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jal_ut
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Carrots

[img]https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/4_carrots.jpg[/img]
These are Royal Chantenay variety.

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gixxerific
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Those are some pretty decent size carrots you have there. Nice :D

Dono

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They came out much straighter than mine :lol:

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kimbledawn
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Beautiful! That's the type that I am growing, I hope that I get some nice carrots there wont be many becaus ethey are in a pot. I started a new batch but they never sprouted so I just started some more and hopefully they won't be eaten by the slugs. :x

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applestar
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The SLUGS! Oh, oh, don't remind me about the slugs!

This spring, I decided to go with pre-spacing/less thinning method -- you sow your seeds quite thinly -- aiming for a couple of seeds per 1" or so. Well, I would see cute little pair of seed leaves come up one day, then next day, I'm scratching my head thinking "I'm SURE there were some carrots starting to grow here"

Finally discovered a slug curled up on the tiny seedling munching it to the ground. :evil:

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You feel like I do about, slugs, and vine borers, and aphids, and cucumber beetles and all the other little "blankety-blanks" on my bad list. :evil: Yeah I'm keeping a list! and I tell them I wish I could nuke them with some poison, and that I know that they take advantage of my organic lifestyle :D then I laugh at myself for talking to bugs.... :shock: my plants, frogs and good bugs are alright but not those little buggers. :lol:

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How do the Royal Chantenay Carrots taste? Any special information for growing them?

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nes
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These guys were already on my list to order for next year!! :D Thanks for sharing, how do they taste?

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jal_ut
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How do the Royal Chantenay Carrots taste? Any special information for growing them?
These carrots have a good flavor. Sweet and crisp.

About growing them: I plant early, as soon in April as the ground is dry enough. I have a garden seeder that drops the seed just right. They will grow until October if left in the ground. I then dig them and take some in and clean them up and put them in the fridg. They will keep quite a while like that. For the others I dig a pit in the garden and put them in the pit and cover it up to store over winter. Spring carrots taken out of the pit are sweet and crisp. These carrots will get large, up to 2 pounds per carrot.

Pic of the carrot pit this spring when I opened it:
[img]https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/spring_carrots.jpg[/img]

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gixxerific
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Jal I suppose you would try to keep the area you bury carrots somewhat dry, or is there a problem of rot. I have always heard of doing this overwinter but never had any carrots worth digging a hole for. :lol:

Enlighten me if you would.

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Diane
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Your soil looks wonderfull and soft. Your carrots look great.
Was your soil always like that?
Can you plant the carrots before the last frost? We have a last frost date in late May here.
Last edited by Diane on Sat Aug 29, 2009 2:25 am, edited 1 time in total.

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jal_ut
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Q1: Jal I suppose you would try to keep the area you bury carrots somewhat dry, or is there a problem of rot. I have always heard of doing this overwinter but never had any carrots worth digging a hole for.

Q2: Your soil looks wonderfull and soft. Your carrots look great.
Was your soil always like that?
Can you plant the carrots before the last frost? We have a last frost date in late May here.

A1: You do not need to keep the carrots dry in the pit. You probably need to have good drainage though so they don't end up in a lake. You do need to cover them with the soil so they won't dehydrate or grow mold. I just dig about 10 inches deep and put the carrots in then cover with the soil I dug out and cover the pit with leaves or straw. The reason for putting them in the pit is so they won't freeze. Carrots can sometimes winter over where grown if the row is covered with straw to insulate it. Depends on how cold it gets in winter. If the carrots freeze, you have lost them. Potatoes can be kept like this too.

A2: The soil here is heavy in clay. It is pretty good as long as I keep putting organic matter on it and don't try to work it when wet. Carrots can be planted a month before the last frost. Sounds like your last frost date is about the same as ours here. I wait until Memorial day to plant out tomatoes. I plant carrots early in April. This year it was April 10, so these carrots were planted 4 months ago. What I don't use will grow until October, then I will put some in a pit for storage. By then they will be huge.

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Your Royal Chantenay carrots are beautiful. You say they can grow to two lbs. When they are that large, is most of the size in additional length or girth?

I've always heard the smaller varieties taste best. How do the Royal Chantenay's taste when large. Are they pithy in the center?

I like the short length of the carrots your holding because I may be able to raise them in beds which are only ten inches deep in soft soil.

Ted

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jal_ut
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Guess I could get back around to this post and answer your questions.


"Your Royal Chantenay carrots are beautiful. You say they can grow to two lbs. When they are that large, is most of the size in additional length or girth? " Girth.

"I've always heard the smaller varieties taste best. How do the Royal Chantenay's taste when large. Are they pithy in the center? " I have never had them get pithy. They have a good flavor.

"I like the short length of the carrots your holding because I may be able to raise them in beds which are only ten inches deep in soft soil. "

Yes, these would work in shallow beds. They seldom get to ten inches long.

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I harvested a few older carrots yesterday. Unfortunately, two of them were badly infested with wireworms. :x ... and here we used to think click beetles were fun. :roll: No more mercy on those guys! :evil:

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jal_ut
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Just getting my carrots dug.

[img]https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/carrots_09_2.jpg[/img]

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gixxerific
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I don't know what is more beautiful the carrot crop or the backdrop behind you.

By the way I put those on my list. For those wondering I have read that they do well in bad soil, meaning clay since they don't get very long.

Do you ever overwinter carrots? If so how does that fare, I have some planted in the ground to see what happens along with onions. I'm even gonna plant some of my spring potatoes and see how that goes.

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Diane
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I was thinking the same thing. Nice harvest, beautiful scenery.
Those carrots look very large.

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jal_ut
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I have overwintered carrots by first throwing some soil on them, then covering them with straw. If it snows before we get zero degree weather, they will not freeze. They can then be dug in the spring, or let grow for seed. If they freeze you will lose them.

I will put some of these in a pit, and some in the fridge, then pass some around. It is more than I need. I find a pit to be more to my liking than covering the row. They are fine in a pit even if we don't have a blanket of snow when it gets cold.

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Nice harvest!

I planted Danver's half-long this year. I chose this variety because they were going into first-year soil that did not have any organic matter, so I felt shorter was better.

They did not do well at all. Don't get me wrong, I ate them and a few of them were nice size. For the most part, however, they were very small, crooked, and some had two or three tips.

Any ideas why this happened? My guess is possible under-thinning. Although, lack of nutrients and too hard ground seem plausible too.

Thanks for any help.

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rainbowgardener
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All of what you said, under-thinning, but especially the hard soil. Carrots really like their soil nice and soft and loose all the way down. For clay soil (along with working on amending it), you can grow the shorter varieties, either the half-long or even better the little round Thumbelina & Chantenay types, which also mature faster than long ones.

Incidentally did you know that carrots originated in Afghanistan where they were grown not for their roots (in pre-hybridization days, much smaller, woodier, less sweet), but their aromatic leaves and seeds, like their relatives parsley, dill, fennel.

Congratulations jal_ut, as people have said, beautiful harvest, beautiful location... you could make a postcard of that picture!

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gixxerific
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jal_ut I think you misunderstood me, I meant planting in the fall and overwintering into a spring harvest.

garden5The biggest enemy of carrots is hard soil and rocks. That is why they are crooked and mishapen. They need VERY lose soil to grow good. Trust me Ive been down that road a time or 200. This year I dug deep, 10 inches or so and fill the trench with LOOSE soil than planted. I'm hoping for a better crop for once. Live and learn. :D

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jal_ut
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[quote="gixxerific"]jal_ut I think you misunderstood me, I meant planting in the fall and overwintering into a spring harvest.

I have never tried that one. Really not much use planting anything here in the fall except garlic. We get frost somewhere near mid September, and it can start snowing anytime. Our winters get cold enough that carrots would have to be covered up pretty well to survive. I just put some carrots in a pit and dig them in the spring.

Yes, hard soil and rocks cause mis-shapen carrots. I also think that wet/dry cycles may make the side apendages happen. You can get some funny shapes at times. Keep them damp.

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hendi_alex
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Carrots are a bienniel, when planted in the fall, the next year mine always got a very tough, woody core.

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[img]https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/slateslide09.jpg[/img]

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gixxerific
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Show off :P

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jal_ut
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Carrots are a bienniel, when planted in the fall, the next year mine always got a very tough, woody core.
Right on. They will bolt, bloom and bear seed. The root becomes tough.

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Gorgeous carrots. What variety are they?

I suggest planting carrots in July for a winter harvest. The best time to harvest carrots is in the winter, because the starches turn to sugars and you'll have the best tasting carrot you've ever had. Harvest some from the snow! Mulch with straw when it gets to freezing temps or use a cold frame or low tunnel.

They're delicious!

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jal_ut
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The variety is Royal Chantenay.

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I till in coarse sand, peat, and composted wood chips (lots of composted wood chips) The chips are aprox half finished compost of wood chips awesome stuff. I think the composted wood chips keep the soil loose.
My carrots were 5" diameter and 7-9" long. I have a picture on a memory card I will try to locate it. I plant two crops one on top of the other. I plant tight and thin. I eat even the smallest tinyest carrot seedlings. they are sweet I don't even make it into the house sometimes I just brush off the dirt and eat. A little gritty but oh so good. I till at least 12" deep.

Mike

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gixxerific
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So basically I should pull my carrots? They have only been in the ground about a month or so. Or should I let them go through the winter? You say the will be woody in the spring I don't want that.

To pull or not to pull. I can't bring myself to do it on my own but if you guy's think that would be best I will trust your opinions.

Thanks

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I'm going to pile mulch (leaves/straw) on mine, secured with a floating cover, and leave them in the ground as long as there's no chance that the ground (and the carrots) doesn't freeze. There's a chance that mice might get to them first though (it's an experiment).

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gixxerific
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applestar wrote:I'm going to pile mulch (leaves/straw) on mine, secured with a floating cover, and leave them in the ground as long as there's no chance that the ground (and the carrots) doesn't freeze. There's a chance that mice might get to them first though (it's an experiment).
So if I get you right, since you didn't say. You are leaving them in over winter until next spring? Or just until it super late in this season? When did you plant?

Sorry so many ?'s but I have never had good luck with carrots and want to find out what I'm doing wrong. I was trying this just to see what would come of it.

builder0101
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I place cardboard over my Carrots and 6"-8" of mulch. I can harvest them all winter long as long as the ground is not frozen solid. Then when the ground begins to thaw I can get the rest. They are the sweetest as was said earlier. Not woody in my experience. I think the woodiness comes in the second season of this biennial. I never kept them into the second growing season.

Thanks,

Mike.

NatGreeneVeg
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gixxerific wrote:So basically I should pull my carrots? They have only been in the ground about a month or so. Or should I let them go through the winter? You say the will be woody in the spring I don't want that.

To pull or not to pull. I can't bring myself to do it on my own but if you guy's think that would be best I will trust your opinions.

Thanks
Let them stay in the ground and harvest all winter as you need some so that you don't have any left by spring.

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jal_ut
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So basically I should pull my carrots? They have only been in the ground about a month or so. Or should I let them go through the winter? You say the will be woody in the spring I don't want that.
You can leave them in the ground, however in your zone you had best provide some protection from the frost or they may freeze. If they freeze, you have lost them. They will be sweet and nice all winter, even in the spring, however when the tops start to grow, pull them all because they will send up flower spikes and get woody. I have kept them through winter where they grew, by covering with a couple inches of soil then straw or leaves to insulate them from the cold. The thing is they won't grow much larger this fall and in the spring they want to flower not grow larger roots.

This year I pulled all mine and put some in a pit. The reason for doing this is so I could till the garden. Otherwise, it is easy to protect them and let them stay until spring. digging some as needed all winter on nice days.

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pharmerphil
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Used to live about 80- miles north of You gixxerific and I covered with cardboard and mulched them 2 foot deep in straw...only one winter that was bad enough I couldn't pull carrots at Christmas...

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applestar
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Cardboard! Excellent tip. Thank you. :D

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gixxerific
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I'm going to leave them. I do have a bail of straw waiting for the compost I could use for insulation as well a a ton of leaves.

I went out the other day and noticed I had a couple that were doubles, I thought I thinned them good but guess not. I replanted them, they were teeny tiny little carrots. Kinda funny they were only about 1-2 inches long but looked just like a big ol carrot only shrunken down really small.

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pharmerphil
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You'll have some fine carrots mid winter :wink:



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