Fertiliser for carrots

[Spunky]

Which cheaper ways are they bill?

[FlawlessVictory]

I thought that you don't fertilise carrots to avoid excessive nitrogen which causes forking. If you use something with a low nitrogen content but high phosphorus levels (e.g. bone meal) would this help grow bigger roots without forking?

I have also heard this is the case! They really don't like newly manured beds aswell!

[Bill HH]

Which cheaper ways are they bill?

Farmyard manure contains a lot of minerals as does wood ash. Basic slag, lime, the list is endless. Rock dust seems to be an american thing and is promoted vigourously for business purposes but if you think about it soil is itself rock dust mixed with organic matter. What a good gardener needs to do is identify the lack of any particular mineral and if necessary corret the imbalance. Piling on rock dust as i have seen them do in many American you tube vids seems utterly crazy to me because they dont come cheap. Gardeners of old had never heard of rock dust and they produced staggering crops.

[Spunky]

Thanks bill the only reason I ask is because I didn't think you could use manure with carrots and Rick dust at the moment is cheaper than blood fish bone on ebay

[Stan79]

I'm following this thread with interest. My carrots last year and this have been rubbish. Small, forked and eaten!

Soil is very clay-ey and carrot root fly has also been a problem so going to grow in a container this year... just need to get around to building one and sorting out a soil, compost, sand, BF&B mix.

[Alison]

I've found the only way to avoid carrot root fly is to cover with enviromesh (or similar small mesh net) from sowing until harvest, it's a blatant lie that they can't fly very high!

[Bill HH]

Thanks bill the only reason I ask is because I didn't think you could use manure with carrots and Rick dust at the moment is cheaper than blood fish bone on ebay

Spunky, you are confusing rock dust with fertiliser. it is not a fertiliser but contains minerals.
It may be cheaper than BFB but thats because rock dust is what it is, just dust from a quarry. Blood fish and bone requires complicated manufacturing methods and a lot of heat. You cant replace one with another. I would go with BFB.

[Jay-ell]

I'm following this thread with interest. My carrots last year and this have been rubbish. Small, forked and eaten!

Soil is very clay-ey and carrot root fly has also been a problem so going to grow in a container this year... just need to get around to building one and sorting out a soil, compost, sand, BF&B mix.

My soil is clay with embedded stone, rocks and boulders. Dismantled an old double divan bed which gave me the perfect parts to make a 1m x 1m x 30cm bed.

So from double bed to double height veg bed.

Just need to finish off the ground where I'm placing it and sort out the soil.

I've got the spect compost from last year's toms and tubs and I'm going to riddle the soil underneath the bed to mix it with. I'm thinking about mixing in coconut coir to lighten the soil a bit. Probably mix in some fresh compost to make up the volume and spread out the clay (which after being bashed through a riddle should be a bit finer).

I might dig up last year's squash bed instead of the fresh compost as it had loads of compost in last year which would be more nutritionally deficient then add bone meal - if I can be bothered to do all that extra riddling.

[Spunky]

Spunky, you are confusing rock dust with fertiliser. it is not a fertiliser but contains minerals.
It may be cheaper than BFB but thats because rock dust is what it is, just dust from a quarry. Blood fish and bone requires complicated manufacturing methods and a lot of heat. You cant replace one with another. I would go with BFB.

I don't want to use it as a fertiliser bill I want it to replace elements that fertilisers don't replace, the plants would be getting feed from compost

[Bill HH]

I don't want to use it as a fertiliser bill I want it to replace elements that fertilisers don't replace, the plants would be getting feed from compost

"Thanks bill the only reason I ask is because I didn't think you could use manure with carrots and Rick dust at the moment is cheaper than blood fish bone on ebay"

You can see from your comments how I could assume you intend to use one rather than the other even though they do completely different things,

[Martin H]

How about mixing half spent compost with half new and using rock dust as a fertiliser to add the extra gubbons

I don't want to use it as a fertiliser bill I want it to replace elements that fertilisers don't replace, the plants would be getting feed from compost

There won't be any feed in the old compost, while the new compost will run out of feed in 6 weeks or so. This means you'll have to add fertiliser to get a decent crop.

I don't believe that adding rock dust as well as fertiliser will make an appreciable difference, although I've never tried it to find out for myself. You could do an experiment for us - one container with added rock dust, one without - and report back at the end of the season?

[Veggiemama]

I dont use any feed on my carrots nor parsnips and i get great results.
I grow mine in raised beds, sieved old compost and thats it.

Once the seedlings are established, i am careful with the watering, in that, i let them go a while with needing water so the roots grow down, although i dont let them dry out (if you see what i mean)

Do many of you feed your carrots?

[Spunky]

"Thanks bill the only reason I ask is because I didn't think you could use manure with carrots and Rick dust at the moment is cheaper than blood fish bone on ebay"

You can see from your comments how I could assume you intend to use one rather than the other even though they do completely different things,

I do mate no worries tbh I meant the cost comparison

[Spunky]

There won't be any feed in the old compost, while the new compost will run out of feed in 6 weeks or so. This means you'll have to add fertiliser to get a decent crop.

I don't believe that adding rock dust as well as fertiliser will make an appreciable difference, although I've never tried it to find out for myself. You could do an experiment for us - one container with added rock dust, one without - and report back at the end of the season?

I wouldn't use both Martin I'd want the carrots to get the main npk from a half dose of compost and the rest of the trace elements from the rock dust, I'll be growing them in pots this year so it's more beneficial to me I suppose
After reading some of the posts on here it seems they crave something it makes sense to me

[Snow]

I've found the only way to avoid carrot root fly is to cover with enviromesh (or similar small mesh net) from sowing until harvest, it's a blatant lie that they can't fly very high!

How definite is carrot root fly?
I'm growing carrots for the first time this year, in a small patch. If it is like 99% certain then I'll do stuff to try and avoid getting it, but I dont want to do spend the time and energy if it's only like 50/50. My patch is in my backgarden, not allotment.