Carrot leaves flopped and yellow

[monkeyboy]

Carrot seedlings from Homebase back in March about a week or so before lockdown. I planted into a container with half compost and half coco coir. Did really well in terms of leaf growth. But we had windy stormy weather last weekend. Some of the leaves on the outer sides are flooded over and yellowing. The ones in the centre are still strong and proud.

no shoulders showing and I’ve tried to feel into the soil but can’t feel much and am worried about disturbing the roots and attracting carrot fly.

Anything that I can do?
worth adding feed?
or is it time to harvest and hope for the best?

[burnie]

If the compost is still wet I wouldn't give them any more water, I try to let mine dry out a bit before adding more water and I don't usually feed them either.

[roitelet]

If the middle leaves are strong they will probably be fine. They are rather untidy growers and tend to flop about a bit.

[monkeyboy]

Hopefully I’ve attached a pic of the carrots. I’ve had a look and they’re still very small, maybe 1cm dia max.

[roitelet]

Sorry to say but your carrots are bolting they won’t get any bigger and will be tough. Best to pull them up and start again they could possibly have lacked water.

[monkeyboy]

That’s disappointing to hear. Last year, the seedlings (from Homebase) were too crowded together but grew well. This year, same source and I tried to thin them out a bit. I had hoped the coco coir would have helped retain moisture.

Other than watering, any other reason for them to bolt?
What should I have looked for? I thought there should be flowers when they’d bolted but what could I have looked for early on?

[ameno]

Water. It's always water. Either you just weren't giving them enough, or they couldn't absorb enough because they were too close together or the temperatures were too high.

The early signs of bolting are a thick vertical stem starting to grow. Carrots are a rosette-forming plant. The leaves should only ever grow directly from the top of the carrot at ground level. They only ever grow a vertical stem, and leaves from that stem, when they begin to flower.

Also, in future I would strongly advise just sowing your own carrots. Carrot seeds are dirt cheap to buy (Early Nantes carrot seeds are some of the cheapest veg seeds you can buy, but they're also one of the best carrot varieties, for both flavour and yield) and pretty easy to grow, whereas plugs of carrot seedlings don't transplant well and, most importantly, are horrendously expensive for the number of carrots you get.

[Penellype]

They could also be bolting because of being transplanted, which root veg in general don't take to very well. I agree about early Nantes being a good variety.

[monkeyboy]

Thanks. I tried seeds a few years ago and got nothing. Last year I tried seedlings and got some carrots about the size of my thumb. It was obvious I hadn’t thinned them out and they were shoulder to shoulder. This year I figured I’d thin them out again.

Is it too late in the year to try and sow carrots again?
Could I lift up the current bolted carrots and reuse the same compost/coir mix?

[ameno]

Thanks. I tried seeds a few years ago and got nothing. Last year I tried seedlings and got some carrots about the size of my thumb. It was obvious I hadn’t thinned them out and they were shoulder to shoulder. This year I figured I’d thin them out again.

Is it too late in the year to try and sow carrots again?
Could I lift up the current bolted carrots and reuse the same compost/coir mix?

You still have plenty of time to sow carrots. You can sow an early variety, like Early Nates, up until around mid-July and get full sized carrots, and until early August and still get at least baby carrots.
You should be fine using the same pot and composts as long as they didn't have carrot fly. Pull them up and check the roots for holes or tunnels. As long as there are none, it's fine to use the same compost. Just fluff it up a bit, and maybe add a small amount of general fertiliser if you have any.

As for having poor germination, carrot seeds germinate badly in cold soil, so if you sowed yours too early last time (they say March or even February on some packets, but really you should wait until April for outdoor sowings) then that might be why. Alternatively, carrot seed ages pretty quickly, so the seeds may have been old and dead.
But this time of year, when the soil is warm, then as long as you use seeds bought this year germination should be quick and easy.

[roitelet]

Carrots are more likely to bolt if they have been transplanted. Do as Ameno suggests and you should get carrots. I sow themin late July and over winter them in the tunnel and have small carrots to use early in the year.

[Jeremy424]

Spacing issue? they look very close together. Mine have bolted when grown that close together in the past.

[ameno]

Spacing issue? they look very close together. Mine have bolted when grown that close together in the past.

I grow mine in pots closer than that and they don't bolt.
It'll be water, or maybe root disturbance from being transplanted. They do need watering more often if you grow them close together like that, after all (daily in warm, dry weather).

[Snadger]

I sowed a bed of of Nantes carrots to compliment my bed of main-crop carrots less than a fortnight ago and I was happy to see them just breaking the surface on my last visit to the plot.
Mine were sown in the old potting compost from last years tomato crop so should grow nice and straight.

Get yourself some carrot seeds and sow them NOW!

[monkeyboy]

Well I pulled the whole lot up in two fistfuls. Some of the carrots were pale orange. Some were a healthy deep orange. All were about 1.5” long. They were planted before lockdown so I expect them to be much bigger.