Faster, slimmer carrots

Sprint carrot

One baby carrot…growing up fast! This is Sprint, a new Amsterdam forcing variety (good for growing in challenging conditions) that matures long and slender in a listed 42 days. That’s fast, over two weeks ahead of the quickest regular carrot we grow (the fabulous Nelson). I always find this new-better-faster hybrid stuff fascinating and a little freakish. Still, all things in moderation and…fun to try!

5 thoughts on “Faster, slimmer carrots”

  1. Sprint didn’t work out very well for me at all. Nelson actually sized up faster than Sprint. The taste of Sprint was completely uninteresting, entirely lacking any sugar. The top was also terribly weak, which made harvesting/bunching challenging. By the time Sprint was ready to harvest, I had tons of Nelson ready to harvest, so it ended up tilled in.

    Did it actually came out ahead of Nelson for you?

    Reply
    • This casual trial was a little hard to read! The original idea was to have the Sprint surge ahead to harvest before the Nelson, from same day seeding. They did get off to a good start, incredibly long for our heavier clayey soil, well ahead of the Nelson in length, but super slender as well, practically pencil-thin. So when we went to harvest, it took too much digging to get them up without breaking them and considering their skinniness, we just left ’em and started on the Nelson a week later.

      Instead of tilling them under, though, I went back maybe six weeks later. They were a fair bit heavier, still skinny but easier to pull, a little hairy but cleaned up in the rinse, and made nice looking, kinda strikingly lanky bunches. We took them for a couple weeks at that point.

      Throughout, the taste was fine. Definitely not totally bland, I’d call it pretty good.

      Bottom line, hard for me to tell what happened with all the variables. I wasn’t impressed, but if you’re growing in a loose soil where they’d size up better initially, they could deliver on their promise: a super early, attractive first carrot. I dunno if I’ll try them again in heavier soil, probably throw in a row here and there from the seed that’s left and see what happens.

      Reply
  2. Love this article…I use ‘Sprint’ growing but with a twist to it that works even better and faster. I learned this from a world renowned Environmental Scientist and professional gardener.

    Mark Davies
    Christchurch

    Reply
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