Carrot flower

[PotterWatch]

I am the question queen right now. I have some dragon carrots and carnival carrots that have been doing fine. There don't appear to be any that are large enough to pull yet but a couple of them have really long, thick stalks and have flowers starting at the tops. What is with that? Will I still get carrots from those plants? If I don't get carrots, will I be able to collect seed from these flowers do you think?

You can see the really long stalk of one of them in this picture:

The flower that has formed:

 

[hoodat]

That's unusual. Carrots are biennials. The root grows and stores energy for the first growing season. The following Spring the root uses that energy to flower and produce seeds, then dies. Something (I can't guess what) has sped up that cycle for those carrots so that it is completed in the first year.

 

[PotterWatch]

That's unusual. Carrots are biennials. The root grows and stores energy for the first growing season. The following Spring the root uses that energy to flower and produce seeds, then dies. Something (I can't guess what) has sped up that cycle for those carrots so that it is completed in the first year.

Hmm, interesting. It's not even the only one that has flowered. In the first picture you can see another one spiky looking flower down and to the right of the first that is from another one of my carrots.

 

[hoodat]

I usually leave some carrots in the ground to flower. The flowers are very attractive to the tiny wasps that kill aphids. If you notice a resemblance to the flower of Queen Anns lace it's no accident. Queen Anns lace is a type of wild carrot.

 

[patandchickens]

That is really odd, since as hoodat says carrots should not flower til their *second* summer. Did you perhaps sow them late last fall or early winter, so that from their perspective they feel old enough?

Alternatively, is it possible that the ones that are bolting are not the carrots you planted, but rather "weeds" of the carrot family -- quite a lot of them have foliage that looks pretty much alike, for instance queen anne's lace.

Do bear in mind that a nontrivial number of the wild species are poisonous, and although the roots are not carrot-orange they are otherwise carrotlike...

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[PotterWatch]

These were planted around March I believe (I really need to keep a log of when I plant things... :/ ). The seeds were purchased from Armstrong garden center last year. The box and soil they are in was just put in this year and hasn't had any weeds come up, so I doubt it's from something that was already in my garden. I guess I'll just let it go and enjoy the pretty flowers!

 

[Whitewater]

Potterwatch --

The SAME EXACT THING is happening to me in my garden. The orange (called red) Nantes are doing all right, but I planted purple dragon and red dragon from Seed Savers this year and BOTH the dragons are flowering, and looking the same as yours. A tall stalk growing out of the lacy foliage, with flowers on top.

In my case, I planted my carrots in my veggie bed that did NOT have anything even remotely carrot-like in it, milkweed and thistles, yeah, but not carrots.

Anyway, why would the Scarlet Nantes be fine but both the dragon species flower? I don't get it.

I planted ALL the seeds at the same time in early April -- this april, April 2010 -- and I was hoping for carrots from all 3 species.

Needless to say, I am very disappointed.


Whitewater

 

[PotterWatch]

The ones in my bed that are flowering are the carnival, so a mix of several different colors. My red dragon carrots that I planted at the same time didn't do as well so I only have a few that are still growing, but they are growing normally, no flowering (the red dragon seed definitely came from seed savers). I'm going to go back and see if I can figure out where I got the seed from. It may have been seed savers, but I don't think so.

ETA: I thought I had used up the whole package and wouldn't be able to figure out where they came from, but apparently I didn't use the whole thing. It is from Botanical Interests (sold at Armstrong). I'm wondering if I should use the rest of the package or not. Frankly, I would rather get carrots than flowers.

 

[patandchickens]

It is entirely possible that a variant gene for first-year flowering exists and has simply been selected for (intentionally or unintentionally) among unusual or 'traditional' carrot varieties. After all, it is a heck of a lot easier to save seed for a line that flowers like an annual not a biennial! So maybe the Dragon carrots, and/or some others, really DO have a tendency to flower early.

That's really interesting.

Pat

 

[NurseNettie]

Gosh, If I were you guys, I'd let the seed manufacturers know, if for no other reason that to notify them in case it is happening to others.
I'd be curious to see what they had to say.

I had some red dragon and some purples last year from SSE that did GREAT!! Yummy carrots that were so hardy they overwintered and we had some this spring. In northern Maine! I never thought to save some to let go to seed--- but then again, the hens really wanted them anyhow