Carrots - one of the most necessary vegetables for cooking dishes of Russian and Ukrainian cuisine. Therefore, many truck farmers prefer to grow carrots with their own hands, in order to obtain a safe harvest. But there may be several wagons - instead of beautiful root crops, there are carrots with bursting sides, which naturally spoils their appearance and the duration of storage. To avoid such mistakes, we will talk about why carrots crack in the ground and how to deal with it.
Why does the carrot crack?
In general, the appearance of cracks in carrots is associated with several reasons. By the way, all of them are a consequence of inaccuracies in caring for vegetable seedlings. First, this happens with irregular irrigation and fluctuations in soil moisture. When the seedlings are well watered, each carrot begins to grow intensively, its cells become large. But with the establishment of dry weather and lack of watering, root cells do not stop growing, but their size is less because of a lack of moisture. And then when there is a lot of watering (for example, with heavy rain) these small cells are sharply filled with moisture, because of what their walls can not stand and burst. And this seems to us in the form of a cracked root crop. Thus, uneven soil moisture is the most common reason why carrots burst.
However, the appearance of a crack on a carrot may be associated with other deficiencies in care. The reason why carrots are cracking is an overabundance in the soil of fertilizers, improperly selected top dressing or heavy ground. This vegetable loves the soil loose, light, prefers frequent loosening. In heavy clay soil, the fruits begin to become covered with cracks. The introduction of fresh manure is generally not acceptable for root crops.
By the way, sometimes the appearance of cracks occurs in the ripening of carrots of early varieties.
How to prevent the appearance of cracks in carrots?
To obtain a beautiful crop, it is important to maintain a uniform and moderate watering. Water is better not under the root, but between the rows of carrots. If there is a lot of rain in your region, you can try to protect the root crop from cracking, planting cauliflower or salad in the inter-row.
If on your site only heavy soil, we recommend planting carrot varieties with a short root, for example, Shantane. Another option is to make high beds in height of 20 or even 40 cm from good loose earth.
And finally - do not forget to harvest in time !