Thread: Carrots
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Old March 15, 2017   #11
AlittleSalt
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Jimbo, what I'm reading about carrots keeps pointing to well drained sand being the best soil ingredient. Not like play sand or silica (Both hold water causing saturation) but what most people call builder's sand. There are different grades that break down to:

White sand - which is basically play sand. White sand makes white mortar look better. I wouldn't use it for anything other than aesthetics. It actually makes a weaker mortar because the grain is too fine.

Concrete Sand which has course grains that is best used in concrete and asphalt. I use it for gravel in our fish aquarium.

Brick Sand has grains up to around 1/16th to 3/32nd" and sounds like (by what all I've read) - the best to go with for growing carrots.

This site http://blog.syracuse.com/cny/2012/03...w_carrots.html

Says: Carrots and other root crops need a well-drained soil, categorized as sandy loam or loamy sand on the triangle. These soils are between 50 percent and 90 percent sand. So it is a matter of filling the bed with sand and amending it with a little soil, rather than vice-versa.

I'm wondering if carrots grown professionally are grown in sand too?
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