in close contact with the soil and there are no air pockets. Such actions contribute to rapid germination.

Then water the bed and cover with foil. As soon as the first shoots appear, remove the film so as not to overheat the young plants. We will immediately answer the question, after how many days carrots sprout after planting. If you did everything right, then seedlings can be expected in 20-25 days if the temperature is within 5-8 ºС.

There is also a "limit" planting time, after which it is not advisable to plant a crop. So, you can plant carrots until June 15 in order to have time to collect it before the onset of cold weather (late carrots are harvested in mid-October).

Germination period for carrot seeds

Seeds need from a week to a month for shoots, so let's talk about how long the carrots sprout and what it depends on. Seedlings depend on soil temperature and environment. Good, fresh, properly prepared seeds begin to germinate at a temperature of + 4-6 ºС. If cold weather persists after germination, seedlings will appear no earlier than three weeks later.

If the sun is hot in the yard, and in the shade the temperature approaches 20-22 ºС, carrots will appear in 7-9 days. Therefore, answering the question of how many days after planting carrots sprout, we can say that within one month, however, everything depends on the preparation of the seed, the weather and the warming of the soil, and not on the variety or hybrid.

If seedlings appear at a temperature of + 6-8 ºС, then the plant will die from hypothermia. In the event that the carrots do not sprout after a month (+/- 3-4 days), it is worth considering re-sowing other seeds, since those planted in the ground did not germinate or were eaten by pests.

Why carrots do not sprout, common mistakes

Many gardeners make mistakes when planting. They relate to the germination of carrot seeds, the choice of time and place for planting, as well as the effect of seed quality on seedlings.

Did you know? Carrots were first grown in Afghanistan, where they still grow the most various kinds root crop.

Planting material quality

The quality of planting material is the first reason for poor seedlings or their absence. And in this section, you will learn how to choose the right and suitable seeds for your region:

Seed freshness. The maximum shelf life of seed is five years, but every year the percentage of germinating seeds becomes smaller. Therefore, we recommend using planting material less than three years old. The ideal option is last year's seeds.
Appearance and smell. Planting material of the required quality has the following indicators: bright color, fullness, lack of wrinkles or any spots. Also, fresh seeds have a strong smell, due to the large amount of essential oils. If they smell rotten or there is no smell, refuse to purchase and plant such material. It is worth mentioning that the seeds must correspond to the climatic zone and soil in the area used.
climate zone. If you are going to sow a purchased carrot, then at the time of purchase, carefully look at the packaging and find information on what climate this variety or hybrid should be grown in. Forget about the fact that there is a "universal" root crop variety that will grow equally well in Siberia and Krasnodar. Buy only the seed that suits your climate.
The soil . In addition to the recommended climate, soils that are suitable for growing the variety should be indicated on the packaging of purchased seeds. Therefore, if such information is missing, check these parameters on the Internet or ask the seller. Soil inconsistency with the selected variety can seriously affect seedlings, quality and quantity of root crops.

planting depth

Now let's talk about how to sow carrots so that they sprout quickly. It was said above that winter sowing requires one sowing depth, and spring sowing is completely different. Remember that the minimum seeding depth is 2 cm, the maximum is 4-5 cm (winter sowing).

If you sow the seeds at a shallower depth, then they may become supercooled and not sprout, if at a greater depth, they will not have enough strength to break through the soil layer. Many gardeners, in order for carrots to rise faster, plant them to a depth of less than 2 cm, but we will talk about the intricacies of this method and what needs to be done before planting.

If you did everything right, but you still don’t have carrots and you don’t know what to do, then let’s move on to another common mistake.

Improper care of seedlings

After sowing, the material requires proper care, on which the timing of seedlings depends. So, what needs to be done so that the carrots rise faster after sowing? Once planting material is in the ground, it is affected by temperature and humidity.

To achieve quick emergence, cover the area with a film or other non-woven covering material. Firstly, you will protect the soil from drying out, secondly, you will not give the weeds the opportunity to “drown out” the vegetable, and thirdly, protect the crops from an excess of moisture.

Long shoots are due to the fact that the culture first builds up the underground part, and only then directs the rest of its forces to the aboveground. To speed up seedlings, you need to refuse watering. It is the lack of moisture that encourages carrots to hatch and develop the green part. Therefore, it is not recommended to moisten the soil in the first week after planting.

TO common mistakes when caring for seedlings, they include the lack of weeding and untimely cleaning of covering material. If you did not lay the film, then the weeds will begin to appear much earlier than the first shoots.

Therefore, you need to check the site daily and remove all weeds. Covering material does not allow weeds to grow, but the same will happen with the first shoots of carrots. For this reason, lift the film more often and check for the presence of the first green.

As soon as the snow begins to melt and the first thawed patches appear, take the seeds and put them in a woven bag. At the site, dig a hole 20-25 cm deep, put a bag of seed in it and pour several liters of warm water on it.

Next, fill the hole with earth and cover with snow. After a week and a half, dig a bag, mix the hatched seeds with coarse sand and sow. Using this method, you will see what carrot shoots look like in a week.

Dried seeds. Gardeners know that in order to get quick shoots and good production, a crop needs a lot of nutrients and trace elements. So, coated seeds are a shell of all the necessary substances, in which the carrot seed is “wrapped”.

By planting such dragees, you will get several advantages at once: fast germination, protection of seeds from pests, rationing of crops, " starter kit» for optimal development of the root system and the aerial part young plant. Do not be afraid that the products will be oversaturated harmful substances, the seed will completely use up these substances long before the formation of the root crop.