Carrots are a unique root crop with a rich content of useful elements and vitamins. Currently, thousands of varieties are bred worldwide. One of them is the Karotel table carrot variety, which has slightly elongated, thick root crops and a bright, orange-red color. Farmers love it for its good yield, excellent palatability and resistance to diseases and pests.
Grade description
Carrot Carrot belongs to the middle varieties. The root crop has a small core, a blunt tip, the pulp is sweet, juicy, crunchy, with a rich content of carotene. The carotel is appreciated for its resistance to tsvetochnosti, shooting. The weight of carrots is small, an average of sixty grams.
Varieties
Carrot Carrot is an old variety. It is difficult to find in stores, but there are a lot of its types:
- One of the earliest varieties is the Paris Carriage. Root crops ripen eighty days. They have a pleasant aroma, dessert flavor. Grow best on heavy soil. The variety is intended for fresh consumption, for freezing, canning. The disadvantages include low productivity - up to five kilograms per square meter.
- Polar cranberries ripen for about sixty days. The variety is typically grown in the northern regions of Russia, where summer quickly ends. It is considered one of the best varieties for growing in cold climates. Root crops are not stored for a long time, so they are used for food, canned, frozen.
- Carrot Alenka is another Carotel variety of carrots. It does not crack, has excellent resistance to disease. The root crop has a cylindrical shape and an average length of about fifteen centimeters. Matures 85 days. The disadvantage of the variety is the need for careful care, otherwise the crop will not be able to collect.
- Karotel Select - Dutch representative of the variety. It differs from other types of high ductility. The length of root crops reaches 14 centimeters, the color is saturated, very bright, orange. The variety is ideal for cooking, canning. The disadvantage is the high requirements for soil and special conditions for ripening - it grows only on light soils.
Productivity
With good care, Carrot Carrot gives a good harvest. From one square meter, you can get from six to seven or more kilograms of root crops up to 20 centimeters long and weighing up to 150 grams each.
When to plant carrots
Planting time of carrots is chosen strictly individually for each region. It should not be too early. The most optimal time is when the average daily temperature is +15 ° C.
The bed is done in advance. The soil must be loose in it. If the earth is heavy, then it is diluted with sand. Then prepare the seeds. They are laid out on a damp cloth, covered with a second layer on top. The fabric should always be wet. After the seeds have swollen, they are placed in a quench refrigerator for two weeks.
In preparation for planting, fertilizers (humus, ash) are applied to the soil. Do not use nitrogen fertilizers or manure, as the vegetable is very sensitive to high nitrogen content.
Soil preparation
After choosing a suitable site, you should prepare the soil for planting carrots. With spring sowing, the earth is dug up in advance, from autumn. Digging should be deep, one and a half bayonet shovels.
Before the sowing, the beds are sprinkled with wood ash, after which they begin to form furrows with a depth of not more than 2.5 cm.
Features of sowing and fertilizing
If you need to get carrots of the Karotel variety for autumn and winter use, then sowing is carried out from the first of May.
Pre-prepared seeds are laid in grooves to a depth of two centimeters, the distance between the rows is half a meter. Top crops are covered with a film. The norm is considered sowing 0.5 g per 1 m². Shoots appear in two weeks. Immediately after the appearance of the first sprouts of planting, you need to carefully thin out to prevent their thickening.
You can sow seeds before winter. According to the description, Carrot is the best carrot in areas where cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage or onions used to grow.
Experts recommend feeding her only with mineral fertilizers. The first time they are introduced two weeks after the emergence of mass shoots. Usually, kalimagnesia is used at the rate of 1 tsp. on a bucket of water. Then, for feeding, take 20 g of potassium nitrate, 15 g of double superphosphate and 15 g of urea per bucket of water.
Watering
And how often to water the carrots? Experienced gardeners argue that watering should be moderate and even. Although this is a moisture-loving culture, it does not like stagnation of water, therefore it should be watered often, but portions of life-giving moisture should be small. And in no case should you pour young shoots.
The first watering is carried out immediately after emergence. From this moment and during the entire period of increasing the mass of the root crop, the beds are watered three times with the norm - a bucket of water per square meter. They do this, as a rule, in the evenings. Then you just need to keep the soil slightly moist. But how often to water the carrots in a particular area depends not only on the soil, but also on weather conditions. If it is hot, and the earth is light, sandy, then it should be watered 5-6 times a week. Watering is completed 2-3 weeks before the harvest to avoid cracking of root crops.
What to plant after root crops
And what to plant after carrots the next year, because this root crop drains the earth? Use the area on which carrots were grown last year should be used with caution. There will be few nutrients in this place, therefore it is best to plant crops that love and are not afraid of fertilizing. It can be cucumbers, cabbage, tomatoes.
To restore the land, it is useful to plant green manure after harvesting carrots. Before winter, they mow and lay evenly on the bed. To do this, you can use oats, mustard, rye. These crops nourish the soil, structure and disinfect it.
If you know what to plant after carrots the next year, you can subsequently get a rich harvest of root crops. If crop rotation is not carried out, then the entire crop can be lost.
Diseases, pests
The main diseases and pests of carrots include rot, brown spotting, aphids, carrot midges.
To get rid of rot, potash fertilizers should be applied. Brown spotting is removed with a nettle broth or use special preparations offered in gardening stores. Periodic chemical treatments help in the fight against insects.
Collection, storage
The carrot belongs to those varieties that are harvested after about 100-105 days. You can find out more precisely the growing season by looking at the manufacturer's instructions on the ripening dates of a particular variety.
After harvesting, intended for long-term storage, carrots are carefully dried in the shade at temperatures up to twelve degrees. Judging by the reviews, the storage method in the sand is very good.
Subject to all conditions, carrots are able to preserve all the nutrients and beneficial properties until the new crop.