I don't have a suggestion but have been reading the threads lately and agree that carrots are a good crop.

Around here people sell them really small...how they suckered people into buying them that way I don't know....about 7 little carrots for $2.50..as you know a lot of little carrots can be grown in a square foot.

One other thing on carrots I saw recently was too rake the beds at a week after emergence with a floppy type grass rake, the idea was that it would damage weed sprouts but not carrots as much. Then rake them again a week or two later, Interesting food for thought on weed problems.

Good idea on the rake, I might try that for my less weedy beds. I have also found that if I deep soil rip and deep till the carrot beds, then make a raised bed with my disc hiller, I bury the weed seeds and I have a cleaner crop.

I am still going to do flame weeding, I think it works well ( but it is all about timing).

We sell for $2.00 a pound and sometimes 3 lbs for $5, if we have a good supply.

Jay

i haven't been satisfied with the taste of any of the non-orange carrots.

I've seen people that swear by laying planks/boards down on the carrot seeds, immediately after planting. Leaving the planks on for 3 weeks and then removing them. The carrots are ready to pop thru the ground, but the weed seeds haven't germinated due to no light. Someone might try that.

Hi Jay, with using row cover on the ground for germination what size do you use and how many layers on the ground?
I have a bunch of agribon 19 and intuitively, it seems like I'd get more moisture holding with it doubled or tripled?
Maybe that's a bad idea for some reason?

I just use some old agribon 19. You can double or triple it up and it would hold in more moisture, Mark from Oregon (on here) says that is what he does. I just use one layer because it is easier to lay out and less to blow away and end up in a powerline.

Marla, the rowcover does the same thing as a board, just easier to cover a larger area. I think 3 weeks would be a little long to wait to uncover.

Jay

Thanks for posting these tips on starting carrots...as I may try to grow them this year. I never can get ahead of the weeds. what is the days to harvest in general...from planting to picking? and should one succession plant say
every 2 weeks or is there no need to because they hold well in the soil?

Days to harvest vary greatly depending on time of year and variety. I planted carrots this week, but won't be harvesting until May. They don't grow fast when it is this cold.

Also, succession intervals depends on how big your plantings are and how fast you sell them. If you sell 100 pounds a week, in a poor year, we can get 100 pounds from 4 rows in a 2.5 foot bed 32 feet long, then we would need about 80 square feet a week. If we plant 800 square feet, then that would last us 10 weeks. I should replant about every 2 months. If I only plant 240 square feet, then I need to replant every 3 weeks. I am aiming to plant enough carrots to last me about a month. I am planning to replant every month. For me, not sure if this is good or bad, but I average about 1 pound per square foot of carrots. However, it depends when you start pulling them.

Hope that helps.

Jay

I buy OP carrot seed because it is so much cheaper. I usually grow Scarlet Nantes, Cosmic purple and Yellowstone and sometimes Atomic Red is in there too. Yellowstone is decent but the least productive of those varieties. Yellowstone is fine but not as fast maturing either. Cosmic Purple is very fast to mature. I like how they all taste but I always cook carrots not eat raw.

yes very helpful Jay... next question I have for you .... do you have a line seeder as your comment sounds as if you must use something to get straight rows rather then broadcast type seeding which would really be a nightmare trying to weed.

Yes I use an Earthway Seeder to plant everything. They are about $100 new, you can find them uses, just make sure the red or black seed box isn't warped. It is not good for them to sit in the sun. Get the extra plates. I like the regular carrot plate. In my opinion the light carrot plate doesn't seed them heavy enough. I don't thin, the carrots, but I have pulled some out while weeding.

Here is my new planting that planted this week.

Here is a link that might be useful: Starting carrots in the Heat

i have a 4 row pinpoint seeder that i use for carrots. if you adjust it right you can get 12 rows of carrots in a 30" wide bed. to me the earthway seeder doesn't work well for small seed.

Jay how warm is your soil? I am trying to convince my husband that we should be planting carrots in the high tunnel ASAP (it is not quite ready to plant but should be by the weekend) he says the soil temp os around 50F and he feels that is too cold to plant and we will get very spotty germination. Is this your experience?

I haven't taken a soil temperature yet, but I will tonight for you. If I was guessing, it is probably in the 45-50 degree range. I usually get a really good stand, if I keep them moist. The first year I tried to do this, I didn't water enough and did get spotty germination.

Jay

Here is a 2013 germination picture.

Same patch in April/May

These carrots were planted around January 1 last year.

Just a visual picture.

Jay

Went out and took a soil temp after I got home. It was 42 degrees. We have been cold the last two days, with lots of wind so that maybe why the lower temp. We are suppose to be in the 50's and 60's all this weekend. I will take it again on Monday and see what happens. The temperatures can vary wildly this time of year in the high tunnels.

Jay

Thanks, Jay, I'll try two layers of row cover over the carrots for germinating and add or subtract based on what it looks like.

Jay, I grew a good yellow carrot this year called "Yellowpac". Decent flavor, about 80 days to mature. It's an imperator type so it's a little longer than most Nantes, but not a problem to dig. My only issue was it's tendency to bolt when under row cover. I use ar-19 to protect from carrot rust fly and sometimes get a little bolting here and there on the Nantes, but I lost a lot of the Yellow Pac during the August heat.
This year i'm going to try "white satin" instead.
-Mark

Thanks for the info Mark, After looking longer, there really isn't a carrot that meets my criteria very well. I may try the Yellowpac and a few others.

I have also found a purple one from Osbourne seed for fresh eating, I am going to try it too. Trying to limit myself to just a few varieties, to many choices confuses the poor customers and they end up buying none!

Jay