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Looking at the new season of carrot varieties, many people want to buy a carrot variety without a core, fearing harmful substances accumulated there. Vita Long carrots are one such cultivar.
Description
Refers to late-ripening high-yielding varieties. The carrots were bred by the Dutch company Bejo Zaden. Suitable for growing in Russia, Ukraine and Moldova. From sowing seeds to harvesting, the variety takes 160 days.
Root crops, under favorable conditions, reach a weight of 0.5 kg. The usual weight of carrots is up to 250 g and length up to 30 cm, conical shape with a blunt tip. The color of the roots is orange. The variety grows well in heavy soil. Productivity up to 6.5 kg / m².
Vita Longa carrot variety is resistant to diseases and pests, has good keeping quality, is not prone to cracking. According to the manufacturer's statement, the seeds are suitable for long-term storage. It is intended not only for fresh consumption or cooking, but also for preparing baby food and juice. The variety is interesting for industrial cultivation.
Sowing
Seeds are sown in grooves located at a distance of 20 cm from each other. Ideally, it is recommended to plant carrots of this variety at a distance of 4 cm from each other. But due to the size of the seeds, it is very difficult to keep the planting evenly.
For the 2018 season, the company has released a novelty "Bystrosev", including Vita Longa varieties.
The seeds in the package are mixed with dry gel powder. For sowing, it is enough to pour water into the package, shake well, wait 10 minutes until the powder turns into a gel mass, shake again to evenly distribute the carrot seeds in the gel mass and you can sow after removing the seal.
The manufacturer claims that this method has several undeniable advantages:
- the yield is doubled;
- seeds are saved;
- there is no need to thin out the crops, as the seeds fall evenly;
- the gel protects seeds from diseases;
- high speed of sowing seeds.
Of course, there are no reviews about this method yet. Neither the germination rate nor the percentage of seed germination is known. Most likely, this information will arrive by the 2019 season.
In fairness, vegetable growers used a similar method of sowing carrot seeds even before the company, using a liquid paste cooked from flour or starch. Several packages of carrot seeds are poured into a liter jar with warm paste and mixed. Then the contents of the jar are poured into an empty bottle of detergent or shampoo and the prepared grooves are filled with the resulting mass. The uniformity of seed distribution is quite satisfactory.
If there is any doubt that the seeds from the manufacturer have been properly treated or there is a desire to accelerate the germination of seeds by first removing essential oils from them, you can use the old method by buying a regular package of seeds and planting the seeds in any available way.
Most likely, Vita Long carrots are very sensitive to excess organic matter in the soil. There were cases when, instead of one root crop, under one rosette of leaves, up to five carrots were found growing together with tops, while other varieties of carrots growing nearby had ordinary root crops.
Branching of carrot roots is possible either with an excess of organic fertilizers in the soil, up to the fresh manure introduced last year, or if damaged by pests, or if the carrot roots are damaged by an inaccurate gardener during weeding. The latter two versions are unlikely when there are other “normal” carrot varieties nearby.It is unlikely that garden pests are so well versed in carrot varieties, and the gardener showed inaccuracy only when weeding Vita Long.
When planting Vita Long carrots on the beds, one should take into account its sensitivity to an excess of organic matter. It is always better to add fertilizer later than to add too much fertilizer to the soil.
Pests
On the websites of online stores selling seeds, you can often find recommendations to buy seeds only from trusted producers, but in no case from hands. The advice is not without reason, although, at first glance, it may seem that this is a publicity stunt.
Not to mention the opportunity to buy a re-variety or just low-quality seeds, it is worthwhile to dwell on the opportunity to bring such a “cute” pest as the root knot nematode to your beds.
Gall nematode
From the point of view of the risk of infection with this parasite, the seeds are the safest. But the nematode can winter not only in the ground and plant roots, but also in the seeds. Therefore, before sowing, it is better to disinfect doubtful seeds in water heated to 45 ° C for 15 minutes.
Carrots affected by root nematode look like this:
Unfortunately, this parasite cannot be eradicated. Having got into the garden once, he will no longer leave him alone. Unlike other macro pests, this one is invisible to the naked eye and cannot be picked by hands. The size of the worm is only 0.2 mm.
The nematoda is introduced into root crops, forming swelling-galls. Plants affected by this worm die from lack of nutrients. Nematode eggs are stored in the ground for years in anticipation of favorable conditions.
Control measures
There are practically no measures to combat this parasite. In industrial cultivation, methyl bromide is most effective for plant protection. But it kills not only nematodes, but also all microflora in the soil, including useful. Aktofit and Fitoverm are not so dangerous for microflora and protect healthy plants well from nematodes penetration into them, but they do not work if the plants are already infected.
Nematicides used to treat infected plants are extremely toxic to humans and their use in garden plots is unacceptable.
Therefore, for a private trader, prevention comes first:
- buying seeds in stores, not from hand;
- disinfection of equipment;
- soil disinfection.
These measures will reduce the risk of nematode infection. If the plants are already affected by the worm, they are removed and destroyed. If carrots are damaged by a nematode, the tops will begin to wilt and stunted. When these signs appear, it is worth checking the carrots for the presence of galls on the root vegetable.
Hawthorn aphid
Fortunately, this pest cannot be brought in with seeds. Hawthorn aphids overwinter on hawthorns, and at the end of spring they move to the leaves and petioles of carrots, where they parasitize until autumn, slowing down the growth of carrots, or even completely destroying them. Then he goes to sleep on the hawthorn again.
There are no effective methods of dealing with this type of aphid. As a preventive measure, you need to place the beds with carrots as far away from the hawthorn as possible.
Carrot bacteriosis
No longer a parasite, but a fungal disease, which can also be brought in with untested seeds.
During the growing season, a sign of bacteriosis in carrots is yellowing, and then the browning of the leaves. With severe damage, the leaves dry out.
Carrots affected by bacteriosis are no longer suitable for storage. Another name for bacteriosis is "wet bacterial rot". If during the growing season the bacteriosis does not look very dangerous, then during storage it can destroy the entire stock of carrots, since it can be transmitted from a diseased root crop to a healthy one.
Control measures
Compliance with crop rotation. Carrots can be returned to their original place no earlier than three years later.Do not sow carrots after onions, cabbage, garlic and umbrella crops such as dill or celery.
Buy only seeds from healthy plants, that is, in specialized stores.
It is best to grow carrots in light soils with good water permeability and aeration. Nitrogen fertilizers should not be applied before harvesting.
Considering the resistance of Vita Longa carrots to diseases and pests advertised by the manufacturer, information about diseases and pests of carrots may not be useful to the happy owners of bags with seeds of this variety and Vita Longa will delight its owners with a good harvest.
