I planted Scartlet Nantes and Mokum carrots last spring. I have been growing Scarlet Nantes for several seasons now, and I wanted to find out if we'd like other varieties better. I decided to start out by trying Mokum because they are supposed to be particularly sweet.
I planted both varieties on the same day in March in roughly the same amount of space along the fence
line. Each bed was prepared with well-rotted manure, compost, fallen leave and grass clippings last fall.
I used my broadfork to dig them up last week, and I found that there was a significant difference between the Scarlet Nantes and Mokum in yield, flavor, and size.
This well-used broadfork is a great tool. It helps me dig up my root vegetables without stabbing into them.
I pulled up 21 pounds of Scarlet Nantes and only 5 pounds of Mokum. The Scarlet Nantes seeds were from 2009, and the Mokum were new this year. So, the freshness of the seed does not seem to be the issue at all here. I ordered both carrots from Johnny's.
I think that there's a possibility that the rabbits assaulted the Mokums a bit, but I don't think they did very much damage.
I think that there's a possibility that the rabbits assaulted the Mokums a bit, but I don't think they did very much damage.
A bunch of Scarlet Nantes carrots.
Furthermore, Johnny's lists the Scartlet Nantes as maturing at 65 days, and the Mokum at 54 days. Both varieties were in the ground for over 90 days, so they had more than enough time to fully mature.
This is the 10 gallon bucket filled with my Scarlet Nantes harvest. It reaches the line.
This is the same size bucket with my Mokum harvest. It tops out way below the line.
Scarlet Nantes won in both yield and size. Most of the Mokum were barely larger than my middle finger. What Mokum lacks in size, it attempts to make up in flavor. Mokum were noticeably sweeter.
At left is an average example of a Scarlet Nantes, and at right is the Mokum.
Scarlet Nantes beat Mokum in both yield and size. Mokum is slightly superior in flavor. I'm sure there are a million things I could have done differently to get better results with the Mokum, but I don't think I'll bother with them again. I'll be planting Scarlet Nantes in this fall's garden.
