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Carrots without a core or with a small core are gaining more and more popularity today. The reason for the popularity of these varieties, unfortunately, is that carrot growers, in an effort to increase the yield, are too zealous with nitrogen fertilizers. As cabbage accumulates the vast majority of nitrates in the stalk, so carrots collect them in the core.
Demand breeds supply, and breeders happily offered a choice of carrot varieties without a core, modestly keeping silent about the fact that carrots do not like excess nitrogen. An industrial enterprise is unlikely to be able to sell carrot roots grown on nitrogen fertilizers. Carrots oversaturated with nitrates grow ugly or produce many roots from one root collar.
In addition, carrots still deposit nutrients in the root crop, but if earlier their bulk fell on the core, then where do they accumulate now?
Nevertheless, such varieties have a lot of advantages that make them popular among summer residents. And fertilizers just need to be added in moderation.
What varieties to choose
Natalia F1
Mid-season new hybrid of the Dutch selection with a maturity of 4 months. Variety type “Nantes”. Carrots are long, blunt, without a core. Among the varieties of its type is the best in taste. It contains a very large amount of saccharides, which, of course, will appeal to children.
The weight of the root crop is 100 g. The hybrid attracts with its even fruits, ideal for storage and transportation. It consistently shows high yields, and the yield record was set by this carrot in the northern regions.
Carrots of this variety are stored without compromising quality for 8 months.
Seeds are sown in the first half of May in warm ground. The distance between plants should eventually be 4-5 cm, between rows of carrots 20 cm. Follow-up care is common: weeding, thinning crops, loosening the soil between rows.
To obtain high-quality carrots, potash fertilizers are needed. Fresh organic matter cannot be added at all.
Optionally, instead of thinning, Natalya carrots can be harvested starting in July. The main harvest is taken in the second half of September.
Praline
It takes 4 months from sowing to harvest. Root crops aligned, with a smooth surface, cylindrical shape. The skin is thin. The core is missing. Carrots are long, reach 22 cm.
Due to its juiciness and high content of saccharides, it is excellent for making freshly squeezed juices.
The variety does not need a large amount of fertilizer, but it is quite demanding on the presence of moisture. Watering “Praline” requires regularly.
This variety is planted from the end of April. Harvesting is done in September.
Yaroslavna
This mid-season variety belongs to the Berlikum variety type and is distinguished by excellent taste. After germination, it takes 4,5 months to reach full maturity. Carrots are long, blunt, without a core, even along the entire length. Root crops are on average 20 cm long.
The variety is sown in mid-May. It can be harvested for beam products in August. For storage, the main crop is harvested in September.
without core
Yes, this is the “original” name of the variety.
From the manufacturer’s description
The variety is late. Root crops up to 22 cm long, obtuse, cylindrical. Suitable for winter sowing.
The pulp is juicy, with excellent taste. Root crops do not have a core. “Without a core” is consumed fresh, processed into juices and stored for long-term storage.
The manufacturer produces carrot seeds in two versions: regular seeds and tape.
In the case of ordinary seeds, sowing is done in early spring to a depth of 5-10 mm with a width between rows of 25-30 cm. Later, seedlings are thinned, leaving a distance of 2-3 cm between sprouts. The rest of the care consists in watering, loosening and fertilizing on on a regular basis. You can get an early harvest by sowing the seeds of this carrot variety in November.
A tape with seeds is laid out to a depth of 1,5-2 cm. Preferably “on edge”. Before germination, planting on the tape is regularly watered. Then only weeding and watering will be needed. It is not necessary to thin out the “tape” shoots.
Customer Reviews
With all the advertising advantages of the variety, the reviews, unfortunately, do not differ for the better. Buyers of seeds confirm the excellent taste qualities of the variety. As well as the juiciness of root crops. But they note that carrots grow small, and the ability for long-term storage is completely absent. It is necessary to process the crop of carrots “Without a core” as soon as possible.
But, perhaps, in the case of this variety, there were purchases of fakes.
Chicago F1
High-yielding hybrid of the Dutch firm. Variety type Shantane. Released recently, but has already found its fans. It has a rather short growing season: 95 days. Fruits up to 18 cm long, juicy, with a small core, bright color. They contain a large amount of sugars.
Not recommended for long term storage. It is used fresh and in the form of juice.
The variety can be sown in early spring for harvest in summer and in summer for harvest in autumn. In the latter case, it can be stored until April. Resistant to the most common diseases and tolerant to shooting.
You can also learn about the advantages of this variety from the video:
A little about excess nitrogen and how it can be removed
Fresh sawdust, overheating, takes away the nitrogen located there from the soil. For this reason, they are recommended to be used only for mulching and not added to the soil for those crops that need a lot of nitrogen for fruiting.
In the case of carrots, the situation is reversed. An excess of nitrogen is harmful to the development of root crops, which means that, if necessary, you can safely add fresh sawdust under carrots. While fresh organics like manure or plant residues—sources of nitrogen—carrots are harmful, sawdust is an exception. Until they are overripe, they can not be considered organic.
Therefore, under carrots, along with sand, fresh sawdust can be added to the soil to improve drainage and provide the necessary friability to this crop. Sawdust has little effect on the size of root crops, but you can be sure that there is no significant amount of nitrates in root crops “grown in sawdust”.
The video clearly shows which root crops grew on the beds with sawdust and without sawdust.
When choosing varieties of carrots for the garden, it would be ideal to focus on their keeping quality, disease resistance and taste, so terrible for many, an excess of nitrates in the core of carrots can always be avoided. Although it must be admitted that cutting carrots without a core into soup is much more convenient than with a core.