Carrots - to thin, or not to thin?

[cazp]

I am growing "purple haze" carrots in a container and sowed the seeds very thinly... looking at what has come up, I wonder of I should thin at all - especially given that I read somewhere that as carrots grow they "push eachother apart to some degree.

I would be interested in hearing the views of anyone who knows a bit about carrot growing and have attached a pic - for reference the container is about 13.5inch x 13.5inch square (inside the rim), and 12.5 inch deep.

Many thanks

[Two_Sheds]

they aren't too bad: thin them as they grow by pulling the fattest ones and leaving the rest to grow on

[Jeanied]

Cazp - I agree with Two Sheds - those are very well spaced already so just thin when there is something worth pulling up!

[cazp]

Thanks both,

The spacing is pure luck! I will admit there was a big gap on one of the rows, and a few seedlings bunched up at the end of another... I transplanted two seedlings from the overcrowded bit in to the gap knowing they might not take but then they would have been thinned if I had left them. I know that transplanting is not advisable, but for future referece - by doing this have I affected their continued growth or is it a case that if they take, they should be ok?

I'm really looking forward to these purple carrots - had them from Sainsburys a couple of years ago, and they were lovely, but very expensive even at the reduced price I paid.

[Snadger]

They look ok to me!

I thin mine once during the growing season ..........then quickly replace the enviromesh cover!

[cazp]

Enviromesh.. maybe I should invest. My seedlings are 19 or 20 inches off above ground level which I thought might be a safe height.

Having said that, I also have a 6ft closeboard fence right around the garden isn't that enough I ask myself!!! I've often wondered how they would get to my carrots.

[Two_Sheds]

There is no safe place, nor hiding place, from the carrot root fly

[Flobalob]

They look lonely compared to mine http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_LQ48oi3xb0...may+10+043.jpg

[Florence Fennel]

I'm beginning to get a little anxious about my carrots. I grow a lot of carrots and last year's was a bumper crop. I used the thinnings as baby veg and let the rest fatten up. This year the germination is really, really slow. I have been waiting 4 weeks for any sign of the coloured carrots and 3 weeks for the nantes and I'm beginning to wonder if the seed has been "got at" in the ground.

[Two_Sheds]

Carrots need pretty warm soil to germinate: and slugs will often graze them off as they germinate.
Mine are slow to show too

[chris]

1

They look lonely compared to mine http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_LQ48oi3xb0...may+10+043.jpg

Ditto!!

[teakdesk]

Carrots need pretty warm soil to germinate

Very true!!

I have a container that only germinated on one half and I couldn't understand how I could have only sown seed on one half.... then I realised that the larger container next to it was shading it so one half was warmer than the other!

[cazp]

Mine took about three weeks to show... the first week the pot was stood outside, and the other two I had the pot indoors - I think the warmth indoors helped.

Flobabob - how big is your pot out of interest ? and have you grown carrots in that POT before/what yield did you get? I'm wondering if could have made better use of space in mine, having seen yours and I'm just about to plant up another tub!

[Flobalob]

Hi cazp
The pot in question is 15 inches across and 12 inchs high.
Produced this last year..2nd+crop+carrots+002.jpg (image)

[cazp]

Thanks for the pic...impressive harvest there! (hope I get similar!)