I have done carrots in containers for a few years, with wonderful success. They are so much easier to grow in containters, and almost all look picture perfect. The best system for me uses a rectangular rubber maid container, 18 gallon capacity, filled with straight perlite. I drill a half inch hole about 1.5 inches from the bottom of the container to allow for drainage. The solution that collects below that level in the container wets the perlite well by capilary action. I use fertilizer in all watering after the seeds germinate. I can accomodate about 200 carrots in this container. As I pick the largest to harvest, others have more room and grow more. The carrrots are not bothered by pests, and are trivial to clean.

Renais

Hi Renais:

I'm intrigued by this and have a couple of questions. Doesn't the perlite blow away? I get some pretty high wind here and wonder how I would keep that from happening.

What size carrots do you grow? Are they the standard carrots or a smaller variety?

Pam

Once the perlite has been watered down a few times, it becomes fairly stable in wind. I grow both full size and smaller carrots. Since the tubs are about 16-18 inches deep, there is plenty of room for the full size carrots. I've reused the same perlite for a number of years, so the initial investment in perlite has been repaid by the repeated cropping. Much of my growing occurs in a greenhouse, so I can grow through the winter. One of the things I would like to do this year is start some tubs in the late summer, and see how they winter outside. Overwintered carrots are said to be very sweet and tasty. I plan on trying the variety Eliot Colman suggests.

Renais

Thanks for the information. I also meant to ask what type of fertilizer/strength you use in the watering. Also, do you sow the seeds directly in the perlite? I know carrot seeds are tiny and would think they might fall to through the perlite.

I use 8 ounces of a fertilizer similar to Miracle Gro per hundred gallons of water (I have lots of containers.) I always use the fertilizer solution to water; the continuous, low dosage fertilizer works really well for me. I sow the carrot seeds directly into the perlite. Once the perlite has been sprayed down with water, it is packed enough that the carrot seeds stay where they are put. The perlite makes the often difficult task of keeping carrot seeds moist while they germinate fairly easy, since the perlite wicks up moisture from the bottom of the container fairly well.

Renais

Renais, 18 gallon rubber maid filled with pure perlite, how much would one expect to pay to properly fill the container(s), I plan to have several almost half whiskey barrel size containers.