Carrots have risen and stopped growing what to do. What to do if carrots do not grow well? Causes and solutions - the secrets of watering and fertilizing! Carrot with waist and beard
Carrot leaves curling and curling is a sign that the crop is in jeopardy. It is important to know what to do and it is urgent to find out what caused the problem and take measures, including folk methods fight. Important to choose best way so that carrots can be eaten after processing.
Why do carrot tops curl
Carrot is an unpretentious root crop, but if it has been attacked by pests, it will immediately become noticeable by the state of the tops. If nothing is done, the long-awaited harvest will most likely be lost.
If the color of the aerial part of the plant has changed, the leaves are curly and began to curl, and the stems grow unevenly, it is customary to say that the carrots have curled up. This is an alarming symptom, signaling the defeat of the root crop by insect pests.
The following undesirable inhabitants of the garden can jeopardize the crop:
- carrot aphid - the colonies of this pest are activated during the summer drought. The insect multiplies rapidly if the carrots are poorly watered. Plants affected by aphids will produce dry and unsweetened root crops that are practically unfit for human consumption;
- carrot fly - a pest lays eggs on the first shoots of carrots. The larvae that have appeared make their way to the forming part of the root crop and completely destroy it. The attack of voracious larvae usually occurs in the middle of summer. Curly foliage with normal watering is most often a sign of damage to the beds by carrot fly larvae;
- carrot psyllid is the most difficult pest to detect. These insects are very small and almost impossible to see. Their vital activity is imperceptible for quite a long time - the tops of carrots retain a rich green color, the plant looks healthy for quite a long time. If the root leaf curls even slightly, emergency measures must be taken, otherwise the entire crop will die. The psyllid is also dangerous because its larvae perfectly tolerate wintering in order to attack the beds again in the next warm season.
Photo of the defeat of carrots by psyllid:
IN rare cases it happens that carrots curl due to a lack of magnesium and potassium in the soil. But more often than not, saving the crop requires pest control.
What will happen if you do not fight curly tops
Carrots with curly tops produce almost inedible root crops - tough and unsweetened. With a strong pest attack, the carrot will be small or severely deformed. There is no benefit from eating such a vegetable.
The poor quality of the crop from infected plants will not allow it to be used even as livestock feed.
The use of insecticides for the treatment of curly tops of carrots
Insecticides will help save carrots from pests if the infection has occurred relatively recently.
In the assortment of specialized stores there is a large selection of effective and safe means against insect pests: Aktara, Zeta, Intavir, Aktellik and others.
When deciding on the use of insecticides in a garden where carrots grow, one should take into account important rules such a method of struggle:
- chemicals cannot be used when the roots have already formed;
- harvesting is allowed no earlier than one month after processing;
- spraying with one product is possible no more than 2 times. If, after repeated spraying, signs of insect damage appear again, then the larvae have already formed resistance (resistance) to the active substance. You can try to carry out disinsection using another drug.
When using any insecticidal agent, it is necessary to carefully study the instructions for the preparation and use of the solution.
The use of the same product for several seasons significantly reduces its effectiveness.
In the event that the garden is often attacked by pests, it may be useful to keep a treatment diary, which will indicate which means, with what frequency and with what effect were applied.
Folk remedies for curly tops of carrots
Carrot is a root crop that has long been known to gardeners. And there are many ways to treat curly tops. Worthy alternative chemicals can become time-tested folk remedies pest control.
A good effect is given by spraying the tops with strong infusions of yarrow herb, garlic, celandine, horse sorrel. These plants are extremely unpleasant for insects and are safe for humans.
A solution of laundry soap will also help to expel unwanted inhabitants of the garden (at the rate of 300 g of soap shavings per 15 liters of water). Treatment with a soapy solution should be carried out several times until the tops cease to curl.
There are also dry processing methods - dusting (shedding). As active substances, wood ash or tobacco dust, as well as a mixture of them, is suitable. Plants are powdered repeatedly until the desired effect is achieved.
If the carrots curl, despite all the measures taken, then you will have to take drastic measures. In this case, the entire infected bed will have to be weeded and burned. If this is not done, then other plants may be attacked by pests.
Prevention of carrot diseases
Experienced gardeners have noticed that carrots give an excellent harvest and are out of the reach of pests if the garden bed with this root crop is located next to onion and garlic plantings.
Carrots need to be watered abundantly enough and carefully thinned out. Without waiting for signs of leaf damage (twisting, discoloration), non-toxic herbal infusions can be used for prevention.
Careful monitoring of the beds, timely detection of alarming signs is the key to obtaining the long-awaited harvest of sweet, large, healthy root crops.
This vegetable was once a completely different kind, unsightly, less tasty, and not everyone would dare to eat it. Now carrots are a wonderful and literally indispensable vegetable that is used from feeding children to food for the elderly. And, it would seem, what is easier? I prepared a garden bed, sowed carrot seeds, even planted onions nearby so that there was no onion fly at all, but there was simply no harvest. What is the reason and what to do? In this article, we will look at 12 possible causes poor growth of carrots and tell you what to do in this or that case.
Growing carrots. © Terese
1. The vagaries of the weather
As you know, carrot seeds germinate well already at three degrees Celsius, and carrots grow well if it is from +18 to +24 degrees above zero outside the window, but if it is hotter, then its growth slows down sharply.
How to help? I would advise you to cool the soil in the evening by watering it with a hose, but not by sprinkling, but by gravity, so that the soil cools down at least a couple of centimeters, naturally, it will lower the air temperature, this sometimes helps.
2. Dry, too wet or dense soil
Carrots grow best in light and moderately moist soils. If it is dry, the root crop will not grow, there is also no chance on excessively damp soil, if the soil is dense, it can grow, but bizarre and clumsy.
How to fix dense soil? By a bucket of river sand square meter(this is 12 or 13 kg), until the soil becomes loose and fluffy, then the carrots will be just very comfortable, and you will be surprised how perfect it will be.
Those who think that carrot seeds can be sown directly on the surface of the turf are also very mistaken. Contrary to the opinion that came from somewhere that carrots are practically a weed, they need prepared soil. Therefore, before sowing carrot seeds, be sure to dig the soil deeply into a full bayonet of a shovel, loosen it, and then I advise you to also walk with a rake so that the bed for sowing carrots is softer than grandmother's feather bed.
3. The location of the beds with carrots in the shade
Continuing the theme of the soil, root crops will grow well only on soils completely open to the rays of the sun, they can no longer tolerate even a short shadow and slow down their development.
Ideally, the vegetable grower should arrange the beds with carrots in such a way that each plant is lit by the sun and does not obscure each other. Naturally, the location near large crops, such as corn, is unacceptable or only permissible if these plants (tall) will be located with north side from carrots, that is, they will not create any shadows for her.
4. Too acidic soil
Carrots are a capricious crop, and if the soils of your site are too acidic (pH 5.5 and below), then in the fall before spring sowing carrot seeds, be sure to add a glass of dolomite flour per square meter to the soil.
Ideally, soil for carrots should have a pH of 6-7. You can check the pH with a simple litmus paper by dissolving the soil in a glass of water, and dipping a piece of paper there, and then comparing the color of the paper with the scale on the package.
5. Loosening the soil
How do you feel about soil in general? Do you know that the most crucial moment for carrots is the period when seeds germinate, shoots appear? So during this period it is extremely bad if there is a soil crust on the surface of the soil.
Ideally, after each rain or watering, you need to be as careful as possible, but destroy it. If you have carrots in your country house, then so that the soil crust does not slow down its growth, it is necessary after each watering, before leaving, to cover it with a thin (a couple of millimeters) layer of wood ash (this is a good potash fertilizer, and it also contains trace elements).
Important! Always try to water the soil or wait for rain and then loosen the soil, and not vice versa.
6. Wrongly selected seeds
By the way, few people know that length does matter. So, the shorter and smaller the carrot root, the faster it ripens and vice versa. Therefore, when choosing seeds, read what is written on the bag, and do not chase gigantism, it is of little use.
A lyrical digression for those who are not satisfied with the growth rate of carrots - we read the packaging more carefully, early ripening varieties have a ripening period of 55-65 days. It cannot be said that yesterday I sowed, but today I have already harvested. Yes, and such varieties are not stored at all - I was convinced from my own experience.
7. Wrong crop rotation
Predecessor? Have you forgotten? But, fortunately, everything is not so complicated with carrots and, choosing a previous crop, you can only focus on a couple of main requirements.
The first, and, I think, this is the most basic requirement is that in the garden where there were carrots, it is at least stupid to re-sow carrots, wait two years, and preferably three, and you will see for yourself that the result will be completely different.
Well, the second rule is that carrots grow best only after tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, cabbage, onions, garlic, greens, but it’s better not to plant after leaf lettuce and parsley, everything is simple here - there may be common pests.
8. Thickened crops
Have you pulled carrots at all? Do you know that the optimal row spacing when planting carrots should be 22-23 cm, and the width of the beds should not be more than one and a half meters? On this one - just a row of four carrots fits, but more is not needed.
Thickened crops, by the way, are pulled through in the phase of a pair of true leaves, and after a while (usually two or three weeks) again, so that there is 4-6 cm of free space between each carrot. And before thinning, first water the bed, and then pull up the desired bush. If the bed is not watered, then you can affect neighboring plants, and this will just affect their poor growth in the future.
Shoots of carrots before thinning. © gardenfrisk 9. Wrong planting depth
This is what beginners do, for some reason they try to shove it deeper, but why? The optimal depth of carrot seeds on a dense clay soil maybe only a centimeter, but if the soil is loose and sandy, then you can push deeper - up to four or even five centimeters. Here, of course, it also depends on the moisture content of the soil, otherwise it can be planted deep, and then watered so superficially that moisture will not even reach the seeds.
And a personal secret, if you see that the spring is dry, if there is a minimum of rain and the water dries up, falling immediately to the surface of the soil, and the soil, among other things, looks like a desert, then it is quite possible to sow the seeds to a depth of five centimeters, and if the soil dense and it rains often, then close up the seeds almost at the very surface.
Did you forget about hilling? It seems to be a simple operation, but for some reason few people do it. The thing is that during the growth period, a small, but still part of the carrot root, located on top, seems to stick out of the soil, it becomes bare, it becomes not the carrot color we are used to, but less pleasant - green, and with might and main begins to accumulate, albeit not very dangerous, but still a poison called solanine. At the same time, the growth of carrots stops, freezes.
Therefore, you need to monitor the plantation and spud it in time, which is especially effective after watering, rain or on cloudy days, when the years of the carrot fly are minimal or absent at all.
11. Well, about watering
Watering carrots is a complicated thing, and here many just start to panic, asking questions why root crops do not grow. In fact, carrots love golden mean: affluence, but not excess moisture.
It has carrots and its biological subtleties, which a real gardener should know about, for example, the growth of root crops actively begins after the end of leaf mass growth, and there is no need to pull the tops out of the soil and shout “where is the root crop ?!”.
Usually, the growth of the root crop occurs in the last quarter of the growth of the above-ground leaf mass. It follows that during the period of active growth of carrot moisture, a maximum is needed, but if you moisten the soil when the root crops finish growing, then this can slow down their development or lead to cracking.
A bed of carrots next to a bed of onions. © Tina Martino Of course, we must not forget about the norms of watering carrots so that the root crop does not stop its development. So, for example, in hot weather, when moisture evaporates, you can water carrots three times a week in the evening, spending only four liters of water per square meter on young plants. But already in the middle of the growing season of carrots, you can water once a week, pouring a bucket of water per square meter, and reduce again towards the end of the growing season, as we mentioned earlier.
12. Proper feeding
Carrots may not grow for the simple reason that you feed them incorrectly. You don’t need to do a lot of top dressing, otherwise angry reviews about the amount of nitrates will fall and that there are also a lot of useful things in the air. On my site, I spent only three top dressings and that was enough.
Both I and many gardeners did the first dressing after the emergence of shoots - after three weeks. To do this, they used top dressing in liquid form - usually a tablespoon of nitrophoska in a bucket of water. The carrots were re-fed after 15-18 days, two were already used, but teaspoons per bucket of water, also in dissolved form.
Carrots respond very well to the introduction of a solution of potassium sulfate (literally 6-7 g per bucket of water at a consumption rate per square meter). It turns out - this is the third top dressing, it has a positive effect on the growth of root crops, and on their taste (they will be sweeter).
Decided to fertilize the soil with manure? Well, then apply it in the spring at 5-6 kg per square meter of soil. During the season before planting carrots, let the manure decompose, dissolve, go into a form accessible to plants, and then add 500 g of wood ash per square meter in the fall and you can safely plant carrots. The result will be wonderful.
Well, here we tried to answer all the questions about why carrots do not grow, and what to do about it. If you have questions then ask them in the comments. If you have your own secrets for getting a good harvest of carrots, we will also be happy to learn about them.
- the process is simple, but requires knowledge of some nuances: timely planting, high-quality thinning, moderate watering, knowing why it is necessary to feed the plant - only with a combination of these factors will the gardener receive a plentiful and high-quality harvest. However, if the carrot leaves begin to curl, the future harvest is in jeopardy - not everyone knows why carrots curl. Let's figure it out.
IN normal condition carrot tops have a bright green color. The rosette has axillary buds, the leaves of carrots grow on a long petiole.
If the leaf of a carrot is twisted, then the gardener begins to worry and look for the cause in the development of all kinds of diseases. This is wrong: curly hair is the result of exposure to pests.
The period of greatest activity of psyllids and other insects lasts from the second half of June to the end of July. At this time, you need to carefully monitor the seedlings, and in case of danger, immediately take measures to combat the pest.
In addition, there are other reasons that the leaves curl - this is a lack of trace elements in the soil. The problem is solved quite simply: the plant can easily get the missing potassium and magnesium in the form of top dressing, which you can cook yourself.
In some cases, gardeners are panicking for no reason at all. Carrots can be curly due to the variety: worries about “curls” on the leaves are unnecessary, but it is still necessary to exclude the possibility of pests. Curly carrots are prone to pests.
Method for eliminating pests
When the question arises of what to do and why carrots curl, many are at a loss. Summer residents are very afraid of the appearance of pests on carrots, since the crop can be considered lost. However, if the infection has begun recently, it is still worth fighting for the vegetable.
To keep carrots from curling, you can use one of the following methods:
- The use of chemicals.
- Treatment with folk remedies.
- Use of agricultural practices.
Among insecticides, you can choose a lot various options. We spray plantings with special substances. So, the drug "Zeta" perfectly copes with the psyllid. To prepare the working composition, it is necessary to dilute 1 tablet of the product in 10 liters of water. Plants can be treated once or twice per season.
It is important that you can spray carrots with these drugs once or twice. Their use can be carried out no more than twice in one season. It will be superfluous to use insecticides if less than 30 days are left before harvest.
If the carrot has grown, and it can already be eaten, and the leaves are curled, then insecticide treatment is contraindicated. In this case, folk remedies should be used. Pests do not tolerate infusions of celandine, garlic, horse sorrel, yarrow. Some summer residents even use for this purpose laundry soap, spreading 300 grams of chips in a bucket of water. Spray the bed with this remedy several times.
Can be used against aphids wood ash. Its combination with tobacco dust is an even better option. Dusting with this composition will help the gardener get rid of the pest and save the garden. The processed sheet will stop twisting.
Help to cope with the problems of insect exposure and some agrotechnical methods. So, you can not plant carrots in the place that was once infected with a pest that affects it. Pine trees near the garden pose a direct danger to carrots: it is on them that harmful insects overwinter. It is not worth planting spruces on your own on the site or next to it, so that the carrots do not spin.
It is good for carrots if the place for organizing the beds is chosen next to garlic or onions. The pungent smell of these plants will scare away the carrot fly, save the future harvest: the leaf curls less, the plant does not suffer.
The consequences of curly leaves in carrots
The appearance of pests on the leaves of carrots will not pass without a trace. If the gardener is inactive, then most of the crop may die. In addition to fruits, labor will also perish, and this is the saddest thing. When the first signs of crop growth failure appear, the battle for the crop should begin, especially if the leaves are already curled.
If you miss the appearance of pests and do not water the carrots with protective agents, then the root crops will become tough. Their taste will change, the carrots will lose their sweetness, they will become more like fodder. Leaves may change color to yellow or reddish. With inaction, most of the crop will have to be burned.