Q. My carrots taste bitter, what’s wrong? I am watering for 20 to 30 minutes using a drip system 3 times per week. I use the Mittleider organic method of growing and grow in containers or Grow-Boxes.
A. Your problem is a lack of water. You need to water daily until you see water coming out the bottom of the container or box (usually just a mminute or two with the Mittleider watering system). I’ve never seen a soaker hose that would adequately water a sawdust/sand grow-box in 1/2 hour. And it will dry out too much if you only water every other day.
If you were growing in the soil, water still would most likely be the culprit, although if you are not feeding accurately and doing so every week for 6 times, you also might have a nutrient deficiency. Be sure you are using the Mittleider natural mineral nutrients as fertilizers. You can mix your own from formulas in the Mittleider gardening books, or get them pre-mixed. Look at www.growfood.com in the Shop under Natural Mineral Fertiliers – Micro-Nutrient Mix.
I recommend you automate your watering using the PVC pipe system taught and demonstrated in the Mittleider gardening books. This system is inexpensive to build, it waters very quickly and accurately, and will last practically forever if you take care of it.
The books are available at www.growfood.com, and you can even download the chapter of the Mittleider Gardening Course book on Automated Watering free, by going to the Shop section and clicking on that book.
