Hi there. I have grown carrots, once, and they were extremely good and sweet. I know about how you have to prepare the soil deep enough so the carrots do not run into obstructions as they are forming those long roots........
But yesterday as I was making soup I bit into a carrot (organic, from a good store etc) and it was, well, not the bitterest carrot I have ever bitten into, but not sweet like I expected. And then I remembered when I was living where there were no organic carrots to be had, I used to have a practice of actually taste-testing carrots before committing them to the soup, as I have also discovered that a bitter carrot that is REALLY BITTER can in fact ruin an otherwise good pot of soup with its bitter self!
So I am not sure why it took me this long to wonder, why are some carrots bitter and some carrots sweet? Perhaps because never before have I been in the company of folks who might actually know the answer to the question!
So, does anyone know? I feel sure it has to do with soil composition and correct plant nutrients...... but I would love to know what the secret ingredient is. I am sure there must be one!
Anyone know?
Some carrots sweet, some carrots bitter, but why?
Cultivar is most important in my opinion. Weather does affect flavor, Hot weather during the growing period produces less sweet carrots than than those grown under cool conditions. Stress from lack of water or nutrients also affects flavor. An overage carrot, particularly a summer grown one can get woody and tasteless.
I agree with farmerdill. Properly raised in soil with good heart and favorable weather many varieties can be good, but to be exquisite in taste and texture, you need the best varieties for that suited to your growing conditions.
Ditto on the variety being a factor, also the weather. What I've noticed is that carrots maturing in the cooler weather tend to have the best sugar content than those maturing in hot weather. ("Terpenoids" are considered to be the blame for that, kicking in when hot weather plays a role as well as when the watering is a factor, either too little or too much.)
Also, old carrots (sweet when picked but left to age before using, whether stuck on the shelf at the store or hidden in the back of your fridge) tend to become more tough and bitter as they age.
Shoe
Horseshoe, is it possible to plant some every few weeks and just leave the carrots in the ground until needed? I've been really enjoying my carrot tops in salads. The roots haven't grown yet. I need to thin them. I remember as a child seeing my uncle pulling hand fulls of carrots from the cold frame to plant in the garden. They must transplant fairly well. Any ideas on this?
Seems as though something is creating flavor difference.
People at our market said our carrots were better than other vendors. We require everything be grown within 40 miles of the market. So soil & weather conditions shouldn't be much of a factor. Only thing we do different is supply lots of water. We use T-Tape. It is turned on for a couple hours before we are going to harvest. Then we are able to pull the carrots. We harvest three times a week so they are watered well. Later in the season we need to dig them. It is almost impossible to pull 12" + carrots.
Our varieties are Sugar Snax & Bolero from Johnny's.
As for planting, all our carrots are planted as soon as we can get in the garden in the spring. We planted on patch April 24 & the main field May 13.
Normally we would have a bunch to dig just before freeze up, but we sold so many that didn't happen. We had 4 double rows 140 feet long. Another patch was 4 double rows about 50 feet long.
Never heard of transplanting carrots. Really no reason to do it.
Bernie
Thank you Bernie. I'm in FL, most people around here grow carrots in the winter. Don't really know why my uncle did that way, just remember seeing it. Maybe he only planted in spring and wanted them a certain size by then. Summer carrots around here are very bitter. I used a lot of them making juice but never grew them myself. The ones I have growing now are way too close to grow eating size roots. It's either transplant or keep eating the tops only.
Bernie, SugarSnax is one I'd highly recommend, too. For those of you with harder soil (clay, for example) or shallow soil you might want to try a more round shaped carrot like Parmex. (I prefer a much bigger carrot but when in a pinch or for easy growing, earliness, and freezing then Parmex is great.)
doegirl, yes, you can stagger crops like that but just keep in mind the soil temperatures and air temps. The best germination is 55º to 75º (soil temps) and the best growing temps are 65-75º (air temp). I would think that you would be growing yours in your zone 9 in the Fall/Winter rather than late Spring and Summer. (Are you zone 9 Calif or Florida?)
Best,
Shoe
Oh yeh, I've never transplanted carrots either due to the fact that if you disturb the root (tap root) it tends to make them fork real easy. I wonder if your uncle had either very loose soil to work with or maybe he stuck a hole in the ground (a broomstick would be perfect !) and gently inserted the carrots, watering them in. (That is a trick some folks use to grow "giant carrots" in pvc pipe.)
The ones I grew that one time, I did transplant, mainly cause I was foolish and knew no better, and also did not know I was not supposed to! I was working in a greenhouse in the winter, and had a gigantic deep huge pot of excellent soil and compost, and I transplanted those little babies very tenderly, one by one, LOL! I had started the seeds like all the other seeds, in whatever assembly of little seed-starting type pots and trays I had around.......
Oh they were so good, when they got big. Can't recall what variety they were, but may have been Chatenay?
I suspect the bitter store carrots I have run across, now that I have read through this most excellent thread, have been victims of being stored too long more than anything, that possible cause had not occurred to me. But it should have, as there are clear differences in food taste and texture related to how long ago it was picked......
Doegirl, your comment " I've been really enjoying my carrot tops in salads. The roots haven't grown yet" makes me wonder if you are grazing too much of the tops. Most tuber plants get their nutrients from the top growth.
On store bought, we have noticed the slender carrots are far sweeter than the thick in the same type.
Thank you Horseshoe, Kylaluaz, and Podster for your comments and experience. I am in Florida near the border of north and central. Yes, you reminded me, my uncle used a stick of some kind. He gave us some starts one time and my father did not use that method I guess, because we got twisted and double rooted carrots. The starts he gave Dad had roots the size of thin pencils. I am sure my uncle grew them that way to get them into the spring garden. He lived on the river and the garden was in the lowest spot on the property, well away from the river, I'm guessing 150 yards or so. It was very rich ground. We used to dig worms from the garden to go fishing. It's amazing what one can remember when prompted. They are all gone now so I can't just ask them.
Mine are maybe a month old. They were sown very close for cut and come again salad use, then I decided some roots would be good too. I did the same with the radishes and have enjoyed the young tops very much, then decided some roots might be nice. So after dividing them we are now getting realy good roots.
Horseshoe, I love my double row block raised beds!
Congrats on your success with the raised beds, doegirl. By now you should be getting plenty of those herbs along with those salad greens, eh?
Not going too far off topic but did you just drystack those blocks or did you go all out and mortar them together? Whatever you did it sounds like you have your active beds producing for you now. (And when you start your papercrete stuff in the Spring I'll be looking for pics and procedures from ya!)
Shoe