Hudson, .I planted carrots once. But the rabbits claimed them. That was it. I never mess with rabbits. haha

I love carrots. But it is so affordable in the supermarket, that I don't see a priority to grow them. Same goes for cabbage.
I might try some of those purple ones next year.

Yes - I hear ya - Seysonn - we don't grow peppers for the same reason (not the rabbits - but because they are so cheap in the supermarket) plus - peppers are aphid magnets in our GH. Rabbits are not an issue for the carrots in Wyoming - at least not where we live.

Your Nantes look good. If you have deep loose soil and want a long slim shape, you may want to try an Imperator type. Sugarsnax is a pretty good one.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sugarsnax

We grow our carrots all winter in our movable high tunnels. We have always been happy with Napoli. We also enjoy Nelson, Yaya, Mokum.

I've grown Nelson and Mokum, very happy with them. But I think both are Nantes varieties.

You may want to try a Danvers variety.

I kinda like those "Sugarsnax", recommended by Farmerdill.
You get more mileage this way.

Since my native soil is clay, one of my favorite things about growing in raised beds is that I can grow nice carrots.

This is my second year to grow Napoli and Baltimore. They are super delicious and the Baltimores make enormous carrots that do not get woody or diminish in flavor. They stand in the garden all winter and I harvest them as I need them. I do intend to try Sugarsnax too. Thanks for the recommendation, Farmerdill.

I grow Scarlet Nantes, Cosmic Purple, Yellowstone I think, and Atomic Red for rainbow carrots but all OP variety prices. The price of hybrid carrot seed for larger production is very high IMO so Nantes is the way to go. I believe I will be able to save some of my own seed this spring.
{{gwi:118100}}

I have a heavy soil. I've tried Nantes and Chantenay types, but have settled on Danvers types. (In my conditions, Nantes is prone to forking and splitting, Chantenay is prone to low yields and rot.)

My soil is clay and full of stones, so I couldn't grow carrots at all w/o a raised bed. I just raised it another board's worth this fall, but I don't feel the urge to try a longer carrot unless it's really more tasty.

This post was edited by ltilton on Sun, Nov 10, 13 at 11:09

I grew just Nantes this year and it did very well. I grow in a 3x8 foot raised bed, Nice loose soil.

Just for clarity, "Nantes" is a type of carrot, not an actual variety. Below is a link to some more info about this.

Pictured below is "Nelson", an early, sweet Nantes. I used to grow it alongside "Mokum", but didn't notice a big difference.
It germinates well in the cool weather, matures quickly and is crisp and sweet even in the warm months.

For late summer planting intended for winter storage, my absolute favorite is "Bolero".

-Mark

Here is a link that might be useful: Carrot types

Well my Livingston seed pack just says "Nantes". No other variety name. Good enough for me. They're good!

It's probably "Scarlet Nantes", a good open pollenated variety that's cheaper to produce seed than a hybrid.

Some seed companies are pretty lame in the amount of information they offer their customers. Personally I need more info and wouldn't buy a bean that just says "Green Bean" or corn that says "Bi-color", etc.

Madroneb - interesting that your link ignores the Danvers varieties. I wonder if they've been overtaken in popularity by Nantes types.

Awesome looking carrots Mark! I must be planting the wrong Nantes variety - the Nelson Nantes variety - shown in the photo you posted - looks like the right kind of carrot for us. Thanks for the info!

yes Mark... very nice carrots.

I planted Scarlet Nantes and they have produced well and now going into early winter they are as sweet as can be! Next year I will plant with home-made seed tape or thin better to get consistently bigger carrots.

Tom

Just for information. The original Nantes came from France in the post Civil War period and is named for the city of Nantes. There are several open pollinated varieties of which Scarlet nantes is the most popular. As a class they are sweeter than most other types. There are several vendors sellin Nantes ( whether it is the original I do not know) others include Nantes Half Long, Nantes Strong Top (1983) Monique, Lucky's Gold. Inca, Ingot, etc.

Most popular commercial carrot is the Imperator type, and yes ther was an original Imperator. The line is carried on with a numbered Imperator series (406 408) My favorite of yesteryear was an Imperator -Nantes cross called Gold Pak (1956) While most Imperator types available today are hybrids, there wre a number of Op varieties from yesteryear.

Chantenay is also an original variety form France in the late 1800's. Red Cored Chantenay is probabaly the best known. A Shorter blockier carrot that is suited for heavier soils. Main commercial use is canning. OP's include Canners's Special (1955), Can Pak 1971)

Danvers is a type named for the original cultivar developed in Massachussets in 1871. Danvers Pride (1971) Danvers Gold (1971) Danvers 126 (1947) Danvers Half Long (1886) are example Op's Tapered (cone shape).

Heavy soil types round to oblong. Oxheart/Guerande, Golden Ball, Paris Market, Tonda Di Parigi

My preference is Nantes Coreless.

Good info Farmerdill !
What group would you guess for this carrot that is offered by a local seed supplier - Nantes?

Carrot, Sweetness Hybrid
Bulk Vegetable Seed - Carrot

One of our favorite carrots, Sweetness Hybrid produces excellent yields of 6 to 8 inch smooth fruits. Refined roots are bright orange, cylindrical in shape, and do not taper much from top to bottom. This is the sweetest and best tasting fresh carrot. 73 to 75 days.

{{gwi:118102}}

Yes a Nantes type. A 1991 Peto/Seminis variety for home gardens. Roots too brittle for machine harvest.

Does anyone have experience comparing Sugarsnax in sweetness to a good Nantes like Nelson?

I definitely prefer nantes. They're not supposed to get terribly huge but if grown right they get monstrous and still retain the sweetness and juiciness.

Here is a link that might be useful: Growing HUGE carrots

Our main carrot is Bolero (nantes) because of its storage properties. I have yet to taste a carrot as sweet as a Bolero after a month or so of cold weather and/or storage. Other nantes types that we've liked have been Touchon and Napoli.

I grew one of those 'rainbow' packets of imperators for the kids a couple of years ago. Our soil is naturally very heavy, so I have to double dig wherever I plant imperators. They do well, but it's less work to grow a slightly shorter, fatter carrot and I'm okay with that.

Sweetness II was always a good one for a very sweet, fresh-eating carrot. Sweetness III isn't as sweet in our soil for some reason. Grew Tendersnax (nantes x imperator) for the first time this year. The carrots were more slender, but grew (this year anyway) about the same length as the Boleros. Very sweet even during the summer, but not until they'd really sized up.

I'm starting to try and find a white carrot that grows well for us. Snow White (Chantenay type) was flavourless last year, but White Satin (Danvers type) was nice and sweet this year (less green shoulder, too).

I have Sugarsnax for fresh eating now, and it is no sweeter than the Nantes that sized up ten days earlier. The roots are nice and long, though, with excellent dark orange color.

In spring I have been very pleased with the Sunshine Mix from Renees Garden. The Nantes strain (Forto) is coral-orange, almost a sherbert color, and it's mixed with Yellowstone, which does great for me in the spring.

Mokum hits full size in 2 months or less. Over the season, that's one additional crop. And I've never grown a carrot that tasted better, so the earliness counts with me.

I see 'Mokum' listed at Vesey's and I haven't placed my order with them yet. Think I'll try it out. Thanks!

Ltilton, you're getting two crops off the same area? When is your first planting, second planting and final harvest? Just curious if I could pull it off.

That Sweetness Hybrid looks good. Also Nelson, Nevis, and Mokum are good and Achieve is good if harvested before it gets huge.

I have trouble on the early spring planted carrots...some kind of weevil works on them, but July planted carrots for winter storage was free from that.

Wayne, that's possibly Carrot Rust fly damage? That sucker is my main reason for heaps of floating row cover (1300' just for carrots).

Everyone, this is all such great info. Maybe someone has a suggestion for me?
I plant multiple varieties with different maturity dates in each planting to stretch the harvest period till the next planting a month later (total 6 plantings/season). This year I followed "Nelson" with "Bolero" and also "Purple Haze" and "Yellow Pac" for tri-color bunches with the "Bolero".
My questions:
I need a sweet yellow to replace Yellow Pac, which bolts under row cover.
Also, I want to try a different, late maturing nantes to follow Nelson. Maybe "Nectar" ? And keep Bolero for the last (storage) planting.

Thanks,
Mark

mackey - I make plantings about a month apart starting in April or before if I think I can get away with it, and skipping July. I put in a planting in August where the first one came out.

Hmm... might not work for me then. IF we get an early spring and IF it's a dry spring, the earliest I can get any kind of seed in the ground here is early to mid May (and we can still get frosts into June).

Mark,

Do you or would you still see carrot rust fly damage if you planted super early (January) and have carrots at the first markets of the year?

I do get some root damage from time to time, but it seems as if the super early and winter carrots have very little to no damage. I am going to plant carrots for next year at Christmas time this year in half of one of my high tunnels. I tried early January, but they weren't ready soon enough. I am going to try to succession plant more carrots this year. They are such a good seller and with my carrot washer and 4 carrot baggers (kids), we can harvest, wash and bag fairly fast! They sell much faster than potatoes, I may plant more carrots than potatoes this spring.

Jay

Jay, The planting I put in the hoop house in late winter does not seem affected by the rust fly. Same goes for the first outdoor planting in march/april. Everything after that gets hit bad if not covered.

I grew Coral carrots from fedco seeds a couple of years ago. they had a special fragrance as mentioned in the desdescription. much better than the unspecified variety I grew last year with seeds from a local shop.