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Who Said Carrots Don't Grow in Florida?

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Galatians522:

--- Quote from: roblack on October 04, 2024, 06:50:01 PM ---Ordering seeds. When is the best time to sow here in FL?

--- End quote ---

The gardening calendar I have shows October-February for carrots in south Florida. The last couple years I had good success planting in November. Be warned that they take a long time to germinate. As you get closer to the end of the planting season (February) it becomes more and more imperative to plant in Nematode free soil (like in a raised bed planter with sterile soil).

BajaJohn:

--- Quote from: Galatians522 on October 03, 2024, 07:45:54 PM ---If Nantes is the same as Scarlet Nantes, I have grown it here in Florida. It is good, but I like the New Kuroda and Purple Dragon a little more. Scarlet Nantes has the advantage of being shaped more like a grocery store carrot (if that is important to you). I love the color of Purple Dragon. I wonder if Baker Creek ships to Mexico. I'm pretty sure they ship to Jamaica.

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Thanks for the hints. I've checked and they have Mexico on their list so I've contacted them and will give it a try. I've had problems with other vendors, even with a phytosanitary certificate. Always worth a try though.

Galatians522:
Well, I'm back again with the carrots. This year I grew a few new ones. From the left: New Kuroda, Uzbeck Golden, Purple Dragon, Kyoto Red, and Uberlandia. Seed came from Baker Creek except for Uberlandia which came from Third Insight Design. The first 4 were all way better than grocery store carrots in flavor. Kyoto Red probably had the most similar shape to a store carrot if that is important to you.

Uberlandia is still under selection, so there was more variation. Most were equal to a store carrot in flavor while a few were excellent and were every bit as good as the New Kuroda and other specialty carrots. Uberlandia is one of the few carrots that will set seed in one season and is also reported to be nematode resistant. I can confirm that Uberlandia is about to bloom (planted in November). I also did not have any significant nematode damage to Uberlandia in my soil type. I'll be saving seed and growing a bunch of these next year with the hopes of selecting for that "New Kuroda" quality. To my knowledge this is the first review of this carrot for almost 30 years--someone obviously spent a lot of time getting it where it is. I feel like it is almost at the finish line for being an excellent quality nematode resistant option for Florida seed savers.



Here is a pic of a bunch of Uberlandia carrots just after being yanked out of the ground.

Rispa:
Great write up. I need to try carrots here in Houston and this is a great starting point.

Galatians522:
Now is the time to plant carrots in Florida! Get them in the ground by Thanksgiving!  :D

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