Carrot "Nantes" - almost 80-year-old patriarch, who has proven himself in the spaces of the former Soviet Union. The variety was obtained by Soviet breeders in the 40s of the last century. This carrot was planted in the south of Krasnodar and in the beds of the Irkutsk Region - and everywhere it pleased the gardeners with constant yield. I would like to take a closer look at the whole process of growing carrots "Nantes", starting with the sowing of seeds and ending with the harvest.
- Description and characteristics of the variety
- Planting seeds and growing features
- Care
- Watering
- Top dressing
- Spraying
- Diseases and pests
Description and characteristics of the variety
"Nantes" is already a classic form of carrots. Its name has long become a household name for describing many other varieties of carrots: the shape and yield of early and mid-season varieties. If they talk about a carrot, which is similar to the "Nantes", then it is immediately clear that this is an orange, elongated, even root crop of a cylindrical shape with a rounded tip.
Characteristics of carrots:
- orange-red root vegetable;
- exactly conical shape with a blunt tip;
- weight 100-160 g, length 13-15 cm;
- early or medium early.
This allows us to relate the plant to the mid-early varieties.
The taste of the root of this variety is the reference taste of carrots with elastic, sweet pulp. Vegetable can be stored for a long time when laying in the cellar (for winter storage).
Carrot "Nantes" is used:
- fresh;
- for cooking soups and borscht;
- for conservation;
- for various salads and marinades;
- for making juices and baby food.
Planting seeds and growing features
Carrots grow well in sunny areas. If you sow carrots in the shade or partial shade - the seedlings will be elongated, pale, and the grown roots will not gain good weight.
In no case carrot can not be planted for several years in the same place.
Compliance with crop rotation will allow you to get a good harvest of carrots.
Carrots grow poorly after such predecessors:
- parsnip and dill;
- parsley and celery.
At the same time, the carrot feels great on the beds, where it grew before:
- tomatoes and cabbage;
- garlic and onions;
- cucumbers and potatoes.
Since the variety quickly forms roots, it can be sown twice per season. The first sowing of carrots is carried out in early spring (at the end of March or in early April).
To get the spring early harvest, carrots "Nantes" can be sown before winter:
- in November, choose dry weather and prepare the bed under the carrot;
- soil is loosened, mark furrows for sowing with a marker;
- carrot seeds mixed with sand (1: 1) are sparsely sown in furrows and covered with soil.
As soon as the first carrot sprouts appear in the spring in the garden - the aisle needs to be loosened.
This will give oxygen access to the roots of the seedlings and clean the inter-rows from small weeds. Podzimnaya carrot ripen by the end of May. Before sowing carrot seeds in the ground, you need to calibrate them. To do this, the seeds are immersed in a container with warm water and leave them in a liquid overnight.
In the morning, check the capacity: all empty and unviable seeds will float to the surface, and seeds suitable for sowing will lie at the bottom.
Gently and slowly tilt the container - in the process water is drained together with empty seeds floating on top. At the end of the procedure, only conditional seeds remain at the bottom of the tank.
- The first way is to dry the tested seeds to a state of easy flowability and sow in a convenient time for a gardener.
- The second way is to take a small towel from any natural fabric, moisten it, straighten it and put it on a flat plate.After damping, pour out the seeds that are still wet after sizing and spread it over a damp towel. The composition of the plates, towels and seeds placed inside a bulk plastic bag. The package must be tightly tied in order to keep the seeds moist, and set in a warm place (on the kitchen cabinet or on the gas boiler) for 3 days. After this period, the package needs to be checked daily. As soon as at least 1/3 of the total mass of wet swollen seeds, small carrot bores (1-2 mm) appear, the seeds are removed from the bag and laid out on a dry newspaper sheet to dry. Such seeds must be sown in the ground the next day. Since carrot seeds are very small, before sowing they need to be mixed with any bulk material (sand, crushed chalk).
The spacing of the carrot should be at least 15-20 cm wide (optimally for the width of the chopper blade).
Care
As mentioned above, in order to obtain extremely early carrots (“bundle production”), it is sown before winter.
This method is dangerous because if the gardener incorrectly calculates the sowing time and before the onset of cold weather the carrot has time to climb and climb, then the sprouts will certainly die at the first frost. And the seeds lying in the ground do not suffer from frost at all, and as soon as spring comes, they will sprout.
In the spring, occasional cold snaps occur, which can last from a few days to a week. Sprouting carrot sprouts are not afraid of the cold, the main thing is that the temperature does not fall below zero. But it can negatively affect the quality of future root crops.
Colds contribute to the fact that the plant does not grow a good root, but “goes to the arrow”, that is, it starts growing a seed umbrella. Such a root will not be stored in winter, it is unsuitable for food, tasteless and dry ("wooden").
Root crops need systematic weeding between the rows. Breaks between soil treatment should be no more than 10-14 days. Weeding acts on crops as "dry watering" - the roots will not grow crooked (the carrot curve grows on hard soils) and will help keep the carrot bed clean.
When the height of the carrot "tails" above the ground reaches 15-20 cm, it is necessary to break through the crops. Seeding seedlings manually, pulling out all the extra plants from the garden. Between carrots leave a distance of 3-4 cm. This technique will allow the remaining roots to grow large, beautiful and tasty.
Watering
Watering is very important for carrots in the first month after germination. During this period, it is necessary to water once a week, at least 10 liters of water should be spent for each square meter. If the weather is hot, then without watering, young tender seedlings can simply dry out and die.
In the future, watering adult plants can be reduced and watered them 2 times a month.
Top dressing
In the process of growth, the carrot must be fed twice with mineral fertilizers:
- the first feeding is carried out in stage 4 of these leaves;
- The second feeding is made in late July.
Spraying
Chemical spraying
To protect against insects, spray plants on the leaf with insecticides ("Karate", "Arrivo").
- the first treatment is carried out in stage 4 of these leaves;
- the second treatment - 21 days after the first;
- the third time they treat the beds only if necessary, but not earlier than 21 days after the second treatment.
Biologically Clean Sprays
For protection of root crops, gardeners carry out repeated processing of crops with folk remedies. A very effective tool in this fight is an infusion of wormwood.
How to make an extract of wormwood:
- 5-liter tank filled with freshly wormwood;
- pour boiling water over wormwood to the edge of the container;
- close the lid and leave overnight to insist;
- in the morning drain the infusion through folded gauze;
- dilute 10 liters of water.
Diseases and pests
Carrot reluctantly ill, the most common diseases of this root - alternarioz or fomoz. In order to reduce the possibility of damage to the bed by these diseases, it is necessary to carry out preventive treatment of the green part of the plantings with a 1% solution of Bordeaux liquids. The main damage to root crops is caused by an insect such as a carrot fly. Visually, its presence in the beds can be identified by curly carrot leaves.
Preventive measures in the fight against carrot fly are timely loosening between rows, not thickened planting and the absence of weeds.
If the invasion of pests was still not prevented by preventive methods, the beds should be treated on the sheet with chemical preparations (Intavir or Actellic).
The most tasty and useful carrot is that which is grown by own hands, without adding chemical fertilizers to the soil and processing by insecticides. This bright yellow root crop is not terrible to give a small child - such a juicy and sweet root will only benefit the baby.
It will be nice if our advice will help cottagers and gardeners in growing carrots of the "Nantes" variety.