Carrot "Nantes 2"

Carrot "Nantes 2".
Mid-season, high-yielding variety (period from germination to technical ripeness 80-100 days).
Root crops of excellent quality, cylindrical, 12-16 cm long, weighing up to 100 g, blunt-pointed.
The pulp is bright orange, juicy, tender, of excellent taste. Contains up to 19.4% carotene.
The variety is intended for fresh use and processing.
The increased content of carotene in root crops makes them indispensable for the preparation of baby and diet food.
Root crops are well stored, which extends the period of carrot consumption until the next harvest.

* The seeds of this crop germinate slowly and unevenly. With conventional sowing, the shoots are often sparse and uneven.
Liquid sowing is another matter. It allows you to get early and uniform shoots.
This sowing method was developed in England and has been confirmed in practice. What is its essence?
Pre-sprouted seeds are sown in a liquid gel-like carrier, which protects them from damage. In this case, shoots appear 5-7 days earlier, plants develop faster than with conventional sowing with dry seeds, and the yield increases. The greatest effect from sowing sprouted seeds can be obtained when growing carrots for early production with film cover, which will accelerate the arrival of the harvest by 2-3 weeks.
Carrots are sown early in the spring, as soon as the soil ripens, but so as not to allow the sprouted seeds to freeze in the ground. In the middle zone, sowing is usually carried out in the second half of April - early May, depending on the weather. It is better to carry out the main soil cultivation on the site in the fall, so as not to delay sowing in the spring.
Seed preparation begins 2-4 days before sowing. To swell, the seeds are soaked in warm water for 10-12 hours, the water is changed several times, removing the floating lightweight seeds.
Then the water is drained, the swollen seeds are scattered in a thin layer on a plate covered with cloth or filter paper. The seed material is covered with a clean, damp, loose cloth on top.
Seed germination is carried out in a warm place at a temperature of +20+25 °C. For this, the seeds must be moist, care is taken to ensure that they do not dry out. However, excess water is undesirable, since it hinders the supply of oxygen necessary for germination. After the first roots appear, the seed layer is not mixed, or it is done very carefully, without damaging the sprouts. During this period, the moisture content of the seeds is monitored especially carefully, adding water if necessary, since the need for moisture increases with the growth of the roots.
The duration of seed germination also depends on the ambient temperature. However, the average duration of germination is 2-4 days.
Germination is carried out until the roots appear in the bulk of the sprouted seeds no longer than 0.5 cm. Individual seeds can have roots up to 1.5 cm long. The amount of sprouted material in the batch at this point usually ranges from 20 to 40%.
To obtain a more even seed material, you can select sprouted seeds with roots from 2 to 5 mm daily and store them in the refrigerator at a temperature of +1 to +4 °C in a damp cloth in a plastic bag.
When sowing selected sprouted seeds, the germination rate and uniformity of emergence of seedlings significantly increase. However, selection is very labor-intensive and requires great care and attention, so as not to damage the roots and prevent them from drying out. It can only be carried out when sowing on a small area.
There is another method of seed germination - in aerated water. It is simple and convenient. The seeds are placed in water through which air is passed using an aquarium microcompressor during the entire germination period. The seeds should be well mixed by the air flow. Preliminary soaking of the seeds is not necessary, but 10-12 hours after the start of aeration, the water is replaced. In aerated water, seed germination is more friendly.
If the seeds are prepared for sowing, and the latter is delayed for some reason, then the sprouted seeds are stored in the refrigerator in a damp state in a plastic bag at a temperature of plus 1 +4 °C, preventing them from freezing and drying out.
According to foreign scientists, such hardening of sprouted seeds not only does not worsen their quality, but also contributes to an increase in field germination. Sprouted seeds are sown in a liquid gel-like carrier. Abroad, a number of specially obtained preparations are used for this purpose. In the garden plot, you can successfully use a paste made from potato starch, which is affordable and completely harmless. The paste is prepared in advance so that it has time to cool, but not earlier than a day before.
The main requirement for starch paste is that it should be homogeneous, without clots, viscous enough to keep the sprouted seeds in suspension.
This paste is obtained as follows. To prepare 1 liter of paste, you need to stir 30 g of potato starch in 100 ml of cold water.
Pour 900 ml of boiling water into a liter jar, and add diluted starch in a thin stream with constant stirring. Then place the liter jar in a saucepan with boiling water and, stirring, heat the resulting starch paste to a temperature of + 92 °C.
After this, cool it, stirring occasionally to prevent the formation of a film on the surface. If it does form, remove it after the preparation has cooled to room temperature. The liquid carrier-gel for sowing sprouted seeds is ready.
It is very important to calculate the required amount of seeds and starch paste in advance to obtain the optimal plant density and avoid sparse or dense seedlings.
To do this, you need to know the seed germination. It is determined approximately at home by germinating 100 seeds at a temperature of +20+25°C for 10-15 days and counting the number of sprouted ones. The optimal number of seedlings per 1 m of a row with a row spacing of 45 cm is 50-60 pcs.
To obtain a normal plant density for every 10 m of row length, from 2 g (with a germination rate of 70% and above) to 3 g (with a germination rate of 50%) of dry seeds are put for germination and 200 ml of starch paste is prepared.
The sprouted seeds are mixed with the paste cooled to room temperature immediately before sowing. The mixture is prepared for the entire area to be sown at once.
The seeds are mixed with the paste very carefully, without damaging the roots, until the seeds are evenly distributed in the liquid. The sprouted seeds can be in the starch for no more than 6 hours, otherwise their germination will decrease.
Sowing is carried out in pre-watered furrows. The mixture of seeds and paste is poured in a thin stream of 20 ml per 1 m of row. This is conveniently done using a glass cup with a "spout" with a capacity of 100 ml or a specially made syringe. With a little skill, it is easy to achieve an even distribution of liquid with seeds in a row.
Immediately after sowing, the furrows are covered with loose soil. The depth of seeding is 1.5-2 cm. Until the emergence of shoots, the soil is kept moist, watering is carried out if necessary. Liquid sowing of sprouted seeds can also be used for other small-seeded vegetable crops, such as dill, parsley, onions.