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Growing a bountiful carrot crop is only half the battle. It is important to know how to determine the maturity of carrots in the garden to ensure their safety until the next harvest. The final timing depends on various factors, from the variety and visual signs to the weather. To correctly determine the day for harvesting, you need to take each of these factors into account. Let's talk about the rules that will help determine the maturity of carrots.
When is the best time to harvest carrots from the garden?
Some summer residents prefer to sow carrots before winter, or use early varieties. This allows you to get a harvest by mid-summer. However, such carrots are not suitable for long-term storage. In a situation where the timing of harvesting early carrots is incorrectly set, it will crack in the soil and lose its juiciness.
When it's time to remove carrots from the garden for storage
If you have already thrown away the seed packaging, which contained information on how to determine the ripeness of a particular carrot variety, we advise you to adhere to the following rules:
The lower leaves begin to dry out and turn yellow. At the same time, yellowing of the middle leaves is characteristic only of diseased carrots that are attacked by pests.
The tops begin to lie down. If you keep carrots in the ground, the appearance and taste of the roots will suffer.
Dig up a few carrots for testing. If the fruits are bright orange in color, large, and have a good taste, you can harvest them.
The presence of white roots means that the carrots are about to grow again. In this situation, the crop must be harvested immediately.
Signs of carrot ripeness in the garden, taking into account the region
Let's look at the approximate harvest dates in different regions of the Russian Federation:
North. In St. Petersburg, Leningrad Region and other northern regions, the cold comes early, so harvesting begins in mid/late September.
South. In the southern regions, root crops need to be collected in October.
Middle lane. Early ripening varieties are harvested from mid to late June. Late-ripening varieties ripen by mid-September.
Siberia, Ural. If the air temperature drops below 4 degrees Celsius, plant growth slows down. In these regions, temperatures drop to these levels around mid-August. Therefore, you need to harvest carrots in the Urals and Siberia from mid-August to mid-September.
What weather should you harvest in?
We'll tell you at what temperature to harvest carrots in a greenhouse and what the weather should be like. The weather has an impact on harvesting. If it is warm in the fall, the established dates can be shifted by 7-14 days. In the case of early frosts, you will need to dig up the carrots a little earlier.
Gardeners with extensive experience advise harvesting carrots when temperatures reach 5 degrees Celsius or lower. At this temperature, the root crop stops growing. In addition, you need to have time to harvest the crop before frost, since if the vegetables are caught by frost, storage will deteriorate. This can cause the carrots to taste bitter.
How to properly remove carrots from the garden - tips
Next, we will talk about the rules for harvesting vegetables. Let's look at the technique of digging and removing tops.
Rules for digging up root crops
Digging is carried out in a proven way. A shovel or garden fork is used for this. The second option is more effective and safer in the case of digging up long root crops, which are often cut with a shovel.
frisch geernte karotten in kiste mit schaufel daneben
You need to dig up the carrots by sticking a fork into the side of the row. At the same time, you need to hold the tops and carefully remove the vegetable from the soil. The collected carrots are laid out along the bed. While digging up the rest of the crop, the forged roots will have time to dry.
How to properly remove tops
Trimming carrot tops is done in two steps:
Initially, the leaves are cut just above the base of the fruit.
Next, a piece with a thickness of 0.5 to 1 cm is cut from the top of the carrot. The cut is made evenly.
If the carrots do not have a growing point, you will not encounter root germination during storage. Such carrots will retain maximum moisture and nutrients, they will not wither or wrinkle.
Errors in harvesting carrots
The main mistake is choosing the wrong time for harvesting. This must be done before the first frost begins. Frozen carrots have a short shelf life. We do not recommend harvesting in rainy weather, as this will cause the vegetable to become heavily saturated with moisture.
One of the reasons for root damage is too dry soil. Therefore, in hot, dry weather, the soil should be slightly moistened before digging carrots.
Preparing carrots for storage
Before storing carrots, they must be thoroughly cleaned, dried and cooled. To do this, it is laid out on polyethylene to dry. A shaded place where direct UV rays do not reach is suitable. Your task is to completely remove the tops with the growing point, as well as the adhering soil. If the harvest is small, it can be washed.
