Many people try to grow an excellent crop of root crops on their plot year after year, but every time planting carrots is disappointing. Problems such as slow and unfriendly seed germination, deformed and tasteless root vegetables are often attributed to low-quality seeds. But that's not the point at all. The technology for growing carrots has some secrets that allow you to speed up germination, avoid thinning and grow beautiful vegetables.
Preparing seeds for planting
Carrot seeds contain a large amount essential oils. This is a kind of protection and prevents moisture from penetrating through the shell into the seed for a long time. When sowing unprepared seeds in a garden bed, this process takes about 20 days, and only on condition that the soil is constantly moist. You have to water the beds every day, because if the seeds dry out, they will no longer be able to sprout.
Germination can be accelerated if pre-treatment is carried out before planting (several days before sowing). To remove essential oil from seed shells, they need to be washed warm water. The seeds are poured into a small cotton bag and soaked in warm water. The water is changed every 3-4 hours, and the procedure itself lasts 2-3 days.
If the root crops on the site are often affected by diseases and pests, then after washing the bag can be placed in a special solution of sodium or potassium humate. Prepare a solution at the rate of 1 teaspoon of humate per 1 liter of water. The water should be warm, about 30°C, and soak for a day. Instead of a humate solution, you can use a solution wood ash. To do this, dilute 1 tablespoon of fertilizer in 1 liter of warm water and filter.
You can reduce the risk of disease in carrots if you harden them in the refrigerator after soaking. The bag of seeds is washed in running water, squeezed out and placed in the refrigerator for 5 days. It is necessary to ensure that it does not dry out. Then the seeds are slightly dried on a dry cloth so that they become flowable, and sowing begins.
Testing seeds for germination and pre-germination
Before planting carrots in the country, you need to check the seeds for germination. This is done 1-2 months before planting. Seeds are soaked for 2-3 days in warm water and sown in small box with the ground. Germination is determined by how many seeds sprouted from the sown ones. Seed material that shows germination of about 80% is considered good. If less than 50% of the seeds have sprouted, then it is better to replace them so as not to waste time sowing new ones and not miss the deadline. If it is not possible to replace the seed, then you should sow thicker than usual, and then, if necessary, thin out.
To be sure it will rise required amount carrots, and speed up the emergence of seedlings, the seeds can be germinated. After the soaking and hardening procedure, the seeds must be spread out thin layer onto a damp cloth, cover the top with the same cloth. Make sure that the moisture does not evaporate; if necessary, spray with water from a spray bottle. After a few days, the seeds will swell, and a little later tiny sprouts will appear. The top of the fabric can be covered with cling film, but you will have to ventilate it to prevent mold from appearing.
Germinated seeds sprout quickly after sowing; after 5-7 days the first leaves appear.
You can prepare seeds for planting without first soaking and germination. This old way: a bag of seeds is placed in moist, damp soil. This is done 10-14 days before sowing.
- Dry seeds are placed in a cotton or linen bag.
- In an area in the shade, they dig a hole with a spade bayonet.
- Place a bag of seeds at the bottom and bury it.
- After the required period, they dig up, dry and sow.
Growing carrots in this way allows you to see shoots within 5 days.
Carrot planting dates
The planting date for carrots is determined depending on the region. In the central zone of Russia, sowing can be carried out after April 20 and until the beginning of May. In cold regions (in the Urals, in Leningrad region) planting takes place later - after May 10. Such timing is optimal for sowing carrots using the usual method, when dry seeds are sown in the ground.
If the seeds are prepared in advance, then planting can be done later, in the summer. Deadline– June, until the 15th. The same applies to late varieties that are planned to be stored for winter. If late varieties If you plant them early and keep them in the soil until the end of September, then additional roots will begin to grow on the root crops, and this will reduce the shelf life.
Many people practice planting carrots late autumn, and what date to sow depends on the weather. The main conditions for autumn planting:
- the bed and furrows on it must be prepared in advance;
- Separately prepare containers with soil that will be used to fill the furrows, and place them in a warm place so that the ground does not freeze;
- sow dry seeds, there is no need to water the plantings;
- covered with soil prepared in advance.
When to plant carrots, in spring or autumn, everyone chooses for themselves. But practice shows that when autumn plantings the safety of seeds in the soil and their germination are affected by weather and planting carrots in the spring is more effective than in the fall. The harvest in both cases ripens at the same time.
The bed for root vegetables should be prepared in the fall. All roots, chips and stones are carefully selected from the soil. If a carrot root encounters an obstacle on its growth path, it begins to bend.
Carrots do not like manure and lime. It would be correct to add rotted organic matter to the garden bed in the fall, and in the spring, when digging again, add mineral fertilizers. For good growth Root vegetables need potassium and phosphorus. If introduced in the fall organic fertilizers, then in the spring there is no need to add nitrogen. At large quantities nitrogen, carrots grow a lot of tops to the detriment of the root crop. There is no need to fertilize carrots again during the summer.
Carrots should be sown in furrows, which are made at a distance of 5-7 cm from each other. The depth of the furrow is determined depending on the type of soil. On clay soils the optimal depth is 1.5 cm, on light, sandy soils - 2.5-3 cm. The bottom of the furrow should be compacted with a plank and, if the soil is dry, spilled with warm water.
To protect against pests, the bed can be sprinkled with salt before sowing.
You should not sow seeds densely: when thinning, the roots of seedlings growing nearby may be damaged. If thinning cannot be avoided, it is better to do it in the first week after the sprouts appear. Young shoots recover more easily.
Care before sprouts appear involves watering, but it must be done carefully. When watered with a strong stream, the seeds are drawn deep into the ground, which is why they may not sprout.
The bed can be covered with thin agrofibre white and water it over it from a watering can with a fine strainer. This will prevent the seeds from going deep and will increase the soil temperature, which will have a positive effect on germination.
To protect against pests, you can plant between carrots. Other root vegetables cannot be grown in the same bed as carrots.
How to avoid thinning
If the carrots are planted in the usual way, then after they have sprouted, you will have to thin them. You can avoid this procedure if:
- before sowing, mix seeds with sand in a ratio of 1:5;
- glue the seeds onto a tape made of quickly decomposing paper;
- plant carrots in cardboard egg boxes.
Growing on tape is only suitable if the seeds are not pre-germinated. For this purpose, from dense toilet paper cut strips 3 cm wide and prepare a paste from flour: 1 tablespoon of flour is diluted with water to a paste and poured into hot water standing on low heat. The mixture is brought to a boil and turned off. When it cools down, you can add 1 gram boric acid– to prevent carrot diseases.
The paste is applied to the strips with a brush and the seeds are laid out in 2 pieces at a distance of 4-5 cm from each other. The strips are laid on the bed after the paste has dried. If they all sprout, then the extra ones will have to be removed. It is better to cut them with scissors so as not to damage the root of the neighboring plant.
Another planting method uses egg cartons. They are laid out tightly in the garden bed and watered abundantly. Humus is poured into each cell. The seeds are laid out in 2 pieces and covered with earth. After germination, excess shoots are removed.
There is no need to cut out the bottom of the cells. When exposed to moisture, it quickly decomposes and allows the roots to grow freely. At first, the boxes will serve as mulch and reduce the need for weeding.
Conclusion
If it is not possible to constantly be on the site and water the beds with planted carrots in anticipation of germination, it is better to prepare the seeds and germinate them. This will speed up the time of emergence of sprouts and increase the germination of seeds several times.
To avoid injury to the roots during thinning, you can use one of the methods suggested above. This will allow you to get smooth, large root crops without flaws or deformation.
A root vegetable that is a source of carotene, our orange miracle, is always present on our table. This is one of our most beloved and important vegetables.
No other vegetable can replace it, because it contains many substances useful to our body: a large amount of vitamins, essential oils, phospholipids, sterols, mineral salts, microelements.
And even the middle of the root vegetable, which many gardeners dislike, contains apigenin, a substance that has a beneficial effect on the functioning of the heart. Finely grated carrots can heal burns and purulent wounds.
In Rus', carrot juice was used to treat inflammation of the nasopharynx, heart disease and liver disease. Carrot juice also relieves fatigue and spring vitamin deficiency well, if you drink half a glass of it 3 times a day.
And almost everyone knows that it is very useful for people with vision problems.
Carrots are widely used in cooking, both raw and in the preparation of a wide variety of dishes, as well as for juice.
A little history
According to pundits, carrots were first grown in Afghanistan, where the most big number its types. Initially, carrots were grown not for their roots, but for their aromatic leaves and seeds.
The first mention of eating carrot root is found in ancient sources in the 1st century. AD
Archaeological research suggests that carrots were grown much earlier - almost 2 thousand years BC.
Modern carrots were brought to Europe in the 10th-13th centuries, and they appeared here during the times of Kievan Rus.
At first, yellow and white root vegetables were grown, and only at the beginning of the 18th century did mentions of orange carrots appear.
And legends also say that in the Middle Ages, carrots were considered a delicacy for gnomes and they exchanged this root vegetable for gold bars...
Carrot requirements
Carrots are quite a demanding crop, especially when it comes to soil. She likes to grow in fertile, light, loose, permeable and weed-free soil.
The best site for planting carrots will be the one where manure was applied 1-2 years ago, since carrots react very poorly to fresh manure. In this case, many ugly, branchy root vegetables with very poor taste grow.
Also, non-standard carrots can grow under the following conditions:
if you apply fertilizers containing chlorine, the root crops will bend or branch;
if you deoxidize the soil on the eve of planting, the carrots become multi-tailed;
if there are any disturbances in the soil, for example, pebbles, organic residues, etc.;
if there is excess moisture in the soil, the root crop becomes hairy or cracks, the tops grow excessively;
if you apply and feed unnecessarily nitrogen fertilizers, the carrots begin to branch;
if we thin out the seedlings incorrectly;
if there is not enough moisture during the growth of carrots, the carrots, trying to take the moisture it lacks from the soil, release lateral roots, which has a bad effect on its taste and appearance(the pulp becomes coarse, the root crop is short and “horned”).
Based on this, preparing the soil for planting carrots must be approached with all responsibility.
Firstly , it is better to prepare it in the fall: dig it up thoroughly; if it is necessary to deoxidize the soil, then add lime or dolomite flour; You can also add phosphorus and potassium fertilizers. In general, it is best to add all kinds of additives to the soil for carrots, taking into account the type of soil on your site.
If you have peat soil, then it would be good to add river sand, humus and clay soil to it.
If the soil is clayey - river sand, peat, humus, and if it is fertile black soil We add only sand in the spring.
Secondly , in the spring, the area for carrots, prepared in the fall, must be loosened quite deeply, having previously added a complex mineral fertilizer; try to select all the pebbles so that nothing interferes with the growth of the plant.
One more an important condition Good illumination of crops is essential for carrot growth. Shading has a very negative effect on plant growth, especially in the initial stages.
If our plantings are dense and there are a lot of weeds, then the carrots stretch out, the formation of root crops slows down and a lot of small root crops are formed (the so-called under-growing).
Carrots are relatively cold-resistant and drought-resistant plant. Its seedlings can withstand frosts down to minus 2 O C, and already mature plants and up to minus 4 O WITH.
But for those root crops that have survived frost, the shelf life is still reduced.
Carrot seeds germinate at temperatures above 3 O C, a optimal temperature for her height about 18-25 O C. If the temperature rises above 25 O Plant growth slows down.
When choosing a site for planting carrots, it is also advisable to take into account the fact that the best predecessors for them are plants such as tomatoes, legumes, cabbage, potatoes, cucumbers, and green crops.
Carrot sowing dates
There are several dates for sowing carrot seeds and they depend on when and for what purposes we want to get the crop.
So, for example, to get an early harvest, carrots should be sown from mid-April to early May ( early spring sowing). Carrots sown during these periods can be harvested in bunches from the end of June to the end of July, and from August we already receive a real root crop for summer consumption.
The next sowing period is from mid-May to early June ( summer sowing). This is the main time for sowing carrots, which we will store for winter storage.
If we want to get young carrots in the fall, then we can sow short-fruited varieties in mid-July.
A winter sowing seeds (from October 20 to November 15) can provide us with even more early harvest. But not every site is suitable for these purposes. For winter sowing we need to choose such a place on our summer cottage, in which the snow melts earlier in the spring and the soil should be light, sandy loam, so that the crops do not float in the spring.
When sowing seeds before winter, they are only disinfected and then dried. In the spring they will gain moisture, swell and germinate naturally. It is not recommended to germinate the seeds, as the sprouts will freeze. Using these sowing dates, we will be able to have fresh carrots from summer to spring next year.
In addition, when sowing late carrots before the 20th of June, plant development does not coincide with the greatest activity of the carrot fly (in May), which makes it possible to grow higher-quality root crops.
How to sow carrot seeds
Essential oils contained in carrot seeds in large quantities prevent rapid access of moisture to the embryo and delay germination. Therefore, before sowing, it is necessary to carry out pre-sowing preparation of seeds: disinfection, soaking, germination.
You can read about how, and also correctly, in previously published articles.
Then we dry the treated seeds and sow them. With this treatment, seedlings appear much earlier (after 6-10 days), while if sowing is done with dry seeds and in insufficiently moist soil, the emergence of seedlings can take up to 40 days.
It is best to grow carrots in garden beds. Before sowing, we thoroughly loosen the prepared beds to a depth of 10-15 cm, then level the surface and make narrow grooves up to 5 cm and about 2 cm deep. It is not worth making the grooves deeper, as this can significantly slow down the germination of carrots. We make grooves at a distance of 25-30 cm.
In order for us to have friendly and uniform shoots, the seeds must be planted to the same depth.
And also experienced summer residents It is advised to sow carrot seeds so that they are soft on top and hard on the bottom.
To do this, we level the bottom of the grooves and compact them with timber specially prepared for this purpose.
After this, we spill the grooves with water and sow the seeds into the moistened soil, trying to keep the distance between them 1.5-2 cm.
It is quite difficult to sow small carrot seeds at such a distance. I would like to recommend several sowing methods that can make this process easier:
Mix small seeds with sand: mix 1 tablespoon of seeds with 1 glass of sand, then divide the resulting mixture into 3 parts and use each part for 1 m2 of beds.
Mix carrot seeds with seeds of beacon plants (lettuce, radishes). They emerge much earlier and thus show us where the carrot seedlings are located. This gives us the opportunity to carry out the first weeding of the carrot bed, without fear of damaging the plants, much earlier than usual.
Liquid sowing of carrots is also very convenient, in which the sprouted seeds are mixed with a liquid paste made from potato starch. Then they are carefully “poured” into the grooves from the teapot.
Then we cover the seeds with loose sifted soil or a mixture of peat and sand, or clean peat with light compaction to ensure better contact of the seeds with the soil and an influx of moisture.
It is not worth watering the ground after sowing, as the seeds may move to deeper layers of the soil and will take a long time to germinate, or may even not germinate at all. To prevent the soil from drying out, the top of the bed can be covered with plastic wrap.
In addition, under the film the earth will warm up much faster. The film will need to be removed after shoots appear.
How to care for carrots
Carrots need our constant attention. Caring for it means periodically loosening the soil, timely watering, fertilizing if necessary, regular weeding and pest and disease control. The most crucial moment when growing carrots is the germination of seeds and the emergence of seedlings.
At this moment, a soil crust may form, which must be carefully destroyed (preferably after watering), as it prevents the timely emergence of seedlings. To prevent the formation of soil crust, crops can be mulched with peat.
After the first shoots appear, you can begin the first loosening. We act very carefully, trying not to damage the delicate sprouts.
The best time for loosening is immediately after rain, and if it rains for a long time no, then we first water the carrots, and only then proceed to loosening.
When the carrots have 1-2 true leaves, we thin out the crops, leaving a distance of 3-4 cm between plants. We do the second thinning 2-3 weeks after the first and after that the distance between plants should be 4-5 cm.
At a shorter distance, the roots will not reach normal sizes, especially late-ripening varieties.
To avoid the formation of ugly root crops, crop thinning must be done correctly.
First, the bed is watered and only after that the excess plants are pulled out. Moreover, we pull upward, and not to the side, without loosening it, otherwise the main root of the abandoned carrot may break off and the side roots will begin to grow, forming a “horned” root crop.
Thinning is best done in the evening, as the carrot smell that appears when plants are damaged can attract pests. It is advisable to take rejected plants away from the garden bed and cover them with soil or compost to muffle the smell.
Let me remind you once again that weeding and thinning must be carried out after rains or watering, and immediately after these operations the bed must be watered again.
In this case, the soil around the abandoned plants must be slightly compressed, and the holes in the ground must be filled up.
An operation such as hilling is also important, because during growth the upper part of the root crops is exposed and turns green in the light, forming solanine, which penetrates into the carrots during storage and gives them bitterness.
Hilling up root crops is also best done on cloudy days or in the evening, so as not to attract carrot flies.
How much water do you need
Watering for carrots has great importance, since this plant does not like either excess moisture or dryness.
Carrots have one feature - late harvest formation. Its growing season lasts approximately 4 to 5 months.
And the growth of root crops begins only after the end of leaf growth, in the last quarter of the growing season.
Therefore, during the growth period, plants are very demanding of soil moisture, and in the end they do not tolerate its excess well and, if abundant watering is carried out, the root crops may crack.
In warm and sunny weather When the moisture from the soil quickly evaporates, the carrots are watered 3 times a week.
Do not over-water young plants; approximately 4 liters of water per 1 m2 will be enough for them. As the root crops grow, we gradually increase the amount of water.
In the middle of the growing season, carrots can be watered once a week, using 8 to 10 liters of water per 1 m2.
What to feed?
If we have well fertilized the soil for planting carrots since the fall, then it is possible to grow a good crop of root vegetables without fertilizing.
But it’s still better to do 2-3 more feedings during the entire growing season.
First It is advisable to fertilize a month after germination (1 tablespoon of nitrophoska per 10 liters of water), second- 2 weeks after the first. At the beginning of August, carrots can also be fed with a solution of potassium fertilizer - this third feeding Root vegetables will become sweeter and also ripen earlier.
And it is best to add ash infusion to the water in the second half of the growing season when watering carrots (1 liter of infusion per 10 liters of water), since ash is the best potash fertilizer, which is perfectly absorbed by all plants.
In addition, ash protects plants from many diseases and pests. You can even just sprinkle it once a week before watering. carrot beds wood ash.
It's still very good to have foliar feeding carrots with boric acid solution (1 teaspoon per 10 liters of water). It will be enough to carry out such feeding twice: during active growth the underground part of the carrots (the first half of July) and when the carrots begin to ripen (the first half of August).
When and how to harvest carrots
Harvesting carrots can be done in several stages.
Firstly, as soon as the root crops grow, you can begin to pull them out selectively for food. This makes the remaining plants in the beds freer and they receive more nutrition, moisture and begin to grow faster.
And we harvest late varieties of carrots intended for winter storage from the second half of September to the first half of October, before the onset of frost.
There is no need to rush into harvesting, because root crops grow rapidly in the second half of September. But at the same time, you cannot be late, since carrots that are frozen are poorly stored and die.
Carrots can be pulled out by the tops if your soil is light. On denser soil, this will be quite difficult to do and you won’t be able to do it without the help of a shovel. Shake off excess soil with your hands.
After pulling out the root crops, we sort them: we leave whole and healthy ones for winter storage, we put aside damaged ones for quick processing, and it’s best to throw away small and diseased ones.
Then, for those root crops that we are going to store for storage, we cut off the tops right up to the head.
If you liked the grown carrot variety and want to get your own seeds of this variety, then select the best root crops (seeds) and leave about 2-3 cm of tops.
Then we dry the carrots processed in this way under a canopy (not in the sun) and put them in storage.
How to store carrots
We store carrots in the basement (cellar) in wooden or plastic boxes. We put it in boxes in layers, sprinkle it with wet sand and try to arrange the root crops so that they do not touch each other.
It is also good to use moss instead of sand.
I would like to recommend another way to store carrots - “glazing” with clay. This is done like this: dilute the clay with water to the consistency of thick sour cream, dip the root vegetables in this “glaze” and place them on a wire rack so that the excess liquid dries off and the coating dries.
In such a shell, our carrots almost do not lose moisture and remain fresh until spring. But of course, the storage temperature should be about 0 0 C and the storage should be dry.
If for some reason the previous methods of storing carrots are not suitable for you, then you can also sprinkle the root vegetables thickly with crushed chalk, thereby reducing the likelihood of putrefactive processes.
And if you add additional root vegetables onion skins, then they will be stored even better.
In this article, Dear friends, I only touched on the question growing carrots, well, I plan to talk about all their diversity and about the diseases and pests that plague carrots in the following articles.
See you soon, dear friends!
How to plant carrots correctly? What's the problem, you might say, if there were seeds. You, as always, were right. :) The main thing is that sowing carrots does not turn into tedious and labor-intensive process. There are many ways to avoid this, and I want to tell you about them.
1. The most the usual way which many people use is sowing dry carrot seeds. Just use your hand to sprinkle the carrot seeds little by little into the grooves. One problem: the seeds of carrots are small, and if you pour a lot of seeds into the furrow, they will sprout thickly, and then you will have to sit in the garden for a long time, thinning out the seedlings. If you add few carrot seeds, they may not sprout.
When sowing carrots with dry seeds, you have to wait a long time for germination. Because the seeds still need to swell. Of course, there is always at least a little moisture in the soil, but most often carrots emerge after the first rain, and only then does their growth begin. Carrot seeds can be pre-prepared before planting.
2. Sowing carrots with soaked and sprouted seeds will immediately require watering both during planting and in the following days. With this method of sowing carrot seeds, it is necessary to keep the soil moist, otherwise the sprouted seeds will die. Naturally, with this method the seeds germinate faster.
3. There is a way to sow carrot seeds, in which friendly shoots appear quickly. It is called "carrots in a bag". As soon as the first thawed patches begin to appear, you need to dig a hole in the area with a spade bayonet. Moisten the carrot seeds in a linen bag with water, put them in this hole, cover them with earth, and cover them with snow. In order not to lose the place where the carrot seeds are buried, you need to put any identification mark, for example, a stick. After 10 - 12 days, the carrot seeds hatch. Then they are taken out and mixed with dry river sand and scattered around the garden bed. The soil is lightly harrowed and covered with film. Friendly shoots appear already on the 5th - 6th day.
4. The next method of sowing carrot seeds is convenient and economical. Need to mix one or two tablespoons of carrot seeds with a bucket of sand and scatter this mixture into the furrows. It is important that the sand is dry, otherwise the seeds will not mix well with the sand and the crops will be uneven. Then water the carrot beds well, cover with a small layer of soil on top and you can stay away from the carrots until autumn. There is no need to thin out the carrot beds. In the fall, you should have large, even carrots.
5. Grandma's way of sowing carrots: pour water into a glass (half-liter jar) and add carrot seeds. Then, after stirring this mixture well, take water into your mouth along with carrot seeds and sprinkle it onto the garden bed. This is how they used to spray dry laundry while ironing. The sowing of carrots also turns out to be more or less uniform.
6. Mixed method landings: For example, you can mix carrot and radish seeds in one cup, add a little river sand there for uniform sowing and sow in the furrows.
8.Sowing carrots with seeds on a tape. Seeds on tape are available for sale, but you can make such a tape yourself by gluing carrot seeds onto a strip of paper using paste. This technology for planting carrots is very convenient: you just need to stretch the purchased or prepared tape along the furrow onto the beds and sprinkle it with soil. One thing! It’s good if you came across the exact variety of carrots on sale that you wanted to buy. But sitting and gluing carrot seeds is quite an activity!
9. Great way— buy coated seeds. Each carrot seed is contained in a hard dragee made of dry hydrogel and fertilizers with microelements. The size of the dragee is also optimal - a little larger than a peppercorn, even if the dragee falls out of your hands in the wrong place, you can easily find it and pick it up. Dragee bright color, and it is so easy to see on the black earth. Dried carrot seed is provided with all the necessary ingredients for the first time. nutrients.
Lately I have been using coated seeds. In the garden bed intended for sowing carrots, I make holes at a distance of 10x10 cm, a depth of 2 cm, a diameter of 1.5-2 cm with a pointed stick (I even have to bend over) :). The stick makes even little dimples, into which I then put 2-3 pellets. After the seeds are spread out, I simply level the bed on top reverse side rake. There is no need to thin carrots. I just pull out extra carrots for soup at the end of June and July.
Experienced gardeners advise replacing seed pelleting at home with mixing regular moistened carrot seeds with dried, well-crushed (ground) mullein (4 parts mullein to 1 part seeds). (Not for everyone!)
10. And this method of sowing carrot seeds is for those who like to experiment. Take water and dissolve some fertilizers in it, preferably complex fertilizers with microelements. Then cook a paste using this water from flour or starch. Let this jelly cool completely. Feel free to add the cooked carrot seeds and mix well.
Then, in any of the means at hand: empty plastic bottle(you will have to make a hole in the lid) cream injector with a large nozzle, an empty ketchup bottle - put or pour (depending on what consistency you get) into it paste with carrot seeds. In accordance with the laws of physics, seeds mixed in the paste do not stick together, but are kept at a distance from each other.
Then you go boldly to the garden bed, make grooves and squeeze this paste into them. The paste with seeds lays down easily and evenly, the carrot seeds are moistened and fertilized. Seeds are used sparingly, and there is no unnecessary work on thinning carrots. And you can choose any carrot variety you like, the seeds of which are not coated.
What other methods of sowing carrot seeds do you know?
Image copyright belongs to icebear7.blogspot.com
Before purchasing carrot seeds, you need to decide how the carrots will be used. If you plan to eat the root crop in the summer, then it is better to buy seeds of early varieties. If carrots are needed for winter consumption, then it is more profitable to purchase seeds of late varieties.
The timing of sowing carrots directly depends on the timing of ripening.
- Early carrots are sown before winter and in the third ten days of April.
- Mid-ripening carrots in the first ten days of May.
- Late-ripening carrots are sown from mid to late June. Do not be afraid that the carrots will not have enough time to ripen. At proper cultivation Root vegetables will have time to ripen before October and gain sweetness.
You can plant carrots in different terms. Pre-winter sowing will provide the table with delicious crispy carrots throughout the summer. Regular sowing in May or June will help prepare carrots for the winter.
Pre-sowing seed preparation
Carrots do not sprout immediately, unlike radishes. What is this connected with? Everyone has noticed that carrot seeds have a strong smell. This smell comes from essential oils that permeate the seed coat. Before planting carrots, you need to wash off the essential oils. To do this, pour carrot seeds into a fabric bag or an old sock, tie it and place it in a glass. They are filled with water at a temperature of 45-50 0 C and kept until it cools completely. The water, colored light orange, is drained and the seeds are poured again. The washed seeds are laid out on a dry towel to dry until free-flowing. Now our seed material is ready for sowing.
Before planting carrot seeds, you can stick them on paper strip. A toothpick is immersed in glue, the seeds are caught with it and glued to the paper after 1.5 cm.
How to plant carrots in a row
Before planting carrots, you need to prepare the ground. From autumn on every quarter. m add 2 kg of rotted humus, half a matchbox of potassium salt and a full Matchbox superphosphate. Doesn't like carrots:
- manured soil;
- lime;
- ash;
- excess nitrogen;
Carrots like to lay down on hard, compacted soil. In order for the seedlings to grow smoothly, the seeds must be sown at the same depth. To do this, loosen the ground with a flat cutter and lay the board edgewise, forming grooves. Water each furrow and begin planting carrots. The easiest way is with granulated seeds. The granules are laid out every 5 cm. Before planting carrots with granules, the beds are spilled generously with water so that the granulated shell gets wet.
What if you have the most ordinary small seeds? Seed material is mixed with sand in a ratio of 1:5 or a special planter is used. When sowing, try not to thicken the plantings. During the first thinning, by pulling out a weak sprout, we damage the delicate roots of neighboring carrots.
The sown seeds are sprinkled on top with a centimeter layer of dry soil, compost or vermicompost. Do not water the crops from above, otherwise a crust will form, making it difficult for the young to germinate.
Seeds can be planted with coconut substrate. The briquette is placed in a bucket and filled with water until it swells. Coconut substrate very light and holds moisture well. Sprouts quickly make their way through it. Seed germination almost doubles.
Tip: practice alternating rows of carrots with planting onions every 15 cm. Onions will repel flies with their smell.
Planting carrots using the wide-row method. Sowing seeds using the wide-row method has worked well. Furrows 15 cm wide are prepared. A row of onions is planted on the sides to repel carrot flies. To form a row, place a board on the loosened soil and press down. A kind of rut 4 cm deep should form.
Dry or washed seeds are sown in spilled rows. They are mixed with sand or planted with a special planter. The carrots are covered with dry soil with a layer of 1 cm. The remaining rut, 3 cm deep, will be filled with mulch or soil as the root crops grow. In the light, the part of the carrot that looks out of the ground turns green, but we don’t need that.
How to plant carrots with germinated seeds? To speed up the emergence of seedlings, carrot seeds are not only soaked in water, but also germinated. They are poured into a sock, soaked in a glass of water and laid out on a damp cloth. Gauze cannot be used - the emerging roots become entangled in its fibers and break off during sowing.
Before planting carrots with sprouted seeds, the rows are watered in advance and regularly moistened with a watering can until shoots emerge.
How to plant carrots before winter
Many gardeners are hesitant to take risks with carrot seeds, fearing that they will germinate prematurely or freeze. If you sow carrots correctly before winter, you can get fresh vitamins on the table all summer long. There is only one minus - carrots from winter sowing are not suitable for storage. You'll have to eat it all in the summer or freeze it for the winter.
The land must be prepared by mid-October. The location is chosen to be horizontal, without slopes, so that the seeds are not washed away by spring floods. The soil is plowed, fertilizers are applied and rows are cut to a depth of 4 cm. It is advisable to cover the furrows with film and press them around the perimeter with boards so that rainwater did not wash away the seed material.
In mid-November, when the ground is already frozen, dry carrot seeds mixed with radish or lettuce seeds are sown. These crops will sprout earlier and mark the location of the carrot rows. The seeds are covered with peat, humus or dry sifted soil prepared in advance.
Do not wash or moisten the seeds, otherwise they will die. Also, you should not sow seeds in wet soil - the carrot seeds will germinate and the seedlings will die.
Now you know how to plant carrots correctly. Choose a method you like and get down to business.
Carrots are a difficult crop to grow - the number of sprouts is much less than those embedded in the soil. Many summer residents try year after year different ways plant carrots so that they sprout faster. But efforts aimed at accelerating seed germination are not always justified and the result is often disappointing. Common troubles - prolonged germination, ugliness and poor taste of carrots - are usually attributed to poor quality planting material. But that's not really the problem. The cultivation technology has certain subtleties, the observance of which guarantees excellent harvest.
Timing of emergence
IN favorable conditions sprouts may appear on the soil surface 14 days after the carrot seeds are planted. In cold weather, root crops sprout after 3-4 weeks. During this time the bed is overgrown weed grass, which directly affects germination.
A long period germination is explained by the fact that the root rod grows first, and only then the shoot begins to make its way to the surface. Because of this feature, it is recommended to water carrots a week after germination so that the roots go deeper into the soil in search of moisture.
What affects seed germination
When stored in a cool, dry place, planting material retains the ability to germinate for 2-3 years. But in any case, only 45-70 percent of the seeds are fertile. Achieve fast growing You can sprout carrots by following the following recommendations:
- Procurement of seeds. You should purchase planting material from trusted suppliers so as not to encounter low-quality products.
- Landing dates. Some gardeners sow carrots in late autumn; in this case, the crop is ready for harvest two weeks earlier. But if the winter is severe enough, there is a risk of seeds freezing. At spring planting it is necessary to take into account the characteristics of the type of root crop: it can be early-ripening, mid-ripening and late. Early varieties can be planted in beds at a stable temperature of +5°C. As a rule, this is the second half of April. May is suitable for planting other varieties, or at least early June.
- Processing of planting material. To protect the seeds from pests, they need to be soaked in a weak solution of manganese.
- Priming. The soil must be fertile, capable of providing the plants with the necessary nutrients. Ash and compost are suitable as fertilizers. When using chemicals, it is important not to exceed the dosage, otherwise toxic substances will destroy the sprouts.
To make it easier for shoots to break through to the surface, and for root crops to have beautiful shape, you need light, loose soil. If the site has heavy clay soil, it should be dug up, adding rotted sawdust or sand.
The root crop does not like an acidic environment; a substrate with a neutral reaction is preferable.
Ways to speed up seed germination
To ensure that the harvest of root crops does not take long to arrive, you can use proven techniques:
- The bed must be prepared in the fall. The soil is cleared of roots, stones and wood chips. If a root crop encounters an obstacle during its growth process, it will bend. Carrots do not like lime and manure, so it is better to add organic matter in the fall, and add it in the spring. mineral fertilizing, containing phosphorus and potassium. It is necessary to monitor the nitrogen content, because if there is an excess of it, the plant spends most of its energy on growing tops. There is no need to fertilize during the summer.
- The seeds are sown in the grooves, the distance between them is 5-7 centimeters. The depth on clay soils is about 1.5 cm, on loose, sandy soils it is 2.5-3 cm. The surface of the depressions should be slightly compacted and moistened with warm water. To repel pests, the grooves are watered with a regular solution of potassium permanganate.
- The appearance of sprouts can be accelerated by proximity to parsley, calendula, and marigolds. Other root vegetables cannot be placed next to carrots.
- Planting material should not be sown too thickly so as not to damage the roots during thinning. Excess shoots are removed during the first week after sprouts appear. This will make it easier for the plants to recover.
- To speed up the germination of carrot seeds, the bed can be covered with agrofibre. It is better to water from a watering can with a strainer so that a strong stream does not drive the seeds deep into the soil.
Pre-sowing treatment
Carrot seeds contain a high concentration of essential oils. They create containment, preventing moisture from penetrating inside. If you sow dry seeds, this process can take 20 days or more, and daily watering is required.
To make carrots rise faster, you can soak them seed material a few days before disembarkation. To remove the oil film, the seeds are washed in warm water, poured into a cotton bag and soaked for 2-3 days. The water is replaced with fresh water every 3-4 hours. After spring soaking, the seeds are dried on paper.
If you often have to fight pests and diseases on your site, you can harden the planting material in the refrigerator. To do this, the bag is washed in running water, wrung out and placed in the refrigerator for 5 days. You need to make sure that the fabric remains damp. After this, the seeds are dried so that they do not stick together.
Bubbling
One of the most effective ways Soaking with simultaneous air supply is considered to allow harvesting a week earlier. If the carrots need to sprout faster, you need to carry out the procedure yourself, using a car pump or an aquarium compressor:
- the container is filled with water room temperature, install the device so that the air passes to the very bottom;
- add liquid fertilizer;
- The duration of bubbling is 18-24 hours, but if the shell begins to burst, the seeds must be removed immediately;
- The planting material is dried and sown in moderately moist soil.
Germination in a humid environment
To avoid disappointment, you need to check the germination of the seeds 1-2 months before planting. To do this, they are soaked in warm water for 2-3 days and sown in a small container with soil. Good indicator is about 80% of seedlings. If the rejection is more than 50%, it is better to replace the seeds or take more planting material than usual, and then thin out if necessary.
To be sure of good harvest, you need to know how to germinate carrots faster. After hardening, the seeds are laid out on a moistened cloth and covered with a layer of cloth on top. It is not recommended to use gauze; the sprouts may get tangled in it. To prevent the liquid from evaporating completely, it is necessary to spray the package with a spray bottle. You can cover the fabric with ordinary polyethylene and ventilate periodically.
At a temperature of about 20 degrees, after a few days the seeds will swell, and a little later sprouts will appear. Before planting, all sprouted seeds germinate within 5-7 days.
Agrotechnical techniques to accelerate the emergence of seedlings
To prevent plants from suffering from diseases and pest attacks, it is recommended to soak the seeds in a weak solution of manganese.
When it comes time to plant pre-sprouted carrot seeds, problems may arise with their even distribution. In this case, some areas will have to be thinned out, while others will remain empty. To avoid this, planting material is mixed with crumbly river sand, poured into the beds and covered with a layer of soil. You can also purchase paper ribbons with seeds attached or make your own using paste as a fixing agent.