Carrots

[Robert lehman]

Is it bad if your carrots start to flower before they are harvested?

[Ranger J]

It is definitely a bad thing as the carrot will now put it's energy into producing seeds and not enlarging the root.

RJ

[steg]

I've never seen this happen, carrots are biennial, if left in the ground over winter they will then go into seed this will be the second year and not the first. If you did leave some in overwinter and didn't want seeds they can be used very early in the season before they go into seed..............steg

[Robert lehman]

Steg these were planted this spring so i dunno first year for carrots. RJ i cut the flowers off gues will wait and see.
Rl

[Ranger J]

It is also my thought that they are biannual and produce plant growth the first year and seeds the second.  Honestly carrots are a crop that I haven't had a lot of luck with.  The last time I tried them was a couple of years ago and I seem to remember a few of them 'jumping the gun' so to speak and producing seeds the first year.  I have never had the whole crop go to seed the first year.  Are all your plants blooming or only a few?

RJ

[Robert lehman]

Only a few flowered must be nature of the beast so to speak.

[steg]

Possibly the early start on the growing season, but I suspect the seedlings were stressed due to the heat and dry conditions at least here in northeast PA, but as I said I've never seen it happen. yeah Ranger carrots used to drive me nuts too, if I planted a large patch hoping for a good canning season, they would be terrrible, and if I just planted a small patch they would be perfect, go figgure, I gave up on em years ago.............steg

[bilmac]

It's called bolting. They are normally bi annual, but there can be oddballs, maybe climate, probably some varieties are more succeptible, etc. I would just pull the ones that bolt and harvest the rest as soon as there is something to eat. Then next year try a different variety.

[rokefert]

I had bolting problems with carrots and spinach this year, the spinach is sort of typical in the heat, but the carrots were doing it and it was odd because I had two varities mixed into my seeds I bought.  I cant remember the name but it was a short fat variety of orange carrot It may have been Scarlet Nantes but then I was getting bolting and the ones that bolted were blood red with orange centers when cut and had all kinds of side roots growing off of them.  They tasted great so I still used them, but I almost wonder what went on.  THe seeds were from burpee's but im sure they mix up seed lots at times, or maybe the hybridizing didn't go as plannned?

[bilmac]

I would say you got some bad seed too. I always thought Burpees was a good name.

[Robert lehman]

I think it was a combination of bad seed as i had issues with some other seed i bought from this place and the weather. I am going to buy everything from a local greenhouse this year no more mail order seed.