Carrot shaped disaster..

Trotter

Hi all,

A few weeks ago, I realised I'd made a rookie error and planted my carrot seeds out way too close together. When they were around 3 inches long, I dug them up and separated them all.

For a while the leaves looked dead but over the weeks they perked up and I decided to wait until today to lift them. It seems I've 2 big problems now.

Firstly.. Some of the carrots have a load of 4-5mm holes through them. Can anyone tell me what that is and what I can do next year to avoid them?



Also, many of the carrots seemed to have re-rooted after I separated them but the roots are all forming along the carrot itself. Again, its not looking overly edible and she who must be obeyed has now gone to Tesco so I can think about what I did, and so she can buy carrots.



I'd appreciate any ideas on how I can overcome this disaster next year. My main improvements I think should be to sew the seeds thinner so I dont have to thin out the carrots at all.

This year I grew them in a 1ft x 6ft x 4ft raised panel box in the garden. I'd like to grow them in the same place next year.

I hope the holes in the carrots arent a sign of a problem for the onions and garlic that I plan on putting down in the next few weeks. Any advice on that too would be great.

Thanks!

fodda

Holes could be wireworm, good picture here and you should have noticed them in the soil.

www.grow-your-own.ie/potatopests.html

beer enigma

fodda wrote: »

Holes could be wireworm, good picture here and you should have noticed them in the soil.

www.grow-your-own.ie/potatopests.html

I agree with Fodda - looks like Wireworm & these past two years have been the worst for ages.

Was the area of planting previously grass ? - if so, that's prime wireworm territory. Maybe think about making a cheap & cheerful raised bed for planting next year with a membrane at the bottom to stop them coming up from below.

There's nothing chemically that can or should be used.

the larvae that do the damage are from the eggs of the Click beetle, so look out for these & kill them if you see them.

fodda

I must say that when digging up my spuds last week the soil around my spuds was riddled with beatles. I dont know if these were the ones which cause wireworm as they were all shapes and sizes but they seemed to love the soil and grass/weeds that grew around the spuds. Some spuds have quite a few bite marks and holes. I think i got them up just in time.

beer enigma

fodda wrote: »

I must say that when digging up my spuds last week the soil around my spuds was riddled with beatles. I dont know if these were the ones which cause wireworm as they were all shapes and sizes but they seemed to love the soil and grass/weeds that grew around the spuds. Some spuds have quite a few bite marks and holes. I think i got them up just in time.

Sounds like you were lucky - its been a desperate year for wireworm & for carrots the only true way to avoid them is to plant in June when the wireworm have gone

Trotter

I have the carrots in this little frame in the garden.. The soil was brought in from elsewhere but theres no membrane or plastic separating it from the grass underneath.



Wire worm.. Little feckers.

Strange thing is I planted the seeds at the end of May but planted them way too close together so by late August they were still tiny. There was no sign of anything eating them then. Its only when I separated them that they started to get those roots and get nibbled.

fodda

Well if a bad year this year, does this mean that next year will be bad due to lots this year breeding for next year?

jc bamford

You cant pull up carrots and re plant them, they will not re grow. The holes are almost certainly caused by slugs which got in when you loosened the soil and removed some of the carrots. You can test this out by placing a carrot (from the shop if necessary) on the soil surface, loosely cover it with a
piece of plastic, check after a few days and see if the result is the same

Trotter

jc bamford wrote: »

You cant pull up carrots and re plant them, they will not re grow. The holes are almost certainly caused by slugs which got in when you loosened the soil and removed some of the carrots. You can test this out by placing a carrot (from the shop if necessary) on the soil surface, loosely cover it with a
piece of plastic, check after a few days and see if the result is the same

This adds up actually because there was no sign of any holes when I took them up to separate them initially.

How about the hairy roots? Was that just the carrot trying to re-establish?

Lesson learned for next year anyway.. Plant them with enough space from day one.

Askim

you don't have to plant them too far apart, just thin when small to about 1" apart then thin again to about 2" and eat the thinnings and let the other ones grow to full size, as said above you can't replant carrots.

extra roots on carrot is it trying to regrow, it would more than likely go to seed if left in the ground

A