Results from our Extensive 2011 Carrot Trials

We found a big handful of new, tasty, high performance carrots this year, but to do so we had to trial many varieties.
Carrots have one of the most complex flavor indexes, a scientific test would need to have many tasters to get any numbers that are statistically accurate. When we taste them, we cut off the top and bottom parts, and slice up a few carrots so that people get to taste a few different carrots.
Everyone in the office participated in the carrot taste tests, and in general we come to consensus after eating a lot of slices.



Many growers have been using Mokum, Ya Ya and Nelson for years with good results. Since we are no longer able to carry these, we have been searching the world and found some good contenders. We always include these in our trials for comparison. For some of these varieties, we have found direct substitutes, and for others it depends on what the most important traits are for you.
Here is the lowdown on what we have to offer this year:

Damco F1 is a direct substitute Mokum F1, all season long. We have raw untreated, and untreated seed with an Organic pellet.



Merida F1 is a sub for Nelson and to some extent Yaya, especially if growers want the blunt long heavy shape…it is a good carrot for all season. It has good cold tolerance, though we preferred the taste in the summer and fall. Very uniform, and a quite a bit longer than Damco and Sweet Baby Jane. In the winter, this carrot sized up while Yaya stayed small. We have raw untreated, and untreated seed with an Organic pellet.



Jeannette F1 is a good sub for YaYa especially if you want to pull at baby or teenage stage, and has a smooth, slightly more pointy shape. All season. Ok for mechanical harvest. Organic seed, raw and coated. Jeannette comes from Vitalis, the company that has produced high performance hybrids such as Picolino cucumber, Scarlet Letter and Coastal Star lettuce (and many more), Temptation tomato and Traviata eggplant, among many others that we carry.



Hilmar (OP) is a cheap and good option for a heavy medium early nantes. We were impressed with this carrots uniformity, especially considering that it is not a hybrid. Taste was excellent as well. All season. Raw untreated seed only.



Flyaway F1 is specialty carrot- it claims to repel carrot rust fly. We did not have much pressure during our summer trials, so we did not get to test this. However, this was one of the best tasting carrots at maturity. All season. Raw untreated seed only.



Invicta F1 is good for people with clay soil...it is not a very long carrot, and had best performance in the summer and excellent taste in the fall. A blunt nantes type.


Tendersnax F1 is a nantes/imperator cross, so for growers who want good top connection, this is a great option. Exhibits a pointier shape than Jeannette, and all the other nantes we offer. All season.

Bolero, Nantindo, Maestro...these hybrids are best for later plantings. They all get heavy and sweet in the fall., with good field holding. They make nice storage carrots and hold well through the early winter weather.

Bolero is available raw, and with an organic coat. Nantindo is raw and coated. Maestro is only available treated with fungicide, raw and coated.

Bolero


Nantindo


Maestro


For those of you who got hooked on Sweet Baby Jane F1- bad news. They discontinued this variety due to the difficult of producing the seed. We do still have some in stock as of 1/11/12, raw untreated. The same company will be releasing new varieties based on some of the same genetic lines, and we are all looking forward to it.