Content
This article will be useful for summer residents, as well as those housewives who choose carrots for long-term winter storage in their own cellars. It turns out that not all varieties and hybrids are suitable for long-term storage. What methods are not used today in order to preserve the harvest as long as possible! This is storage in sawdust, and knitting of special boxes, and disinfection, and drying. carrots in the sun. All this is wrong and will not bring the desired result. Consider both varieties of carrots for long-term storage, and the conditions under which the harvest will remain in its original form until the end of February.
Storing carrots in winter
There are varieties of carrots created specifically to keep them longer. This parameter is named by farmers as keeping quality. It is indicated on the package if carrots keep well... However, keeping quality alone is not enough. In this case, there are several parameters at once, according to which it is necessary to act for anyone who wants to keep the carrots longer. You will have to take into account:
- features of the variety;
- storage rules;
- harvest date;
- weather in summer;
- ripeness of carrots.
Before moving on to discussing the varieties that are ideal for this, let's talk about the storage rules.
You cannot store the entire crop without first sorting it out. There may be only one among the carrots, but it will spoil all the roots, gradually infecting them. You cannot dry carrots in the sun, they are dried in the shade. The storage should also be cold. Optimal conditions:
- + 2-4 degrees Celsius;
- humidity within 95%.
Root vegetables can be stored under certain conditions for a different amount of time. The table below demonstrates this well.
Storage conditions | Shelf life |
|---|---|
Refrigerator vegetable compartment | 1 to 3 months depending on the variety |
Plastic containers, including bags | Up to 5 months |
Sand or sawdust boxes | Up to 6 months |
In a chalk or clay "shirt" | Up to 12 months |
Long-term storage varieties
If you need a variety that will be stored for a long time, it is important to choose the right one. This is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. The best varieties of carrots for storage for the winter are united by common parameters. They need to pay special attention to:
- ripening period;
- harvest date;
- the size of the carrot.
Do not forget that the keeping quality of the variety alone is not enough; a combination of factors affects how the carrots will be stored. For example, in a cold summer, a late-ripening variety with excellent keeping quality by its characteristics will not be stored for a long time, since it will not accumulate all the useful substances. Carrot varieties for winter storage are presented below:
- "Forto";
- "Valeria";
- Vita Longa;
- "Moscow Winter";
- "Berlikum";
- "Nuance";
- "Queen of Autumn";
- Karlena;
- Flaccoro;
- "Samson";
- "Shantane".
If you need to choose varieties of carrots for long-term storage, you need to pay attention to late and mid-ripening, but not early ones.
Let's combine all the varieties listed above into a table and compare them in a number of parameters.
Comparative table of varieties
Some of the best varieties are collected here, which will really be perfectly stored all winter, if the summer is warm enough, the growing and storage conditions are met, and the harvest is carefully selected.
Variety / hybrid name | Ripening rate | Description of root vegetables | Vegetation period in days | Keeping quality, in months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Berlikum | Late maturing | Cylindrical orange fruit with a high carotene content | 150 | At least six to seven |
Valeria | Late maturing | Large conical tender carrots | 110-135 | Six |
Vita Longa | Mid-season | Conical-shaped large roots up to 30 centimeters, evenly colored, dense and tasty | 101-115 | Five six |
Karlena | Late maturing | Small juicy carrots coarse and crispy | 150 | Six seven |
Autumn queen | Late maturing | Small, juicy and crispy, the taste is very sweet | 117-130 | Six on average |
Moscow winter | Mid-season | Medium conical shape is not very sweet, but juicy | 67-98 | Three four |
Nuance | Late maturing | About 20 centimeters long, orange, cylindrical and very sweet | 112-116 | About seven |
Samson | Mid late | Quite large, red-orange in color, 22 centimeters long, small core | 108-112 | About five |
Flaccoro | Late maturing | Long, large with delicate taste; conical shape with high carotene content | 120-140 | No more than seven |
Forto | Late maturing | Large cylindrical carrots with a blunt tip and high taste | 108-130 | Six seven |
Shantane | Mid late | Sometimes it ripens very large, but of medium length (12-16 cm), the flesh is firm and sweet | 120-150 | No more than four |
Please note that most of the presented varieties are resistant to major diseases. It is this factor in late-ripening and mid-ripening varieties that is sometimes decisive in terms of storage duration.
It is also worth paying attention to resistance to:
- frost and low temperatures (carrot varieties "Queen of Autumn", "Moscow Winter");
- flowery ("Valeria", "Moscow Winter");
- cracking ("Vita Longa", "Flaccoro", "Chantane").
The best varieties of carrots for storage for the winter are chosen even in winter, the selection is made carefully. Gardeners should not forget that it is important not only to buy good seed, but also to properly grow carrots in their own beds. The selection process is described in great detail in the video below:
The process of growing root crops depends on how well the soil is prepared, the time of sowing the crop and how good the care is. Below we will present the reviews of gardeners about the varieties of carrots, where the cultivation features will be described.
Do not forget that during storage, carrots most often deteriorate when root crops are affected by various diseases. The farmers have foreseen this too. There are varieties that are protected against such diseases. Let's talk about this problem in more detail.
Carrot storage diseases
Root crops during storage can be affected by:
- viruses;
- bacteria;
- fungus.
Regardless of the region of cultivation and storage of carrots, it can be affected by black, gray and white rot, as well as phomosis (popularly, brown dry rot). The photo below shows the affected carrots.
During the entire period of growing carrots, the gardener has to deal with pests. In the process of storage, worries and hassle does not become less. One way to avoid this is to choose a strain that is resistant to one of the rot. The table below shows varieties that are resistant to various diseases.
Disease | Resistant varieties and hybrids |
|---|---|
Gray rot (kagatnaya), causative agent of the fungus Botrytis cinerea | no sustainable |
Phomosis (brown rot), the causative agent of Phoma destructiva | Moscow winter, Nantes 4, Bilbo hybrid |
White rot, the causative agent of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum | Vitamin, Grenada |
Black rot (Alternaria), the causative agent of Alternaria radicina M | Chantane, Nantes 4, Vita Longa, hybrid Champion, NIIOH 336 |
Additionally, they carefully sort out the harvest and adhere to the storage conditions. In the cellar or another place where the roots will lie, you need to maintain a constant temperature and a high level of humidity. Temperature fluctuations are the first cause of fungi and disease in carrots.
Reviews of summer residents
We have picked up reviews of gardeners and summer residents about varieties that are grown not for processing, but specifically for long-term storage.
Conclusion
It is not so difficult to choose varieties that will grow well and be stored for a long time. Pay special attention to late varieties and mid-season disease-resistant carrots.
