Why carrots grow clumsy, horny and branched: reasons

It's time to harvest carrots, howeverinstead of a neat and beautiful red-haired beauty, an ugly one is born: horned, clumsy, branched and / or hairy (furry), and maybe also crack... Of course, it's pretty funny to look at such funny and unusual carrots on the Internet, but the gardeners who have spent their energy on growing crooked carrots do not share the fun.

What happened? Why did the carrots grow ugly, what are the reasons for this outcome?

You will find answers to all these questions later in our article. Also, advice will be given on what to do to make the carrots beautiful, even, rich in color and with excellent taste.

The main reasons why carrots grow ugly - gnarled, horny and branched

Improper planting and care of carrots leads to the fact that root crops ultimately deform, branch and grow clumsy, horny. Further, we will name the specific reasons - errors during planting and leaving, which cause these negative consequences.

Wrong planting site: unsuitable soil, lack of preparation of the beds

First, if the soil, in which the carrots will be planted, too dense and clayey carrots can grow branched (horned).

Therefore, before planting carrots, you should properly prepare a garden for it: if you have very heavy soil, then you need to add baking powder - sand, compost, humus and / or peat. But first you can plant and cut green manure.

By the way! During the preparation of the bed under planting carrots required necessarily remove all weeds, break up all clods of earth and thoroughly select out of the ground all large pebbles, which can also cause deformation of carrots, i.e. the root crop will not be able to break through dense clods of earth and large pebbles. As a result, he will simply go around them and bend.

It is also known that carrots does not tolerate fresh manure and does not like deoxidizers very much soil (they need to be applied in the fall, not in the spring just before sowing the seeds), and chloride potash fertilizers - potassium chloride and potassium salt.

There is an opinion! If you sow carrots on a garden bed, previously fertilized with fresh manure (even in autumn), then root crops can grow ugly and gnarled.

It happens that the roughness of carrots can be caused by excess nitrogen (but rarely).

Thinning: complete absence or untimely

Root crops can grow distorted (crooked) due to initial excessive thickening of landings and absence thinning... As a result, root crops cannot develop normally, in sufficient quantity get food and spacerequired for the growth of the root crop, but only hinder growth = deform each other.

Note! The site has a detailed article about when and how to thin out carrots correctly.

However, the procedure thinning need to execute on time... If you miss the right moment and the roots will noticeably increase in size before thinning, then you can simply damage the nearby growing roots, which will cause their deformation and loss of high-quality appearance.

Note! The fact is that damage to carrot roots leads to the fact that the growth of the main root crop is suspended, and instead, the development of lateral roots is stimulated and the formation of a branched root crop.

Thus, the correct and timely execution of thinning allows you to grow beautiful and large carrots of approximately the same size.

Lack of watering

In case the carrots experience lack of moisture due to frequent but shallow watering, this can be the reason for the formation of a large number of adventitious (additional) roots in the root crop and the carrots will begin to branch. The fact is that additional roots are formed in it, which will seek and obtain the necessary moisture in the surface layer of the soil.

Remember! The main principle proper watering of carrots — abundantly (i.e. need to deeply saturate the soil), but infrequently and always regularly.

What you need to do (how to care) for the carrots to grow tasty, beautiful and large

To get a rich harvest of healthy and tasty root vegetables, you should also correctly carry out the entire cycle of activities for growing and caring for carrots (from planting to harvesting):

• plant correctly (process the seeds, prepare the garden bed, plant it at the optimal time);

By the way! The site has an article about when and how to plant carrots in spring.

• choose and observe a certain watering mode;

Advice! About, how to properly water carrots, read in this article.

• carry out preventive treatments - protect your carrot beds from carrot flies;

Important! About, how to effectively deal with carrot fly, read in this material.

• thin out;

Note! The site has a detailed article about when and how to thin out carrots correctly.

• on time and correctly to harvest;

By the way! Detailed information about the timing and rules for harvesting carrots read here.

• and, of course, store it correctly.

Advice! ABOUT the nuances and methods of storing carrots in winter detailed in this article.

Thus, now you know that all problems - why carrots grow clumsy, horny - should be looked for in mistakes when planting and caring for a root crop during its active growth and formation, and most often in the wrong watering regime, which you must correct ... Let your carrots be a real red-haired beauty! Good luck!

By the way! If carrots grown hairy (hairy)then look for reasons in this article, what if cracked still in the groundthen in this material.

Video: horned carrots - how to prevent this