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Such a tasty root crop as carrots is grown by all gardeners. The orange vegetable is valued for its nutritional properties and is widely used in cooking. Carrots, rich in keratin, are especially useful for children and diet food. Root crops grown on their own are environmentally friendly products.
Carrots during growth may experience a lack of nutrients, because it has to increase not only the green mass, but also the root crop itself. Growing a good crop without fertilizing during the growing season is very difficult. Therefore, if you want to get large vegetables, as in the photo below, feeding carrots in the open field should be an integral part of the care.
It is necessary to know
What is included in the list of work required when growing carrots in open ground? Every gardener knows that watering, loosening, weed control helps to get a good harvest of root crops in the open field. But not everyone understands that without feeding carrots with fertilizers, part of the production can be lost.
After germination, water the root crop should be moderate. Although she loves well-moistened soil, especially at the stage of formation of a thickened root, she rots in the “swamp”. At first, after germination, carrots, if there is no rain, are watered every other day. One ten-liter watering can is enough per square. If it is hot, the rate can be increased to 15 liters. In July, there are already two watering cans per square meter.
Carrots should harden before digging for better storage.
During irrigation, sweet vegetables are also fertilized. Each gardener uses fertilizers at his own discretion: someone prefers mineral supplements, someone organic. Both types of dressings can be alternated.
Sowing carrots
Preparation of beds
Planting carrots need top dressing during the entire vegetative period. But top dressing begins with the preparation of the beds. The root crop responds well to fertile soil. As a rule, the garden bed is prepared in the fall. An orange root crop is best planted after potatoes, peas, beans, beans, tomatoes, cabbage, cucumbers and onions.
In autumn, before digging the beds, humus or compost is introduced into it. The soil must be sifted to remove pebbles. They can cause curvature of root crops.
Root crops are obtained with many processes, curvatures, as in the photo.
Carrots prefer neutral, water- and breathable soil. If it is acidic, dolomite flour or wood ash is added in the spring. The introduction of ash not only feeds the soil with phosphorus and potassium, but also prevents black leg carrot disease. The earth is dug up, leveled with a rake.
Seed nutrition
In order for the carrot to quickly and amicably ascend in the open field, the seeds need to be moistened and fed. The reason for poor germination lies in the large amount of essential oils. There are two options for soaking compositions:
- Boric acid is poured into a liter jar – 1/3 teaspoon, nitrophoska – ½ teaspoon and topped up with warm water.
- Potassium permanganate is added to a liter of warm water – 1 gram, ½ teaspoon of any liquid complex fertilizer.
Seeds are placed in gauze or cotton cloth and soaked for three days. Keep seed in the refrigerator. Then they are dried to a loose state.
Sow seeds in the garden in grooves spilled with water. Row spacing should be at least 20 cm. This will allow you to carry out agrotechnical work without any problems.
Fertilizing carrots in the ground
Beginners are interested in the question of when to start feeding carrots in the open field after germination.
Plantings are fed for the first time when several true leaves appear on the carrots. It is necessary to add 150 grams of a mixture of mineral fertilizers per square meter: potash – 60 g, phosphorus – 40 g, nitrogen – 50 g. The ingredients are dissolved in water and the plants are watered. Such top dressing of root crops in the open field can be repeated, only the rate should be halved.
Some gardeners use a different composition: add one tablespoon of potassium sulfate, 1,5 tablespoons of double superphosphate to a ten-liter watering can. Norm per square meter of crops.
The second feeding is carried out after 12-18 days. In order for carrot plantings to gain strength, they are fed with a solution of potassium sulfate and azofoska. For 10 liters of warm water, one large spoonful of each mineral fertilizer.
When the root crop begins to fill with juice, it is necessary to carry out the third stage of feeding. You can use the same fertilizer as before, or fertilize with wood ash and potassium sulfate. Boric acid will also work. It all depends on the structure of the soil.
If late varieties of carrots were planted in open ground, but it needs to be fed again with complex nitrogen fertilizers.
Any overdose is fraught with the deposition of nitrates in root crops.
Top dressing with mineral fertilizers:
Micronutrients necessary for growth
According to agricultural technology, top dressing for an orange vegetable should be good. This root vegetable requires a large amount of balanced nutrients during different periods of development. What kind of fertilizers should be used to saturate the plants, what do carrots love most of all?
First, the high need for nitrogen. With its help, the green mass of the plant grows. Nitrogen deficiency can be identified by small yellowish leaves. The root crop eventually grows small.
Secondly, potassium is required for intensive growth. It is responsible for photosynthesis, making the vegetable resistant to many diseases. Low carrot bushes with bronzed leaves are a signal of a trace element deficiency.
Thirdly, it is impossible to get a good harvest in the open field if you do not feed carrots with phosphorus. Plants tolerate heat even with less loss if this element is in the soil in the required amount. Phosphorus deficiency can be identified by curling leaves and bright stripes on them. The fruits themselves are tasteless.
Fourthly, at the stage of maturation, the plant requires boron and manganese. Boron is involved in metabolism, increases the sugar content of carrots. Therefore, watering carrots grown in open ground with boric acid is necessary. Plants themselves signal a lack of a trace element by dying off the edges of the leaf and yellowish veins.
How to feed carrots:
What fertilizer to choose
The question of what fertilizers are needed to feed carrots in the open field cannot be called idle. After all, each vegetable grower chooses the most acceptable options for himself. Both organic and mineral fertilizers have their pros and cons. The main thing is to properly feed and feed the plants in a timely manner.
Mineral Fertilizers
Today you can buy any fertilizer for carrots. If you use them in accordance with the instructions, then you can not remember the side effects.
For foliar dressings with weakly growing tops, plantings can be treated with a solution of urea.
What other fertilizers can be used for foliar nutrition of carrots in open ground:
- magnesium sulfate;
- boric acid;
- fertilizers containing potassium.
Very often, vegetable growers feed plantings of carrots with Fitosporin-M, Gliocladin, Cytovit, Ava and other biologically active preparations. They can be used for both root and foliar top dressing.
Cytovit
This is a universal fungicidal fertilizer containing zinc, copper, magnesium. It is used to improve any garden and garden plants, including carrots.
Any trace elements of Tsitovit are easily absorbed by carrots. Carrot seeds soaked in a solution germinate faster and more amicably. Root or foliar top dressing of beds with carrots in the open field increases the immunity of plants, the fruits will become tastier and juicier. It is necessary to use a balanced microfertilizer Cytovit strictly according to the instructions.
Complex fertilizer AVA
This Ava fertilizer appeared in the range of gardeners not so long ago, but has already become popular. Unlike other top dressings, Ava dissolves in the soil for a long time, does not freeze out, and is not washed out by rains. Thanks to this top dressing, the vitality of plants increases, the root crops turn out to be even, large.
As part of the drug Ava vital for the growth and development of carrots, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, chromium and magnesium.
Folk remedies
Since carrots began to be grown before the advent of mineral fertilizers, there are many options for top dressing without the use of chemistry, proven for centuries. This applies to fertilizer with humus, compost, ash, herbal infusions, chicken manure, mullein.
There is another universal top dressing suitable for all cultivated plants – baker’s yeast. They are added when preparing infusions from grass and ash. Dry and raw yeast will do.
There are several recipes that can be used to nourish outdoor carrots.
- Recipe number 1. Shredded nettles, wood ash 2-3 cups are placed in a container to the top and filled with water by ¾. Then add yeast – 1 small pack. The container must be exposed to the sun. After 5 days, the solution is ready for use. For watering plantings of carrots, one part of the fertilizer and 10 liters of water are taken under the root.
- Recipe number 2. 10 grams of dry yeast are dissolved in 10 liters of water, 2 large boats of sugar are added. After 2 hours, you can water the carrots. In a ten-liter watering can add one liter of yeast top dressing.
Conclusion
There is no definite answer to the question of which fertilizer: mineral or organic is better suited for carrots. Each of them performs its function. Organics in the form of compost or humus are usually applied in the fall when preparing the beds. Mineral fertilizers, together with organic top dressing, are applied by the root or foliar method.
For a vegetable grower, the main goal is to get a rich and environmentally friendly crop of orange root crops. If fertilizers are applied according to the norm, in a timely manner, then the tandem of mineral fertilizers and organics will help to achieve the desired result.