What and how to feed carrots?

Carrots grow in almost every area. This is an unpretentious plant that grows well and needs almost no additional care. But if you feed it regularly, it will grow larger, and the harvest will last much longer.

Timely application of dressings has a positive effect on the amount of harvest, richness of taste and sweetness of carrots. Root crops grow even and bright. In addition, they are not afraid of temperature extremes, attacks of small pests and hardly get sick.

If you do not feed the carrots in a timely manner, they will not be so large and tasty. It is possible to determine that plants lack a certain nutrient by the following criteria:

• carrots grow poorly;
• leaves become smaller and turn yellow;
• fruits become reddish;
• the tops are twisted;
• the root is not formed with the active growth of the tops.

For feeding root crops, both organic and mineral fertilizers are used.

As a rule, carrots are fertilized with complex preparations that contain several essential macronutrients at once. The plant usually needs the following substances.

• Nitrogen. If the plant lacks nitrogen, the roots grow sluggish, and the tops turn pale. In addition, the lack of such dressings makes carrots weak and susceptible to various diseases.
• Phosphorus. The lack of this element is evidenced by the purple tint of the leaves. In addition, if the plant lacks phosphorus, it develops slowly. As a rule, in this case, the plants are fed with superphosphate.
• Potassium. This element helps to significantly improve the palatability of carrots. It makes it juicy, sugary and delicious. Potash dressings are usually applied in the middle of summer for sweetness. Potassium monophosphate is used to feed plants in the open field. It can be applied both during planting and in summer.
• Bor. It helps to strengthen carrots. In addition, dressings containing this element make root crops more juicy, and therefore tasty. This type of feeding is usually used in late July or mid-August.
• Magnesium. This element helps to increase the yield of plants. With its lack, streaks and unnatural spots appear on the foliage. Root crops develop slowly. The process of photosynthesis is slowed down. For feeding carrots, magnesium sulfate is usually used, which, as a rule, is applied by the foliar method.

It is necessary to apply mineral fertilizers, strictly following the instructions. An excess of nutrients leads to the fact that the fruit begins to crack, branch out and just become tasteless.

Many gardeners use only organic matter on their site. Such fertilizers are economical, healthy and help to make the carrots large and tasty. As a rule, time-tested means are used to feed plants.

The most popular option is ash. Usually gardeners use wood ash. It contains many useful substances. For ash to be rich in calcium, it must be prepared from hard wood. For this purpose, you can use poplar, larch or oak. And in order for the plants to receive a sufficient amount of potassium, it is necessary to take the ashes obtained by burning weeds for feeding.

Such a remedy is excellent for helping to protect plants from carrot flies and flies. It should be noted that this fertilizer must be used very carefully. It should not be mixed with phosphorus-containing feeds.

Also, many gardeners like to feed carrots with droppings, manure or compost.

• Mullein. Liquid cow dung contains a large amount of nutrients. It helps to make the soil more nutritious and of better quality. Before use, the mullein must be diluted in water, otherwise the feeding will only harm the plants, causing root rot. To prepare the solution, 1 liter of cow dung is mixed with 10 liters of warm water. Such a remedy is infused for several days in a warm place.
• Chicken. Also, quite often the plants are fed with chicken droppings. This fertilizer contains a large amount of nutrients, so it perfectly helps to increase the yield of root crops. It is worth using for feeding only droppings that have settled and diluted in water. To prepare top dressing, a liter of product is diluted in 20 liters of water and, as in the previous case, insisted for several days in a row.
• Compost. To fertilize the soil, you need to use compost made from quality raw materials. It should be based on foods that contain a lot of moisture. For example, young grass cuttings, weeds, kitchen waste. Dry leaves, straw, hay are also added to the compost. They contribute to an increase in the concentration of carbonaceous substances. As a rule, 6-8 kilograms of compost is used per 1 square meter of the plot.

For a good harvest, it is recommended to water carrots with other useful dressings. There are several effective options.

• Weed grass. Concentrated herbal infusions are very popular among gardeners. Often they are also used to feed carrots. To prepare such a fertilizer, you need to collect fresh nettles, wheatgrass, dandelions and chop them finely. All the grass must be placed in a container and filled with water. Next, you need to cover it with a lid. The container should be left in a warm place for two weeks. After the required time has passed, the concentrated solution will need to be diluted with water in a ratio of 1 to 10 and use this agent for irrigation. In some cases, a little iodine or potassium permanganate is added to such herbal infusions. For 10 liters of water, only 10-20 drops of a pharmacy product are consumed.
• Yeast. To prepare top dressing, you need to take 0.5 kg of raw yeast and place them in a container with 5 liters of warm water. You also need to add a tablespoon of sugar there. Everything must be mixed well until the ingredients are completely dissolved. Before use, the carrot fertilizing agent must be diluted. One glass of the resulting product must be diluted in 5 liters of water. Use such a means for watering the row spacings. Watering is carried out in warm weather. In cold weather, solutions simply will not work.
• Boric acid. Fertilizing plants with boric acid also has a very good effect on the taste of carrots. The solution for watering plants in the garden is very simple to prepare. In one liter of hot liquid, you need to dilute a teaspoon of boric acid. After this, the liquid must be allowed to cool. After a short amount of time, the product should be diluted in 10 liters of warm water. The solution is used for watering plants in the second half of summer. This is done so that the carrots are sweet and tasty.
• Iodine. This is another popular pharmacy product that is often used to feed the beds. The use of a high-quality iodine solution can improve the appearance and taste of root crops. But such means must be used very carefully.The introduction of a large dose of iodine can lead to discoloration of the leaves and their drying out.
• Salt. Common table salt is also often used to feed the garden beds. As a rule, plants are simply watered with salt water to improve the taste. In addition, salt can also be used to protect plants from pests. To get rid of the carrot fly, the plants are watered with a concentrated saline solution. And to drive out the slugs from the site, it is sprayed with a ten percent salt solution.
• Milk serum. To prepare a high-quality solution, 5 liters of the product are mixed with half a kilogram of wood ash. The resulting mixture is diluted in warm water. You can use such a solution to fertilize the site immediately. For the results to be noticeable, you need to feed the carrots twice a month.
• Onion peel. It is necessary to prepare stocks of husks for fertilizing the beds in advance. This can be done in the winter by collecting the cleanings in boxes or a bucket. Preparing a top dressing for carrots is very simple. One kilogram of the product must be poured with five liters of water. In the container with the husk, you must also add half a loaf of black bread and a glass of well-sifted wood ash. The resulting fertilizer is infused for three days. After that, it is diluted with water in a ratio of 1 to 5. The product can be used both for normal plant nutrition and for fighting carrot flies.

You can feed the plants during the entire growing season.

In order for the plants to take root better, the soil can be fed with organic fertilizers before planting. The main thing is to use a well-rotted product. Organics for plant nutrition must mature for at least a year. It is best to start pre-sowing soil fertilization in the fall. At this time, humus or compost is introduced into the soil.

Plants planted in open ground are also fed with mineral fertilizers. Most often, urea is used for this purpose. If fertilizing is applied to the soil in a dry form, they must first be mixed with the ground. Plant seeds should not come into contact with the granules. This will result in burns and delayed development of carrots.

The seed can also be processed before planting. For this purpose, you need to prepare a simple solution consisting of a tablespoon of wood ash and a liter of water. All this is thoroughly mixed in a deep container. Seeds are placed there for a day. To achieve the desired result, they must be removed from the container every few hours, rinsed under warm water and soaked in a new portion of the ash solution. In this way, the seeds are usually prepared for planting in soil that has not been fertilized since the fall. The procedure shows high efficiency.

To disinfect the seeds, they can be dipped in a solution consisting of a third teaspoon of boric acid, a liter of warm water and a teaspoon of nitrogen fertilizer for half an hour. Some gardeners add a little honey to this solution. This helps to stimulate the seed germination process.

The first feeding of seedlings in the open field is carried out after the first shoots appear on the site. Experienced gardeners recommend thinning the rows before feeding. In this case, the nutrients will not feed the sprouts, which will not yield a harvest over time. Primary feeding must be selected correctly. After all, it depends on this how quickly young plants will develop.Typically, potassium salt or ammonium nitrate is used at this stage. Even if the seedlings have sprouted poorly, after such feeding they will grow.

If the carrots develop well, you can do without additional feeding in July. At this stage, it is important to regularly loosen the beds and water them as needed. But if the plants need a portion of additional substances, they can be fed with boron or potassium. Such fertilizers will strengthen the root system and make the carrots sweeter and more juicy. After applying top dressing, the beds must be watered abundantly. To increase the sugar content of root crops, they can also be sprayed with a solution of succinic acid.

In August, gardeners usually use folk remedies. Ash, yeast solution or a mixture with boric acid is used. Before harvesting, when the carrots are gaining juice and sweetness, they can be watered with an ash solution, nettle broth or water with iodine.

To provide yourself with a good harvest of carrots, you must follow the advice of experienced gardeners.

• Don't overfeed your carrots. The use of too much fertilizer or the wrong concentration leads to a deterioration in the taste of the root crop. In addition, such carrots cannot be stored for a long time. Also, do not water the beds too often. This is usually done only if the summer is dry and the soil dries out very quickly. Watering too often can cause the carrots to grow "hairy" or crack and rot.
• Foliar dressing of plants must be carried out in the evening or in the morning. Feeding carrots in hot weather can cause burns on the leaves. This will significantly weaken the plants.
• Before fertilizing, the soil must be loosened and watered. After weeding, useful elements quickly get to the roots of plants. It is also necessary to get rid of all the weeds growing next to the carrots, because they take away some of the nutrients and prevent it from developing normally.
• It is not recommended to apply chlorine-containing fertilizers to the soil. This will lead to the fact that the roots that sprout will gradually bend and branch. For the same reason, it is not recommended to engage in soil deoxidation before planting carrots.
• It is also recommended to mulch the beds with carrots. For this, you can use sawdust or shavings. They are poured into the aisles in a dense layer. Quality mulch protects plants from weeds and pests. In addition, it retains moisture in the soil.
• You can increase the yield of carrots by planting them in a suitable place. The root crop loves the sun, so you shouldn't grow it in the shade. In addition, many gardeners recommend planting a vegetable where celery, dill or parsley were previously grown.

For information on how to feed carrots, see below.