Forked Carrots

[@laurahodger7184]

I would love to see how you store all your crops and any experimenting you do to make them store better

[@KnolltopFarms]

me too!

[@bigunone]

forked carrots cook up just as good as the ones you see in the stores

[@DovidM]

But they are harder to sell at a farmer’s market.

[@bigunone]

@@DovidM Went to a food bank in the Denver area years ago they had a whole bin of them I was the only one bagging me some, made excellent stew

[@nukethenarrative5873]

Thank you for all the effort you put into sharing your knowledge with us. I greatly appreciate it.

[@xalapa61]

I am predicting that you will have 100,000 subs by this time next year. Great info and analysis!

[@kenneymadsen5710]

Hello RED Gardens, still putting out some great quality content, thank you. I have read and learned first hand that carrots have a high tendency to fork out, when "fresh manure" (not fully decomposed) is used. I would suspect that the same could be the case for compost that is not fully decomposed. But then again... last year when I grew carrots, I added a fair bit of compost, which were not fully decomposed either and that made some of the most beautifully long and straight carrots. Personally I have never had trouble with the carrotfly, but I can see it can be quite devastating. What I have been practising is a bit more work and also takes up some growingspace. But I mix others plant in with my carrotsrows. So I grow onions and Mary Golds in between, which in theory should camouflage the scent of the carrot. And I assume it must have worked, because I have never had problems and I never covered up the plants.

[@szabomarton8064]

just out of curiosity, where do you garden?

[@kenneymadsen5710]

@@szabomarton8064 I live in Denmark.

[@nickstraw1952]

We use no-dig techniques. We apply our compost in the autumn, but not as much as in your video.. We too had problems with Autumn King - which is a much lauded carrot variety here. Poor germination. forking and seems susceptible to carrot foot fly. We have moved on to other varieties, our current favourite being Amsterdam Forcing. Thanks for the usual high quality and thought provoking video.

[@Nellyontheland]

Another welcome video from your good self there Mr Red! Your studying is far more intensive than my musings could be but I offer an idea for you; and that's that the forking is just what the plant needs for a good root system! Rather than worrying of simple things like stones or watering (not mentioned here today) one might consider that the plant is getting too much good feeding! Normally it will go down for water if it needs and it will go down for the goodness in that water! But gien that we feed them exactly what THEY want, then they can do what they wish! Given an inch they take a mile! Might it be that they need less for them to be TRAINED as WE want them to be! When I see how show-veg is grown, in straight barrels, with sandy and airated soil or sand, we see that the water is always below the plant root, along with the goodness it needs, and the plant has to work for it! Just my two pennith worth. Also it could be that there is a chemical or mineral withing the medium that makes the plant go nuts! This ties in with areas of forking in an otherwise normal bed. These carrots need breaking in to be controlled. Thank you for taking time out to read this.

[@bonniebon5378]

But seriously; the size of those carrots. Dayyum!

[@2listen2u]

One of the advantages of living in Ireland is that it doesn't freeze that hard. As a result I, always leave my carrots in the ground. Same with potatoes and any other root crop. Can't wish for a better and cheaper refrigerator and it saves so much time and hassle. And i'm in Co. Leitrim which is one of the coldest counties of Ireland.

[@REDGardens]

I agree. It is such a great benefit, especially in Sandy soil that doesn’t get waterlogged. One problem I have is the slugs can continue to eat the crops, do you have that issue? The taste of the vegetables straight out of the ground is so much better than out of the store.

[@2listen2u]

@@REDGardens I have clay soil in raised beds which prevents waterlogging. I have many slugs, sometimes I might find one in a potato. But I think they go for the ones that are not good anyways. Other than that the slugs are not much of a problem during the winter. Perhaps it is because it is colder here then where you are? Mice were a bigger problem for me when storing in the ground. Until a family of weasels made a nest near my garden. Love your video's by the way.

[@Stikker021]

All my books and seed guides tell me that forked carrots are caused by either nematodes, stones, or heavy, compacted soil. I sift my beds I am going to use for carrots through a 1cm mesh to remove stones and plant marigolds in the beds to kill the nematodes. Here in South Africa, we do not have carrot fly but interplanting with sage or rosemary will deter them. The cracking of carrots is caused by moisture stress which occurs after a time of a lack of irrigation and then a sudden onslaught of moisture, such as a downpour after a period of drought. Does Ireland have drought? 😁 None of my literature indicates the above anomalies being caused by soil nutrition. Thanks for the video. 👍🥕

[@sbarr10]

Sifting through 1 cm mesh does not guarantee you won't have deformed carrots. In my compost-sieved beds I still had about 50% deformed carrots. There are no root nematodes.

[@sbarr10]

I seem to be getting a bunch of forked carrots this summer. The soil and had been worked through a 1/4 mesh screen - compost, worm castings, etc. Stones are dug out. Three areas have been planted. I did read that too much nitrogen amendment in the soil can contribute to forking. Water had been plentiful. In two rows the soil was worked immediately before planting. "Soil settling" seems to be the best explanation for now. The third area so far so good. It is a special bed lined with visqueen.

[@REDGardens]

Soil settling does seem to be a key issue.

[@levkriscoins9115]

Great video 👍 really enjoyed watching 😊 Great channel you have my friend.

[@Hazel_Dazel]

Autumn King is a Nantes type of carrot, it would be interesting to do a trial of a Danvers type carrot to see if it would do better since they're a little more tolerant of poor rocky soil.

[@REDGardens]

That would be interesting, to see if different types had more or less of a tendency to fork.

[@backritepaint]

You do a good job. Keep it up!

[@foggypatchfarm6048]

I agree with the others suggesting it's likely due to too much fertility, or where the fertility is. Charles Dowding talked about this on a vid about carrots. He said that people warn against adding compost to a carrot planting, but he suspects that's because it is assumed that the compost will be dug in. In your case, the greatest number of straight carrots were in the no-dig bed. That seems to align. Also, possibly try planting carrots into a no-dig bed where the compost was applied weeks or months earlier. I grew carrots in a new bed that was only broadforked, and that was a few months before the carrot seed was planted. About 2 out of 30 carrots forked (vr. scarlet nantes ). I applied no compost and only hand watered them during the driest weeks. This is in central Texas.

[@REDGardens]

Yes, the recently dug fertility does seem to cause problems, but with any compost I think it is better to allow as much time as reasonable before sowing - even no-dig. But that depends on the quality of the compost I guess.

[@Bigelowbrook]

I grow some carrots in my aquaponics system in a grow bed that's only 12" deep. I started with Danver's carrots and have switch to Danver's half-long carrots because of the limited depth. I was surprised the first time that I harvested them the amount of fine root structure that is still attached to it since it's easy to pull them from my setup vs pulling from soil which breaks the fine roots off. It seems that the long tap root does need more depth and when it hits the bottom of my beds the carrots will start to misshape. But, I've never had a carrot fork....then just grow short and fat. I do have a horrible problem with them splitting which I would guess it's from the excessive water from the grow beds.

[@REDGardens]

That is really interesting. I occasionally get lots of tiny hairs coming out of the roots, but mostly when the plant starts to regrow in the spring. I wonder if they are always there, and get pulled off, or f there is something about the aquaponics that triggers this.

[@dawnmorning]

Excellent video.

[@thinlizzy535]

This was a fantastic experiment! Thank you so very much again for your dedication to the perfection of the art, skill and science of gardening. All of we gardeners have always wondered and debated the causes of forked carrots, which are an awful scourge to our vegetable harvest. About the carrot root fly; would wood ash help, perhaps or diatomaceous earth? I am in favour of dealing with pests in an organic manner. Incidentally, I’ve found that nature very quickly settles (or balances) out the problems and my garden is very nearly pest free, aside from slugs which, after the rainiest summer in twenty two years (thank God) was to be expected. My treatments would very quickly wash away. Better luck for us all next year! Please, do continue to keep us updated, as we all hope to have the answers by next season, so that we may all take actions to prevent it.

[@REDGardens]

Thanks for that supportive comment!

[@alisonburgess345]

Good one Bruce. Very interesting. I was just weeding my two little rows of carrot seedlings today. Fingers crossed!

[@the_earthway]

Thanks again for such an informative video.

[@seanconway1154]

Carrots require a lot of water to produce good quality crops, water makes the ground softer & easier to penetrate & it also makes minerals soluble. I have found that keeping root fly away & preventing forking is simply a matter of watering carrots heavily twice a day, morning & evening especially during the early stages of growth & during the summer.

[@REDGardens]

That is interesting.

[@lasivianleandros3558]

Great info, thank you!

[@ronk4073]

Hey friend, I am going through your carrot videos because I saw you saved carrot seeds, and I am interested in how that turned out. One of the things I've seen people who like no dig gardening suggest is that the first year you dig the compost in the soil a lot. They say you do not have to, but it speeds up the process of getting more organic material in the soil, and creating good soil structure. Too late for you now, but it might have made a difference that first year. I've also seen people not bother, but then it might take more time to get organic material in the soil and get good structure.

[@REDGardens]

Hey there, I haven’t tried the carrot seed yet, but plan to this season. The issue of digging first or not, before starting a no-dig bed is an interesting one. I can understand both arguments, but I think a lot has to do with the quality of the existing soil.

[@MorgsBrew]

Howzit. Great recap on the system. I have also been playing with carrots trying to think about the best beds. From my understanding forking or splitting can be a result of root nematodes or to much fertility. When I have tried the carrots in double dug beds the roots are often split and the side roots are much thicker. I do know that there is a specific root nematode that may be one of your issues as the most forking occured in beds with high crop residue. Interesting. Again, great video.

[@PorcoAka]

Great video :)

[@motivationalmadness10]

Do you ever plan to do a Q&A about yourself, or do you just want your internet presence to be about gardening and the various things around it? I personally wish to know more about your life as a part of a think tank, and ultimately who you are a person. But, being the well-spoken and learned gardening guy is completely fine.

[@MeandYouHello]

Thanks for sharing

[@helenebezencon8906]

Great video, as always ! This time I am going to use your tips right away : I bought compost this year and as a result I had about twice as much harvest as usual, which also means I was late harvesting the last crops : I have a very small garden, but I literally used every day without rain or snow to bring in my vegetables, and I haven't yet done the work I usually do for the soil at this time of year. So, I was already thinking it wouldn't matter if I did this in the spring instead. Now I think it is a better idea to turn the soil over before it snows again, especially as my garden has a thick layer of compost on top. Thank you for not letting me be lazy ! (I am using paypal for the first time in my life, it seems very easy, but I hope I didn't make any mistakes). My best wishes for you and your family in the winter months.

[@REDGardens]

Doing the work now makes sense, I think. Thanks for the comment and the support through PayPal!

[@helenebezencon8906]

@@REDGardens Thank you very much for your answer. I was lucky this week with better weather and finished the work yesterday. Tomorrow it should snow again... My best wishes for your gardens, I don't know how you manage so much work !

[@enriquegarciacota3914]

In case you are running out of ideas for videos, I think it would be very interesting to see how you "process" your crops after harvesting. I can't really imagine what are you going to do with so many carrots.

[@REDGardens]

Thanks, that could make a good video. Most of the carrots will end up being distributed to my neighbours through my little honesty Veg Fridge. But we do eat a lot of carrots!

[@twrhancock]

Another great video, inspired me to try again with carrots this year - i have not been successful in the past. Could you do a video on soil quality and soil testing, pH and nutrient levels. Do you send you soil away to be tested in a lab? Is it possible to get accurate results with DIY kits? Thanks again for the great videos - best wishes (and good luck) for 2020....

[@sc0tt500]

Thanks for sharing your videos. My thinking is that the results show carrots don't like fertility close to the surface. Your best results seem to be from the least amended bed or the bed where the fertility has had time to penetrate deeper into the soil. I suspect that having high fertility close to the surface stops the carrots from putting out the deep tap root looking for the nutrients. In the extensive bed, could it have been possible that you concentrated the amendments when raking hence the clusters of split roots? Removing rocks that make the tap root to split has to help too... Would love to see a test bed deep dug and sifted with no amendments. Thanks again for sharing your videos.

[@simonallins6010]

To avoid carrot fly damage. Here is a trick. Only thin or weed when almost dark or when it's raining ( or just after ). Then they are not around. Otherwise ,they smell it if you touch the carrots from a long distance...

[@REDGardens]

I have heard about that, and I wonder if the wind blowing the leaves and causing them to rub against each other wouldn't cause the same smell.

[@simonallins6010]

Good point. Maybe it is the carrot itself they smell and not the leaves. An older and more experienced gardener gave me this tip, I never had carrot fly damage again... Greetings

[@DovidM]

Carrot rust flies will fly up to a thousand yards when drawn by scent. In addition to carrots and parsnips there are often wild umbels in the hedgerows that can host carrot flies. Oregon State University’s Extension Service suggests planting this year’s crop downwind of a field that was used last year. extension.oregonstate.edu/pests-weeds-diseases/insects/carrot-rust-fly-biology-management

[@whatthefunction9140]

nice girth

[@katanatac]

I'm having the same forking problem with parsnips, the weird thing is, I built a 4x8 raised bed specifically for them. I used a mixture of store bought peat moss and garden soil, there were no stones and the soil stayed "workable". I see no reason for them to grow like that.

[@PaleGhost69]

Isn't carrot forking caused by having too much nutrient in the soil? Why should it make a thick taproot when there's more nutrients around it than under it. Geoff Lawton did a video about it.

[@pansepot1490]

Carrots are taproot plants, which means that they develop a single main roots that goes down into the ground. Forking occurs when the growing tip of the root gets damaged, then the plant reacts by producing new tips (same mechanism when pruning a long branch to get more ramifications). Fresh manure, not enough decomposed compost and chemical fertilizer can burn the growing tip of carrots, that’s why excessive nutrients causes forking. It’s not that the carrot send out more thick roots to better suck up the nutrients.

[@REDGardens]

@Pat Pezzi It could definitely be chemical burn type of mechanism going on, but I have this idea that the damage to the tap root might be damaged by the biological activity that occurs around the area of higher fertility, especially fresh stuff. It could be collateral damage in a biologically intensive zone, or that the microbes in this fertile zone can actually use the higher availability nitrogen to consume the root tip. But biological or chemical, I think your description the carrot's response is spot on.

[@martincrabtree6704]

Nutrient is non specific.

[@PaleGhost69]

@@martincrabtree6704 Uh yeah... Ok

[@ceili]

I wonder how much of the 'forkness' could be due to genetics? Would other varieties be less susceptible to it?

[@REDGardens]

That is a good question.

[@TheUntypicals]

Forked carrots could be just random epigenetics/gene expression , dandelions etc sometimes fork...

[@crimsonite1524]

my suspicions too, and the splitting i suspect is because of the huge size

[@REDGardens]

That would be interesting to find out, though I used the same seeds in all my gardens and had different amounts of forking.

[@ranchoraccolto]

any of the carrot seeds you saved used on this experiment, or will use then next season? will be interesting to see if the saved seeds do or don't fork based.

[@REDGardens]

No, those are for next year. i wonder if they would have any impact on the forking?

[@ranchoraccolto]

@@REDGardens yes, as harvested on your area Migth be slightly better results, hopefully enough to measure. will be following...

[@stefflus08]

This fits with my impression that carrots aren't very tolerant of other roots or too much composting activity. I suspect they'd do well in almost pure sand with some urine.

[@REDGardens]

Sandy soil seems to be where most of the carrots we can buy in the shop are grown in.

[@ashleyhavoc1940]

Liked and commented for algorithm.

[@REDGardens]

:)

[@somewahl]

How does one deal with carrot root fly?

[@bonniebon5378]

Row covers.

[@martincrabtree6704]

Don't grow them in Ireland.

[@grahamrdyer6322]

I use Blood, Fish and bone on the top of the soil after I just sowed the carrots and then water them in but what I came here for is this, why does everybody lift carrots ? mine stay in until I need them, I'm pulling them all through winter and into early spring just before they go up to seed, if you want them during a snow storm I make sure they are covered beforehand.

[@REDGardens]

I lifted a lot of these just for the video! I often leave my carrots in the ground as they do taste better. My problem more recently is the rats are eating the tops, and the slugs are eating the roots, so it is a bit of a balance between harvesting more good carrots earlier, or better preserved but more damaged carrots later. Not sure where to draw the line there.

[@youngoldboy3430]

I'm surprised that you don't grow a small section of a different variety each year just by way of experiment. Also I'v taken to growing Tagetes alongside Carrot to mask their smell, it's worked so far but there again it might just be luck.

[@REDGardens]

I want to grow a variety trial next season in another plot that I am planning tho develop. In these gardens, I have decided to grow the same variety year after year in so that things are easier to compare. The possibility of masking the smell is an interesting one, and I wonder if it works well if there is already a lot of carrot fly around (like I seem to have), or if it is most useful in preventing the carrot fly from moving into the area.

[@shreshthmohan]

What's wrong with forked carrots?

[@asmallholdinginfrance6829]

I think you are right about settling soil, I grow in heavy clay, and last year I think I had 2 forked carrots , don't add compost only soil ammendments once the carrots are well established usually 5/6 weeks after sowing I add slow release fertiliser.

[@magic2174]

is there a non aesthetic reason to not want forked roots? do they affect the quality of carrot?

[@Bluesabara]

He stated near the end that they're harder to store. And there seems to be a correlation between rot and forked roots but nothing conclusive.

[@szabomarton8064]

also its more work to prepare

[@DovidM]

They are a bit more work to peel. A workaround is to roast them before peeling them.

[@lesliejacobs1439]

More work, more water to clean them..

[@DustySplinters]

Would you say the Poly Tunnel carrots were the best in regards to straightness and lower number of forked one? I am wondering IF there is any correlation with metals in the soil from the long know but much denied Geo-Engineering and Chem Trails? Aluminum in high levels in soil will stunt root growth, that was prooven more than 2 decades ago. Just wondering...

[@REDGardens]

I doubt there is any correlation. I have soil tests done and show reasonable aluminium levels, and we don't have chem trails around here.

[@DustySplinters]

​@@REDGardens OK, Thank You. The only other thing I have heard is placing manure n beds in the spring then planting carrots caused forked ones. But I know you are careful about your amendments. Keep up the great work!

[@newfieingenuity]

low pH can cause carrots to fork, nematodes are also a likely suspect.

[@REDGardens]

Interesting. I have quite high pH, but not sure about the nematode population in my soil.

[@CEOAMARU]

Carrots are so cheap is it worth the grief growing it?

[@szabomarton8064]

depends on your context. if you have a small area to garden you might want to skip potatoes and carrots, but if your goal is to rely on your own produce as much as possible, carrots and potatoes is kind of a must :)

[@REDGardens]

I agree with @Szabó Márton that it might be best to skip growing carrots, potatoes, onions and other crops that are so cheaply available. I find that my carrots, when they are grown well, are so much tastier than anything I can buy elsewhere, that it makes all the efforts worth it. It did take me a while to get to that point though.

[@samuelmatheson9655]

their basically weeds

[@bolton368]

If it not too much hassle could you do your narrating in the polygonal. It felt closer to the garden

[@REDGardens]

I agree, it does feel better in the polytunnel, but it has been so dark and rainy whenever I have a chance to do the filming that it has impossible to get it done. So I figure it is better together the video out, rather than delay it until conditions improve.

[@bolton368]

@@REDGardens Your right, I'm glad to hear it's not a permanent change

[@danielrincon4615]

Third!!

[@Alphabear89]

First like yayuh