How to plant and grow carrots on the tape?

Carrots are one of the most popular root crops and are widely spread in many countries around the world.Vegetable is a biennial plant with excellent taste and many beneficial properties. The composition of carrots is represented by vitamins of groups B, PP, C, E and K, minerals in the form of potassium, iron, phosphorus, copper and iodine, as well as carotene and essential oils.

Carrots are quite unpretentious and can grow on many types of soil. You can plant a root vegetable in several ways, one of which is quite interesting and consists in planting seeds on a ribbon. This technique appeared relatively recently and quickly gained the attention of experienced gardeners and novice gardeners.

A large number of positive reviews and the growing popularity of band planting are due to a number of indisputable advantages of this method.

• The uniform distribution of seeds allows you to plant the roots at the same distance from each other and avoid further thinning.
• Planting seeds on the tape can be carried out at the table in a comfortable environment, which distinguishes this method from the classical planting in the field.
• Obtaining a visual result will allow you to personally verify the germination of seed and only then move it into open ground.
• The ability to place all the seeds at the same depth allows you to get simultaneous shoots and promotes uniform ripening of root crops.
• Visual moisture control will not allow plants to die from lack or excess of moisture.
• The almost complete germination of seeds favorably distinguishes the belt method from the classical one, during which many seeds do not germinate. This can significantly reduce the consumption of material and saves money on seeds.
• Planting on the tape completely eliminates the risk of the appearance of a carrot fly, which feeds on young plant sprouts and lays eggs on the beds.
• Full independence from external conditions allows landing in any weather.

The disadvantages include an increase in the time of emergence of shoots. When using a belt planting, young shoots appear 2 weeks later, compared to sprouts, the seeds of which were sown by the traditional method in open ground.

Before planting the seeds by a tape method, it is necessary to conduct a series of preparatory activities. To do this, you should prepare a roll of three-layer toilet paper, a small container, thick polyethylene, a sprayer and glue that you need to prepare with your own hands. The recipe for making paste is quite simple: to do this, boil 250 ml of water and add 1 teaspoon of potato starch.

After which you should thoroughly mix the mixture, knead all the lumps and achieve a uniform consistency. In the same way, flour paste can be prepared by adding flour instead of starch, at the rate of 1 tablespoon per 100 ml of water. As soon as the mixture begins to thicken, you need to remove the container from the fire and put to cool.

Before gluing the seeds to the tape, you should calibrate them. This must be done to determine the viability of seeds and the selection of high-quality seed. For testing it is necessary to dilute a tablespoon of salt in a glass of water, mix thoroughly and place seeds in it. Pop-up specimens should be removed, and those settled on the bottom should be washed in water at room temperature and dried.

Then you can start preparing the bands. To do this, cut toilet paper into 2 cm wide ribbons and place them on the table.

In order to properly glue the seeds on the tape, you need to use tweezers or a cotton swab.This will help most accurately position the seed material and will not violate the integrity of the toilet paper. The stick should be slightly moistened in a paste, and then put a drop of glue on the surface of the tape. Then tweezers need to take one seed and place them on top of the drops of glue. After the paste is completely dry, toilet paper can be twisted into a roll.

Full drying of the glue occurs 24 hours after application. The roll must be removed in a separate package by signing a variety of carrots and the date of sticking the seeds. Instead of toilet paper, you can buy a special ready-made ribbon with a loose texture or use old newspapers. However, when using newspapers, it must be remembered that the presence of printing ink can negatively affect the future harvest.

Finished ribbons are sold with already glued seeds, so that the time to prepare the seed material is significantly reduced. The only drawback of such tapes is the fact that it will not be possible to test the seeds for germination. Therefore, it remains to hope only on the good faith of the manufacturer and rely on the fact that the calibration of seed material has been carried out.

After the tape planting material is prepared, you can begin to prepare the soil. To do this, dig the ground twice, and in the fall the depth of processing should be at least 40 cm. In the spring, two weeks before planting, a less deep digging can be done, after which it is recommended to carefully level the soil with a rake and wet it if necessary.

It is recommended to plant carrots in dry windless weather. In the previously prepared beds, it is necessary to make straight grooves, the depth of which can vary from 2 to 4 cm. The distance between adjacent grooves should be at least 15 cm.

Next you need to get the rolls of seed material and, rolling them out, put the seeds in the furrows down. After all the tapes are located in the furrows, they should be sprinkled with earth and carefully shed. At the last stage of planting it is necessary to cover the beds with dense polyethylene and fix it along the edges.

If for some reason it was not possible to glue the seeds to the tape, you can use the glueless method. To do this, put a dry strip of paper on the bottom of the prepared furrow, place the seeds on top, cover them with a second tape and sprinkle them with earth. Next, the bed is slightly moistened and covered with foil.

An even simpler method of making ribbons is the following: a roll of paper is folded in half, and seeds are glued between the two halves. This method saves time and facilitates the landing process. Also interesting is the method of sticking seeds on table napkins.

After the seeds begin to germinate and the first young shoots appear above the surface, it is recommended that the covering material be removed and the soil slightly loosened and evenly moistened. Usually the first shoots appear, 2-3 weeks after planting, provided that daytime temperatures will not fall below 20 degrees. In cooler climates, with an average daytime temperature of 8 degrees, it may take from 20 to 30 days before the first shoots appear. Immediately after the first leaves appear on the shoots, thinning should be done. At the same time, it is recommended to remove weak and low-leaved shoots, and leave only large and well-branched ones.

In the absence of rain, it is advisable to water the carrots daily. The event should be done in such a way that the soil is moistened to a depth of 30 cm.Water carrots preferably in the evening, when the sun is no longer so active. Weed the plants should be weekly, after the evening watering, while waiting, when the water is absorbed into the ground.

The time of harvesting carrots depends entirely on the root variety and the climatic conditions in which it was grown. So, early varieties fully matured by mid-summer and can be collected when reaching 1 cm in diameter. Such vegetables are very juicy and sweet, the only disadvantage is their unsuitability for long-term storage. Varieties of average maturity are recommended to be harvested 80-110 days after planting. An indicator that the carrot is fully ripe and ready to eat is the yellowed leaves of the plant.

Late varieties ripen not earlier than mid-September and are most suitable for long-term storage. The main condition for the preservation of root crops is the timely removal of the tops immediately after harvest and compliance with storage conditions.

Planting carrots tape method is becoming increasingly popular. Despite the need for preliminary preparation and some laboriousness of the process of sticking seeds, the method has proven itself and is increasingly used by owners of private plots and farms.

An illustrative method of planting carrots on the tape, see the following video.