Storing Carrots in the Ground
January’s tutorial from Chris show us the best ways of storing and protecting winter carrot crops for an early spring harvest…
Read any gardening book and it will tell you to lift carrots and store in sand, but if you have free draining soil there is another and, in my opinion, a much better way to store carrots – just leave them where they are growing!
Commercially the majority of carrots are stored in situ and are then available to harvest up until the following May or June. The technique used relies on a growth regulator called Maleic Hydrazide being applied towards the end of the growing season.
This has the effect of preventing the physiological change in any biennial – a flower being formed in the overwintering root, the chemical also prevents the white root formation of the carrot the following spring and so maintains the sugar levels in the roots and ultimately the taste of the carrot. Beds of carrots are then covered with a thin layer of plastic film before a thick insulation layer of straw is applied.
With the ideal storage temperature being about 1-2 degrees centigrade the straw prevents them from freezing during the winter but also stops them from warming up and drying out the following spring.
As gardeners we can learn a lot from this technique, I grow my carrots pesticide free by growing under a single layer of Elixir horticultural fleece, this effectively fully prevents damage from Carrot root fly and carrot / willow aphid which can attack early in the season and devastate the crop. The fleece is placed on the newly emerged carrots whilst in the cotyledon stage of growth as I have found slugs to be a problem if the fleece is placed on the bed directly after sowing -essentially, they have two additional weeks to make a nice safe home and then mow off the emerging seedlings!
I use a 3-metre-wide piece of fleece over a 1.2 metre bed, securing the surplus fleece at the edges with bricks so a single layer of 17 g/m2 is directly over the crop. As the crop grows, I release some of the surplus fleece when hoeing and weeding the carrots to ensure they have room to grow.
When frost threatens the following winter, I unwind all of the surplus fleece and double up so that there is 34g /m2 over the crop.
I have found that this thickness will provide full protection down to about -8 degrees centigrade. If snow falls on top of the fleece all the better from the insulation point of view as a covering of snow is a fantastic insulator. For really prolonged cold periods you can also place straw / leaves / bracken / sawdust / cardboard / on top of the fleece to provide additional insulation.
I keep the double layer of fleece in situ until harvest which usually completes by early April as the double layer keeps the soil beneath cooler, delaying any carrot regrowth and thus helping to keep flavour in the roots.
If you want to try this technique, choice of a suitable cultivar is essential as not all carrots are suitable. ‘Sweet Candle’ has no real ability to be stored in this way, I have found that even the slightest frosting will split and crack the root. On the other hand, ‘Autumn King’ and the cultivar I now grow for overwintering ‘Eskimo’ are virtually bullet proof.
This is a simple technique that really works and maintains your carrots in tip top condition as there is nothing worse than digging out a leathery stored carrot out of a bucket!
Chris Jones
Based in Shropshire Chris has many years experience both in growing projects of his own and passing on his expert outdoor knowledge to others through growing and gardening societies. Keep an eye on our blog posts and newsletters for his seasonal articles to keep you well informed on all things outdoors.
About Elixir Gardens
For over 30 years Elixir Garden Supplies have been providing gardeners with all the essentials they need to achieve growing.
Our online store makes sure that all our customers have access to the information they need to make the right decisions when choosing the products they need for their gardens. We know from experience that gardening means many different things to our customers. Whether you have a balcony, patio, lawn or allotment, Elixir Gardens are proud to supply both amateur and professional gardeners alike.
We regularly use our many years of experience to developed our exclusive formulations in specialist fertilisers. Many of these have stood the test of time and have become firm favourites with amateurs and professionals alike. In fact our knowledge of fertilisers, feeds and garden care is well known within gardening circles. But don’t just take our word for it, why not check out the thousands of fantastic reviews on Trust Pilot.
