This vegetable is loaded with nutrients that offer numerous health benefits. Rich in nutrients, black carrots get their colour from anthocyanins. These carrots help in providing relief from inflammatory disease, treating digestive issues like constipation, boost cognition, bloating, cough, weakness in joints and cramps.
This guide will help you choose the right planter/grow bag, potting mix, seeds and location to grow black carrots in the comfort of your home.
Hindi name: Kaali Gajar
Kannada name: Mullangi
Tamil name: Mullangi
Telugu name: Gujjara gadda
Botanical Name: Brassica oleracea L. var. italica
Family: Brassicaceae
Native: Italy
Materials and supplies needed to grow black carrot.
Soil: Well-drained organic soil sandy loam or enrich potting mixture (free from pest and disease). Preferably use soil like in the picture below.
Grow bag: A nice porous grow bag that allows air into the roots, minimum diameter of 12 inches with a minimum depth of of 10 inches.
Seeds: Good quality seeds that give you the perfect size and colour of carrot you need.
Fertilisers: Fresh and nutrient rich fertilizers to ensure healthy growth until harvest.
Pest repellants: To ensure pests do not eat your carrots.
Step 1: Find the perfect place to grow carrot at home.
Temperature: The ideal temperature range from 15 to 22 C
Sunlight: The sun light requirement more than 6 hrs direct sunlight.
Climate: It is a cool-season crop in India commonly growing in cool weather conditions.
Step 2: Setup the grow bag and sowing seeds
Season: Best season for growing carrots in India is in winter (Jan, September, October,November, December)
Planting depth: 1.5 cm depth then cover the seeds
Germination time: Germination starts from 20-25 days after the seed is sown.
Planting: The normal spacing between plant to plant 10cm to 15cm.
Step 3: Regular watering and fertilisation
Water requirement: Watering once a day, in the early mornings. Avoid the water logging condition.
Nutrient: Apply well decomposed plant and animal waste manures or liquid fertilizers at regular intervals of 10-15 days
pH: The ideal pH of the plant is 5.5 to 7
Step 4: Pruning and looking out for diseases
Remove the older and unhealthy affected leaves and branches of plants and its give regular air circulation into the all the branches of plants its help full for disease-free plant
Major Pest ( Aphids, Flea beetles, carrot rust fly, and carrot weevil)
Management :
Organic methods to control Neem oil spray 2-5ml per/liter.
Spray the insecticide Imidacloprid 70 % WG 0.5 g / lit or 1-1.5 ml/ lit or azadirachtin 1.0% EC 3ml/ lit or pyrethroids 2.5ml per liter of water.
Major diseases
Leaf blight
Control to spray copper oxychloride 2g per liter of water or Mancozeb g/ lit of water.
Cercospora leaf spot
Spray along with neem oil 2ml per liter of water with copper oxychloride 2g per liter of water or Mancozeb g/ lit of water.
Sclerotinia rot
Before the store treat with sodium hypochlorite 1-2 % of solution
Bacterial soft rot :
After harvest treat before storage with sodium hypochlorite 1-2 % of solution
Step 5: Harvest
Harvest time: The baby carrot is ready for harvest within 80-90 days and the mature carrot 100-110 days after germination.
Edible part: Taproot
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