Carrots

[Nemophila]

I just wanted to share a little about something odd happening in my garden. I am growing carrots for the first time this year, and they've done pretty well (especially considering I planted them too close together). The odd thing is one them (the plant or top) is well over three feet tall and blooming! Now, everything I have read about carrots said that they are biennials and as such "will not bloom until the second year". So I was wondering, has anyone else had any experience like this?

[lovetogarden]

I remember reading once that extreme heat can cause the plants to bolt. Has the temperatures been very hot?

[Nemophila]

It hasn't been really hot for a little over a month, and even then it was low to mid 90s which isn't unusual. I wonder if maybe cooler temps would work the same way? It has been somewhat unseasonably cool in the evenings the past couple of weeks.

[lovetogarden]

http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0904/bolting_vegetables.asp

Read about bolting under biennial veggies. It states unsettled temps early in the season being the cause.

[Nemophila]

Wow, I guess it was the slightly chilly weather! I appreciate the info, that's something to keep in mind for next year.

[GreenZone]

Don't be tempted into saving the seed from that early bolter! The causes might be environmental, but still, that one bolted where the rest did not. So there must presumeably be a genetic component here. You wouldn't want to propagate a strain of early-bolting carrots. Or at least I wouldn't think you would...
--Randel

[Nemophila]

I wouldn't save seed from it anyway, since it would be open pollenated and we have a lot of wild carrots, queen anne's lace and various other things it could cross with. But that was a very good point!

[40lb farmer]

i did a 40 gallon bin of carrots this spring while it was still a bit too cold for melons. i planted about half a pack of something like St. Valery but under a different name. about late may it was too hot here for them: they started to consume the roots and my harvest was around 10 lbs of six inch tubes. same with the golden beets i had in a sill planter. i moved the sill planter under my screen porch and harvested them when they were about three inches in diameter in august.

[deb65802]

I am trying 2 kinds of new carrots for me this year. one is little fingers and the others is danvers I think. dont have the pack in front of me.

can hardly wait to see how they turn out.

[Pickled_Melon]

i planted an 18 liter bin with sugar snax carrots this spring. they were doing well until a cold snap killed'em last week. the cores were fully developed but not much flesh was built up around them. i've replanted with St. Valery and Atomic Red. and have about 30% germination already.

[genXgardener]

Hello, friends! i am a newbie heirloom gardener in Jacksonville, FL, which I THINK is Zone 8b. I'd love to experiment with carrots, but have been told not to bother with our sandy soil and hot climate. Are there any varieties or techniques that I could try here that might actually produce? Curious... thanks for any help!

[trudyjean]

genxgardener, I am above you in z8 but in SW Ga. I have found that growing carrots here is best done in the fall. I've tried planting them in the spring and they did fair, but the taste was aweful. No matter what stage they were in they tasted green. A big disappointment. Last year I planted Danvers an Sweet Fingers (I think) and they did great, they didn't mind our cold temps or frost. Much better harvest, tender and sweet. I have sandy soil where the garden is at and have raised beds with borders so they don't wash. I had to put borders around them due to the slope of the land when we had hard rains. I've only had them for 2 yrs now, amending them in the spring and fall. Each season its gotten better. Anyway, I suggest for you to wait til fall around August/Sept. and plant your carrots in your area. trudyjean

[Pickled_Melon]

on atomic reds:
has anybody had decent produce from this variety? the 18liter bin i have been tending has only produced around 5 kuroda sized specimens with the rest still in the 'gathering momentum' stage and only a few inches long. should i thin them again or add some richness to the spray?

[steady]

i got st vallery l lunar white and chatney red core,

i added some sand and mulch to the soil,
im using direct seeding as well as transplants to determine which methiod i like best,
im usong square foot gardening techniques with the carrots spaced bvout 4 inches apart,
made 4 templates to seed with took 4 seperate square foot portions of cardboard and for plants that reqire 1 foot spacing placed one whole centerd then made one template with, spacing bout, the made one with four holes equally space
then 9 wholes equally spaced then 16 wholes equally spaced.

will do succesive plantings evry 3rd to 6th day or as needed