Dryland carrot varities

Hi,

I live in an area where during the carrot growing season, there is an average monthly rainfall of 39 mm.

Have found an ebook/research document showing the yields of Chantenay carrots in dryland conditions, in an area with similar climate in the US. This sounds promising (found on google books Dry-land Gardening at the Northern Great Plains Field Station, Mandan, N. Dak)

However, what I would like to know is if the following seeds which I already have should have similar drought tolerance as compared to the chantenay variety? Or am I better of purchasing chantenay carrot seeds? I am farming on sandy soil. Thank you


- Nantes
- Berlikumer
- Flakkeese
- Spanish Morada
- Purple Haze
- Malbec
- Purple Sun
- Red Samurai

I would just plant them all and see what works. Your conditions are slightly different than everyone else's, so your results will be your own.

I am particularly interested;

- If any carrot should be dryland proof (the largest amount of seeds I have are Nantes and Berlikumer seeds, the last one is a winter carrot)

- Why Chantenay specifically shows up as a dryland tested variety (just the most popular one in the US, or is there a reason other than that?)

After doing some more research, I have found that only Oxheart and Chantenay Red varieties seem to be split-proof and short.

Still, if anybody can answer my questions that would be great. For now I shall assume that a trial of the Oxheart, Chantenay Red and Spanish Morada as maincrop, with some smaller quantities of the others is needed to get my answer.

I agree with Jan here, no better way to find out than to just go ahead and plant what you have. See what works and what doesn't. Save your own seed and you'll slowly get more and more towards the carrot that you want most.

I'd look into seeing if you buy any of Joseph Lofthouse's landrace carrot seeds, or make your own landrace. He grows his carrots in the dryland and they are fantastically resilient (and tasty!) carrots. I planted some in my garden a few years back, and even though my climate is far more damp than his, it grew into the most delicious--and largest--carrot my kids and I had ever eaten.

Here's his site about his carrots: https://garden.lofthouse.com/open-pollinated-landrace-carrot.phtml. He actually just came out with a plant breeding book, and it has raving review (you can read them here).

He no longer sells seeds through his website--as far as I can tell--but you can find a lot of them at Experimental Farm Network Seed Store

I wouldn't discount any variety because it doesn't have a reputation for the characteristics you're looking for. All that means is that no one's ever tried it or kept record of it. And a variety that does supposedly have the characteristics you're looking for might have been grown for many generations in a location that has completely different conditions, and will have lost the desirable traits.