The queen of autumn is carrot, characterized by high taste and marketability, for which it is in demand among vegetable growers and loved by consumers.
Being a crop of the late ripening season, the Queen of Autumn is ideally suited for winter storage: root crops can be kept fresh until June next year.
Carrot Queen of Autumn: Description
Outwardly, the Autumn Queen is characterized by medium-sized finely cut green leaves and large conical-shaped root crops with pointed tips. The average length of each varies from 20 to 25 cm, weight 60-250 grams. The pulp is tender, juicy, sweet, red-orange.
Productivity is high: from 4 to 10 kg of high-quality fruits per square meter. For full ripening, such a garden crop requires from 117 to 131 days. The variety is recommended both for fresh consumption and for all types of processing, its undoubted advantage is resistance to cracking and shooting.
Where to plant carrots?
The Queen of Autumn variety will delight you with an abundant and high-quality crop at the right location. This should be a well-lit area with direct sunlight throughout the day. Growing in the shade will significantly impair the taste of the product and cause a decrease in yield. Be sure to consider after which crops the Queen of Autumn will be planted.
Carrots should not be planted after dill, parsley, parsnip, cumin, celery and carrots. Ideal crops, after which the orange beauty will please a high harvest, are cucumbers, onions, garlic, tomatoes, cabbage, beans, beets and potatoes.
Seed preparation and sowing
For sowing, you need to select high-quality planting material. To determine it, the Queen of Autumn carrot seeds need to be poured with warm water and wait a while. "Illiquid" will pop up within 10 hours. To speed up germination, it is recommended to soak the seeds in warm water for a day, changing it every 3 hours. Or use a solution from a tablespoon of wood ash combined with a liter of water. Next, carrot seeds need to be washed and placed for a while in the refrigerator, for stratification.
Sowing carrots should be carried out in well-moistened, shallow furrows with a distance between them of at least 15-20 cm. The optimum planting depth is 2-3 cm. It is recommended to sprinkle the sown seeds with soil and roll them up with a roller or a board. The first shoots will please their appearance after 2 weeks.
Care Features
The queen of autumn is a carrot that needs regular soil cultivation aimed at loosening the surface soil layer and destroying weeds. The presence of weeds contributes to the shading of vegetable crops and the deformation of root crops. Weeding is best done after rains and watering, the first is preferably carried out before the seeds germinate. Subsequently, it is recommended to spud each root crop in order to avoid the formation of fruits with a green top - the first sign of bitterness.
Therefore, before planting, it is recommended to make ½ buckets of rotted manure per 1 square meter. When planting on loamy lands, it is advisable to add 3 liters of sawdust, which will cause loose soil.
An important factor in obtaining a high-quality commercial presentation crop is the control of planting density, the first thinning of which should be carried out after the appearance of these leaves. The queen of autumn is a carrot that should grow at a distance of 3 cm from each other. With sparse sowing of seeds, there is no need for their thinning. With the appearance of two pairs of leaflets, the procedure must be repeated with an increase in the distance between plants.
Watering and feeding
A key element of root care is regular moderate watering at all stages of plant development, which is best done in the evening. The depth of wetting of the soil should correspond to the size of carrots; for beds with adult plants, this is an indicator of 30 cm. With a lack of moisture, the Queen of Autumn carrots, whose taste ratings are positive, will give bitter and sluggish fruits. Half a month before harvesting, soil moisture should be stopped to prevent cracking of the fruit.
Carrots The queen of autumn needs additional nutrition, the first of which should be done after 3-4 weeks from the appearance of young sprouts. The second time you need to fertilize the soil after 2 months. Fertilizers are recommended to be applied in liquid form by adding one of the following drugs to a bucket of water:
- wood ash (2 cups);
- nitrophosco (tablespoon);
- composition of double superphosphate and urea (15 grams each) and potassium nitrate (20 grams).
Carrot Queen of the Autumn: storage process description
Correctly grow carrots Queen of the Autumn - this is only half the success of the enterprise; It is important for the product to provide the required storage conditions.
The fruits must be intact, intact, any wound or incision will inevitably cause the process of decay. Dug root crops need to be placed in bulk for 10 days in a cool, well-ventilated area. This operation will eliminate damaged and spoiled carrots. Good fruits need to be put in a box, sprinkled with sand with slaked lime or chalk added to it. This will prevent the appearance of fungal diseases. To prevent the carrots from germinating, the room temperature should not be higher than 5 ° C. You can store carrots in bags or plastic bags. They should not be tied so that the fruits can be aired.
Diseases and Pests
Carrot Queen of the autumn, reviews of vegetable growers about which are positive, may be affected by a carrot fly, the presence of which is determined by twisted leaves. Such an insect prefers thickened, waterlogged and overgrown with weeds beds, so proper care for a vegetable crop will be the best protection. Since the fly does not tolerate winds, it would be advisable to plant a vegetable crop in a windy place, for a greater effect - next to onions. It is recommended to sprinkle the beds with tobacco dust or hot pepper, mulching them in parallel with straw or mowed grass. Of the preparations against carrot flies, Actellik, Inta-Vir, Lepidocide and others are effective. In the fight against fungal diseases, "Mikosan-B", "Trichodermin", "Phytocide" are effective.