Carrots are a popular root vegetable that is easy to cultivate in the home garden. But occasionally the stored carrots start to sprout when the storage conditions are unfavorable. These can still be used.
Germinating carrots are edible
That's why carrots sprout
If carrots are stored in a humid environment, they often start to sprout. Changed environmental conditions also have a positive effect on nucleation. Rising temperatures and long storage stimulate growth. The ideal storage conditions are cool, dry and dark. You should only store uninjured carrots that have about an inch of green left on them. These are placed in a bucket of sand and placed in a windowless basement room.
Edible or not?
Sprouted carrots are still edible if you generously remove the sprouts. Check the vegetables for mold, as this often occurs when they are stored in the refrigerator in a too humid place. Moldy carrots should no longer be eaten, as the fungal mycelium does not visibly penetrate the plant tissue.
tips
Freshly bought carrots should be taken straight out of the packaging. Wash the root vegetables and store them dry in the vegetable drawer.
Cultivation of sprouted carrots
In spring, the pre-germinated carrots are ideal for further cultivation. As a medium feeder, the vegetable thrives in sandy, loamy soil. A loose structure is important for good water drainage. Since Daucus carota is biennial, the plant now invests the energy stored in the underground taproot in flower development. White umbelliferous flowers appear in July. In September, the seeds are ripe, which you can collect for offspring.
use seeds
Early varieties can be sown directly outdoors from March. They are ready to harvest by late May or early June. If you want to consistently harvest fresh carrots, you should sow the seeds four weeks apart until May. From this point on, storage carrots are sown.
How to sow:
- Make grooves three centimeters deep
- pay attention to a row spacing of 20 centimetres
- Sow seeds two to four centimeters apart
- ensure even watering
- Pile up plants to prevent a green head from forming