How to store carrots
Vegetables are an important part of food and the main source of natural vitamins for a modern person. After harvesting, there is always the problem of keeping many vegetables fresh in the winter. Carrots are no exception, given the popularity of this vegetable, it is worth seeing how to grow carrots in the video. This will help to avoid many mistakes both when sowing seeds and when growing them further.
How and when is it better to plant carrots on the site?
Carrot seeds have a fairly long germination period, the first shoots may appear only three weeks after sowing. Given the slow germination of seeds, but their good winter hardiness, carrots can be sown not only in spring, after thawing the soil, but also before winter.It is better to plant carrots before winter in the second half of October, and in some regions - in early November.
When sown for the winter, carrots are suitable for consumption after harvest; as a rule, they are not suitable for long-term storage in winter.
Carrots sown in spring are suitable for storage. The best maturing varieties and hybrids are:
- Vitamin 6;
- Samson;
- Altair;
- Shantane;
- Morevna.
When growing carrots for long-term storage in winter, it is necessary to withstand the harvest time, then the shelf life of carrots will be long, vegetables will remain in good condition almost until the next harvest. A few tips will help gardeners harvest on time and keep it fresh until spring.
How to keep carrots at home?
The safety of carrots is influenced not only by the variety, but also by the timing of harvesting. If you hurry up, dig up the carrots earlier, then it will very quickly become unusable. If you are late with the frill of the harvest, then the vegetables may suffer from autumn precipitation, therefore, general recommendations can be given on how to preserve carrots, and the gardeners will make adjustments for the climate and weather conditions of the region themselves.
Do not rush to harvest carrots intended for fresh storage, dug out too early, they do not gain the required mass.
In many regions, gardeners rush to dig up roots before the autumn rainy season, when it is still warm enough outside, forgetting about three important things:
- the main set of mass in carrots falls on September - October;
- late varieties, dug out ahead of time, have low taste;
- in early September it is hot enough and the storage temperature is too high for storing vegetables.
Yellowed tops may serve as a signal to start harvesting carrots.
It is necessary to start harvesting carrots in dry weather, in late September - early October. It is at this time that the temperature regime decreases, the growth processes of root crops slow down. It is more convenient to pick carrots by hand or to dig with a pitchfork than with a shovel. The dug up roots must be sorted out. Too small, with a weight that does not correspond to the variety, are taken for processing, and damaged, deformed vegetables also go here. Smooth, undamaged carrots without signs of rot are laid for storage.
Very often the question arises: what to do with the tops and how to store carrots, with or without them? The carrot tops must be removed immediately after the carrot has been dug out of the ground, as it can absorb some of the moisture, which can lead to premature drying.
This can be done in the following ways:
- twist the tops with your hand at the head of the root crop;
- cut off with a knife at the head of the root crop, leaving up to 5 cm of tops;
- cut off at the very head;
- cut with a knife with part of the head.
After the carrots were dug up, the tops were removed, they must be dried in a cool room at a temperature of + 8 + 10 degrees.
Carrots prepared for storage can be placed in boxes by pouring them:
- Sawdust. For 500 kg of carrots, you will need about 0.3 - 0.5 cubic meters. m of sawdust.
- Sand.
- Onion husks.
Prepared boxes with carrots are placed in the cellar.
Carrots are stored at a temperature of +1 +3 degrees, in a dark place.
A small amount of carrots can be stored in an apartment by placing them in 5 - 10 kg in even rows in cardboard boxes, and add 1 - 2 horseradish roots to each box. Install the boxes in the coolest place in the apartment. If there are a lot of carrots, it can be stored by pouring the herds in a special storage, the height of the herds can be from one meter to four. This method is convenient to use in industrial or semi-industrial growing carrots for implementation. The storage for the storage of the herds must be equipped with ventilation and the temperature must be maintained in it 0 +1 degrees. Compliance with the above recommendations will extend the shelf life of carrots until the next harvest.