Kitchen Garden Forum

I`ve grown carrots - early nantes- in a tub in the green house. They have lovley bushy green tops about 10cm tall but no carrot under the soil. what have i done wrong ? Should i be more patient or should i send them to the great compost heap in the sky and start again ?
Help
Seedling

I grow carrots occasionally but don't often check their root development for several months so wonder if it's still too early for any roots to be forming yet. No doubt there will be some experts on here before long who know the answer.

Too much water may be the problem. Heavily watering indoor crops can cause excessive green growth at the expense of the edible bits.

When did you sow them?

You have to have the green bit on the top to feed the root underneath I would be more worried if the green growth on the top was very poor.

Hello Seedling
Don't throw them out as the roots will form eventually.
Just two thoughts - is it getting too hot inside your greenhouse, especially with the sunny weather we've had recently and are you overfeeding them? Perhaps this is encouraging a lot of lush growth at the expense of roots. As the carrot roots begin to form, any feeding that you do should be with a low N type feed such as Chempak 8. Can you move the tub outside as I can't think that they need any protection now?

John

Hi Seedling,
It sounds to me that somehow they have managed to get too much Nitrogen. Did you sow in a medium containing home made compost?
Most root crops need a high P content and lower N and K to produce a good root formation.
The carrots will come in time so do not worry unduly.
JB.

Hi Johnboy
I sowed the carrot seed in multipurpose compost but i think i`ve probably watered them too much. I`ll try to be patient and see if they turn into proper carrots
Seedling

I had two of my daughters friends round to play yesterday and as they were getting a little rowdy I got them to do some gardening with me. I ran out of jobs for them and I thought it would be nice to send them home with something to grow. I gave them a flower pot each about 5in tall and looked for some seeds. I remembered she grew some lovely baby carrots in pots last year so gave them carrot seeds - Early Nantes. I thought it would give some 1½in baby carrots at least. But now I am wondering - last year we used a proper 'baby carrot' variety. Do all carrots go from a baby stage - to a big stage? or will they just struggle. I told them they would take about 8 weeks to grow (had no idea really)! So Early Nantes into baby carrots in 8 weeks possibility?