Alien Baby Carrots

[LythamRed]

Hi there, my wife just picked some of her carrots from a large plant pot, does anyone have any ideas why they are so misshapen as we made our own planting soil according to several gardners and sieved out any stones.
The fork is there for scale.
Many Thanks,

 

[Meadowlark]

My "idea" would be the container and overcrowding...carrots need some space. I grow a lot of carrots but never in containers and never that crowded...just my idea.

 

[Chuck]

As Meadowlark said plus it might be too much NPK. Carrots do this when overfertilized.

 

[Tetters]

There might be a disease problem caused by leaf hoppers, or problems with microscopic nematodes, or maybe they just needed to be thinned out a bit more. They get deformed if they don't have enough space. I don't think a pot is the best place for them really - I tried some last year in a big supermarket basket (I gave it back afterwards) and they looked like yours only smaller If they don't have enough space, they don't seem to get enough water either.
The good bit is that they are still edible

 

[LythamRed]

My "idea" would be the container and overcrowding...carrots need some space. I grow a lot of carrots but never in containers and never that crowded...just my idea.

Thank you, I think you are probably right.

 

[LythamRed]

As Meadowlark said plus it might be too much NPK. Carrots do this when overfertilized.

Thanks, however I am hoping it’s just the pot size as we didn’t use a lot of fertilizer

 

[LythamRed]

There might be a disease problem caused by leaf hoppers, or problems with microscopic nematodes, or maybe they just needed to be thinned out a bit more. They get deformed if they don't have enough space. I don't think a pot is the best place for them really - I tried some last year in a big supermarket basket (I gave it back afterwards) and they looked like yours only smaller If they don't have enough space, they don't seem to get enough water either.
The good bit is that they are still edible

 

[LythamRed]

Thank you, I am hoping very much so that it’s the later as it was my first thought, also it seems to be a common theme, too many plants, o small a pot. Yes they are sweet and delicious.

 

[LythamRed]

Thanks