Carrots are semi-hardy vegetables, so you can choose a balcony facing south or something with better lighting on the balcony for home planting. Potted carrots should be red skin, red meat, green head, smooth skin and neat shape. The recommended varieties for home planting are red town carrots and three-inch carrots.

(2) Planting season

In South China, family balconies can be planted in spring, autumn and winter. Open gardens are usually planted in spring and autumn. Balcony spring sowing time is in early March, spring sowing time is in early April and autumn sowing time is from early July to early August.

(3) Seedling raising methods and techniques

High-piled round pots should be selected for potted carrots, and the depth should be about 5~ 10 cm longer than the length of carrot fleshy roots, generally 20~30 cm. Potted soil is made of 5 parts yard soil, 2 parts peat soil, 2 parts Shahe and 1 part organic fertilizer, and fresh and immature fertilizers cannot be used. Add 0.3 kg cake fertilizer and 0.5 kg plant ash to the bottom of the basin.

Before sowing, the seeds should be strictly screened and the bristles of the seeds should be ground off manually. You can use the method of soaking seeds to accelerate germination, and then sow them. Soak the seeds in warm water at 30 degrees for 2-4 hours, take them out and wrap them with gauze or cotton cloth to accelerate germination at 20-25 degrees. Wash them with clear water once a day, and sow them after 2-3 days. You can also use the method of direct seeding of dry seeds. When sowing, first adjust the water content of the substrate, the sowing depth is 2~3 cm, and the soil is 2 cm thick, and then compact. Generally, 5~20 seeds are sown in each pot. Carrot seeds are not easy to germinate. Therefore, in order to maintain the germination rate of plants, it is necessary to put an end to the phenomenon of dryness. Before germination, the soil surface is always wet and needs to be watered frequently.

(4) Post-planting management

When the seedlings have 2-3 true leaves, interplant for the first time, and master the plant spacing of about 3 cm. At the same time, loosen the soil shallowly to promote seedling growth. When the seedlings grow to 4-5 leaves, fix the seedlings, remove weak plants and plants with pests and diseases, and master the plant spacing of 6-8 cm.

Water balcony planting in winter and spring. After watering the soles of your feet, water the seedlings as little as possible. On the one hand, the leaves grow white. When the fleshy roots begin to swell to 7 days before harvesting, water them in time, but don't water them too much at a time. Give priority to watering them with small water to keep the soil moist and promote the rapid expansion of fleshy roots. Sow in summer and autumn until the whole seedling, and water once every 1~2 days to reduce soil moisture. Water less from emergence to fleshy root swelling, and water it once every 5~7 days.

If the amount of base fertilizer is sufficient, there is no need for topdressing. If the amount of base fertilizer is small, ternary compound fertilizer can be applied once at the initial stage of fleshy root expansion, with 20-30g per pot. After application, it can be watered, foliar fertilization can be carried out, and nutrition can be supplemented quickly. In summer and autumn, spraying at noon should be avoided on sunny days, so as not to affect the effect by evaporation too fast.

Adjusting the temperature and light When planting on the balcony, it is necessary to adjust the temperature and care at any time to make it grow under suitable environmental conditions. Thermal insulation measures should be taken in winter and spring. In summer and autumn 1 1 ~ 15, and the balcony should be covered with shading net with shading rate of 60%, so as to reduce the sunshine hours and the balcony temperature.

(5) Pest control

The main diseases and pests of carrots are black rot, cotton rot and aphids. Rational fertilization, strengthening management, preventing overgrowth and improving plant disease resistance. If the condition is serious, biological pesticides can also be sprayed for prevention and control.

(6) Harvest

When the shoulder diameter of carrot roots reaches 3~4 cm, the harvest period is reached. You can also turn over the soil to see if the roots are strong enough. Carrots are harvested too late, easy to crack inside, harvested too early, with low yield and poor taste. It is best to keep 3~4 cm long leaves after digging out the fleshy roots.