moving carrots....

hello all

my carrots seem to be growing really fast but are looking a little crowded, i did some thinning out and found the most amazing little beginning of a carrot and a load of little hair like roots coming out of it (o how exciting... carrots soon...):D:D

my question is, can I replant these as seedlings in another area or are they just good for my compost bin now they have been yanked out??

Thx!

 

i replanted mine at that stage, altho mine were put into different pots, shouldnt make any difference

 

fantastic! I shall be much more gentle when pulling them out then and will replant into another container!
gosh isnt this all so exciting! my very own carrots!
thx

 

You can try it but the trouble with transplanting root veg is that if you damage the long thin tap root you may get some odd shaped ones,they'll still taste the same though.

 

or don't thin out 'till later and eat them as baby carrots.

 

Ellen

It's possible to transplant carrots but you have to be veeeeery gentle. I've used a "two trowel" technique for years. First, water your row of carrots well. Then you take a trowel in each hand and use them both to lift out a plug of soil from the place where you want the carrots to be. Then you use the same technique to lift out the spare seedling carrots for transplanting in a plug of soil. Then you drop the seedling carrots, complete with their plug of soil, into the hole you dug first of all. When you've made all the moves you want to, you water the rows again.

This way, you don't damage the fine hair-like roots which are growing on the sides of the baby carrots. Do it carefully and the carrots don't even know they've been moved....

 

One thing I would like to mention. Carrot fly are attracted by bruised foliage...so be careful.:thumb:

 

my neighbour told me to lift the carrots 3ft off the ground to keep the carrot fly away, not sure if this is true but i had my pots on an old desk raised off the ground, not a greedy fly in sight

 

I believe the risk is that the Carrot Fly gets them as they are being transplanted. Dunno why it should be such a risk, sounds to me the equivalent of the carrot fly waiting for a Number 11 Bus and then a several all come along at once ...

 

Kristen : :D:D:D

I have my carrots in tubs with high sides to ward off the fly.. apparently carrot ones dont fly too well, nothing above 21inches from the ground!

At the moment they are seriously packed tight in 3 rows in the said tub, im not sure if the trowel way will be possible as they will still be packed tight right??

Ill try to be as gentle as possible and will water first to make it less of a yank and more of a slide out! Not too bothered about shape I have to admit as its all for my own consumption.... so a slight bend shouldnt make much of a difference to the taste right?!

:rolleyes:

 

Shape doesn't really matter does it, as you say, its the taste.

I understand if you grow carrots in the ground, surround the plot with polythene keeps the little sods out.

I could never grow them in my soil and my neighbour couldn't grow beetroot, so we used to swap.

Was a very good system.:thumb: