Contents
When looking for a carrot variety for the new season, many people want to buy a carrot variety without a core, being afraid of harmful substances accumulating there. The Vita Longa carrot is one such variety.
Description
Refers to late-ripening high-yielding varieties. Carrots were selected by the Dutch company Bejo Zaden. Suitable for cultivation in Our Country, Ukraine and Moldova. The variety takes 160 days from sowing seeds to harvest.
Root crops under favorable conditions reach a weight of 0,5 kg. The usual weight of carrots is up to 250 g and length is up to 30 cm, the shape is conical with a blunt tip. The color of the roots is orange. The variety grows well in heavy soil. Yield up to 6,5 kg/m².
The Vita Longa variety of carrots is resistant to diseases and pests, has good keeping quality, and is not prone to cracking. According to the seed manufacturer, it is suitable for long storage. Designed not only for fresh consumption or cooking, but also for preparing baby food and juice. The variety is interesting for industrial cultivation.
Sowing
Seeds are sown in grooves located at a distance of 20 cm from each other. Ideally, carrots of this variety are recommended to be planted at a distance of 4 cm from each other. But due to the size of the seeds, it is very difficult to maintain uniform planting.
For the 2018 season, the company released a novelty “Bystrosev”, including Vita Long varieties.
The seeds in the package are mixed with dry gel powder. For sowing, it is enough to pour water into the package, shake well, wait 10 minutes until the powder turns into a gel mass, shake again to evenly distribute the carrot seeds in the gel mass and you can sow after removing the seal.
The manufacturer claims that this method has several undeniable advantages:
- the yield is doubled;
- seeds are saved;
- there is no need to thin out crops, as the seeds lie evenly;
- the gel protects the seeds from diseases;
- high sowing rate.
There are no reviews yet for this method. Neither the germination rate nor the percentage of seed germination are known. Most likely, this information will arrive by the 2019 season.
In fairness, vegetable growers used a similar method of sowing carrot seeds even before the company, using a liquid paste made from flour or starch. Several packs of carrot seeds are poured into a liter jar with warm paste and mixed. Then the contents of the jar are poured into an empty bottle of detergent or shampoo and the prepared grooves are filled with the resulting mass. The uniform distribution of seeds is quite satisfactory.
If there is any doubt that the seeds from the manufacturer have been processed properly or there is a desire to speed up the germination of seeds by first removing essential oils from them, you can use the old method by buying a regular package of seeds and planting the seeds in any way possible.
Most likely, Vita Long carrots are very sensitive to excess organic matter in the soil. There were cases when, instead of one root crop, under one rosette of leaves, up to five carrots were found, fused at the tops, while other varieties of carrots growing nearby had ordinary root crops.
Branching of the roots of carrots is possible either with an excess of organic fertilizers in the soil, up to fresh manure introduced last year, or if damaged by pests, or if the roots of carrots are damaged by a careless gardener during weeding. The last two versions are unlikely in the presence of a number of other “normal” varieties of carrots. It is unlikely that garden pests are so well versed in carrot varieties, and the gardener showed carelessness only when weeding Vita Long.
When planting Vita Long carrots on the beds, one should take into account its sensitivity to an excess of organic matter. It is always better to add fertilizer later than to apply too much fertilizer.
vermin
On the websites of online stores selling seeds, you can often find recommendations to buy seeds only from trusted manufacturers, but in no case from hands. The advice is not without reason, although, at first glance, it may seem that this is a publicity stunt.
Not to mention the opportunity to buy a re-sort or simply low-quality seeds, it is worth stopping at the opportunity to bring such a “cute” pest to your beds as a root-knot nematode.
Gall nematode
From the point of view of the risk of infection with this parasite, the seeds are the safest. But the nematode can winter not only in the ground and plant roots, but also in seeds. Therefore, before sowing, it is better to disinfect doubtful seeds in water heated to 45 ° C for 15 minutes.
Carrots affected by the gall nematode look like this:
Unfortunately, this parasite cannot be exterminated. Once in the garden once, he will not leave him alone. Unlike other macro pests, this one is not visible to the naked eye and cannot be picked by hand. The size of the worm is only 0,2 mm.
The nematode is introduced into the root crops, forming galls. Plants affected by this worm die from lack of nutrients. Nematode eggs are stored in the ground for years in anticipation of favorable conditions.
Control measures
There are practically no measures to combat this parasite. In industrial cultivation, methyl bromide is the most effective for plant protection. But it kills not only nematodes, but also all microflora in the soil, including useful ones. Aktofit and Fitoverm are not so dangerous for microflora and protect healthy plants well from nematode penetration, but do not work if the plants are already infected.
Nematocides used to treat infected plants are extremely toxic to humans and their use in garden plots is unacceptable.
Therefore, for a private trader, prevention comes first:
- buying seeds in stores, not from hands;
- inventory disinfection;
- soil disinfection.
These measures will reduce the risk of nematode infection. If the plants are already affected by the worm, they are removed and destroyed. If carrots are damaged by a nematode, the tops will begin to wither and lag behind in growth. When these signs appear, it is worth checking the carrots for the presence of galls on the root crop.
hawthorn aphid
Fortunately, you cannot bring this pest with seeds. Hawthorn aphid hibernates on hawthorn, and at the end of spring it moves to the leaves and petioles of carrots, where it parasitizes until autumn, slowing down the growth of carrots, or even completely destroying it. After that, he again goes to sleep on the hawthorn.
There are no effective methods of dealing with this type of aphid. As a preventive measure, you need to place the beds with carrots as far as possible from the hawthorn.
Carrot bacteriosis
No longer a parasite, but a fungal disease that can also be introduced with untested seeds.
During the growing season, a sign of damage to carrots by bacteriosis is yellowing, and then browning of the leaves. With severe damage, the leaves dry out.
Carrots affected by bacteriosis are no longer suitable for storage. Another name for bacteriosis is “wet bacterial rot”. If during the growing season bacteriosis does not look very dangerous, then during storage it can destroy the entire supply of carrots, as it can be transmitted from a diseased root crop to a healthy one.
Control measures
Compliance with crop rotation. Carrots can be returned to their original place no earlier than three years later. Do not sow carrots after onions, cabbage, garlic and umbrella crops such as dill or celery.
Buy only seeds from healthy plants, that is, in specialized stores.
It is best to grow carrots in light soils with good water permeability and aeration. Nitrogen fertilizers should not be applied before harvesting.
Considering the resistance of Vita Long carrots advertised by the manufacturer to diseases and pests, information about the diseases and pests of carrots may not be useful to the lucky owners of seed bags of this variety, and Vita Long will please its owners with a good harvest.