Mix for container carrots?

[BigVanVader]

I have a crate I got from work that I want to use as a deep container for carrots. I have read a lot on carrot growing and it seems for carrots you don't want nutrients in the soil as it makes them get hard and they grow best in a mix of at least 60% sand.

That said when I look online nobody really does that, and some recommend fertilizing them....so what works for y'all?

[jmsieglaff]

I've grown tomatoes in the same mix I use for tomatoes--ProMix and it worked fine. Grew them in a 1/2 whiskey barrel. I've also grown carrots in my garden, which is the existing soil (fairly heavy clay) but has been amended with lots of manure and peat over the years so it actually served well for carrots.

[Jimbotomateo]

Originally Posted by BigVanVader

I have a crate I got from work that I want to use as a deep container for carrots. I have read a lot on carrot growing and it seems for carrots you don't want nutrients in the soil as it makes them get hard and they grow best in a mix of at least 60% sand.

That said when I look online nobody really does that, and some recommend fertilizing them....so what works for y'all?

When I saw that I thought you meant a variety mix of carrots .. maybe I should try that. . How do you sow your seeds cuzz I had mine waaaay to close together! And will carrots punch thru hard soil I had em pots this year.

[BigVanVader]

A template of some sort works best for sowing. Pelleted seed is worth paying more for, it makes it much easier to sow.

[Nematode]

Lots of peat, soil has to be soft for carrots.
Nutrients are important for anything you grow.
Pulled the last of the carrots this week ahead of the cold.
Pulled 15 lbs from a couple square feet. More carrot than soil.

These were grown in peat and commercial compost(chicken litter and forest waste).

[BigVanVader]

Originally Posted by Nematode

Lots of peat, soil has to be soft for carrots.
Nutrients are important for anything you grow.
Pulled the last of the carrots this week ahead of the cold.
Pulled 15 lbs from a couple square feet. More carrot than soil.

These were grown in peat and commercial compost(chicken litter and forest waste).

Spacing?

Oh and I will add this video of the guy who has mastered carrot growing, I just wonder if those carrots taste different than if grown in a richer soil?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_ACeFSkxio

I will probably try at least one mostly sand container just to see for myself plus it would be cheaper than buying dirt.

[Nematode]

Seeded them close and never thinned them.
No good tor market, but pretty good for extended harvest home use.

[AlittleSalt]

I've read that 10-10-10 is good for carrots. But ?

[Cole_Robbie]

They'll grow in any light media. Sand is recommended because it is the cheapest way to lighten up soil.

[BigVanVader]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

They'll grow in any light media. Sand is recommended because it is the cheapest way to lighten up soil.

Yeah way cheaper than bagged soil. River sand cost very little around here.

[Jimbotomateo]

Originally Posted by Nematode

Seeded them close and never thinned them.
No good tor market, but pretty good for extended harvest home use.

I had some two gallon pots and seeds almost all came out in in first pot!. I didn't know you could plant too close but you can.

[greenthumbomaha]

I've attempted carrots several times. The Miracle Grow garden won hands down.

This was my haul from the raised bed garden at my rural rental house. The beds were started 5 years ago and not maintained by the tenants. In spring I weeded and added about 25 1cu ft bags of miracle grow potting mix in the yellow bag and scattered in a few shovels of native soil. These were pulled in fall. Very tasty!
Those are the carrots growing in the lower bed next to the asparagus. I also grewa little bit each of squash, lettuce, and beets and onions with the carrots in that 4X4 bed.

In the city garden I share with my growing partner (he tills the clay soil in his raised beds every year) we've had abundant small skinny carrots. Tasty. May try again next year rotating out from pepper bed.

I once tried growing carrots in my sandy raised bed. Did not fertilize. Puny results. May try again next summer with fertilizer.

[gorbelly]

I think the "mostly sand" recommendation is less about nutrition and more about the kind of tilth it provides, i.e., a medium that gives way easily and therefore doesn't limit or distort root growth.

I'll be trying carrots for the first time this spring. I have a fairly heavy clay-loam soil, so I settled on the little round Paris market carrots. A few places have been selling "oxheart" carrots that would probably do well in heavier soils, too, but they're large and need too much time. I'm experimenting with timing things so that I have edible carrots in time to harvest before I put out my heat-loving veggies.

[greenthumbomaha]

Gorbelly, for me it took all season to grow a decent sized carrot. I could either see the very top poking out of the soil, or I felt around in the raised bed soil. I'm glad I watched the size as it grew and waited until fall.

The dtm was really far off!

- Lisa

[gorbelly]

Originally Posted by greenthumbomaha

Gorbelly, for me it took all season to grow a decent sized carrot. I could either see the very top poking out of the soil, or I felt around in the raised bed soil. I'm glad I watched the size as it grew and waited until fall.

The dtm was really far off!

- Lisa

My understanding is that carrots can vary wildly in DTM according to conditions, that DTM estimates are useless, and that they're just ready when they're ready. I'm just going to see how it goes, and if I don't get anything in time, I don't get anything. If they don't bulb at all, maybe they'll survive the summer under the shade of my tomatoes and put on more growth in the fall. I've heard of other people doing that with their carrots.