Deformed Carrots and Distorted Parsnips

I keep getting emails from people asking why their carrots or parsnips have become deformed, forked, twisted or even a sort of tangled ball of roots more like spaghetti than a carrot. So, rather than keep sending similar replies, I thought a short piece on the causes of strange shaped carrots.

Are Deformed Carrots Safe to Eat?

First of all, just because a carrot or a parsnip is a strange shape doesn’t mean that it is inedible. Difficult to prepare, certainly, but perfectly OK to eat and just as flavourful as its conventionally shaped brethren.

What Causes Distorted Carrots and Parsnips?

There are two main causes of distorted roots with carrots and parsnips.

Soil Texture

If you’ve got a stony soil or a soil with hard lumps of clay, the roots will go round the obstacle. Ideally a fine soil without stones will avoid the problem. Pick out or riddle (sieve) the soil and break it up well. I find a Mantis or other high-speed tiller does an excellent job of breaking the soil up into a fine tilth before riddling.

The soil is best being firmed. Just walk on it or shuffle so that any large air pockets are taken out. You don’t want the soil to be solid as a rock, just fairly firm and even consistency to the depth the roots will be.

With parsnips in particular, where the roots are larger, some growers use a bar to make a hole and fill it with fine, sieved compost for the plant to grow in. It’s a fair bit of work, but it gets the desired results.

Carrots growing well in section of barrel. The potting compost and sand mix in the barrel section ensures straight carrots… usually!

Fertiliser or Manure

Not as much of a problem with fertilisers but a major problem with compost and manure that’s been recently applied. The roots will move towards high nutrient areas, so lumps of compost or manure in the soil will attract them.

Don’t plant parsnips and carrots in soil that was manured or had compost applied in the preceding winter. Use soil that was manured in the winter before that. The manure will have completely broken down and be distributed.

Running a Mantis or high-speed tiller over the ground also helps to break up and distribute any high nutrient pockets.

Neither carrots nor parsnips are particularly greedy, but if you must feed before planting try to use a liquid fertiliser. Evenly spread by applying from a can with a fine rose, and well mixed into the soil, and you will most probably be OK.

Pre-Germination of Seeds

If you chit or pre-germinate seed, sow immediately the seeds start to show. I mean, within hours. This I not a ‘I’ll do that tomorrow’ job!

Thinning Carrots

Never transplant thinnings. I always get a few people telling me they can transplant thinnings and they grow just fine. Well not in my experience, is all I’ll say.