I planted these March 12 and it’s May 10. My seed packet doesn’t specify days to harvest, but the leaves were growing enormous and I felt the top of the root and it seemed bulbous. When I pulled it, it was in fact not bulbous…. Should I have just waited longer? I have several more in the ground still. TIA!
by gulgibooty
19 Comments
Don’t fret your micro radish is a hit at some fine dining restaurants.
Radishes take 60-70 days to reach maturity
In my experience, everything takes way longer than people say. Either that, or I don’t get the days to maturity thing.
Looks like it was getting there, I’d have just left it longer. If you’re unsure, you should be able to brush some soil away and see if it is properly grown like you wanted it to.
I have found that all of my radishes turn out like this If I did not properly thin them. I space them four or more inches apart to make sure that they get as big as possible.
When did you pull this?
Daikon and daikon like radishes take 60 days to mature and their leaves are usually a lot bigger than this when they are ready.
Too much Nitrogen develops beautiful foliage, but the bulbs suffer.
You need more phosphorus!
It was going to seed already. In the spring if they get hot and cold and hot and cold this will happen. Also some of them will just do that. Those bigger radishes like that are often called watermelon radishes and do better in the fall as days get cooler.
Overcrowding, lack of light, not enough time can all lead to not getting a root on radishes.
Do be aware that some (not all, but some) are day-length sensitive…..i.e. “fall radishes” vs “spring radishes”.
So I’ve been struggling growing radishes off and on for years . The biggest things as some people have mentioned are thinning… Do it earlier than later and give them at least 3″ between plants. Too much nitrogen can cause too much leafy greens but that doesn’t really look like your issue. Also they need regular moisture if they’re drying out too much between rains they won’t grow great. I mulched mine for the first time this year and had some success.
https://preview.redd.it/n6jv5vciv2za1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=94df754e00b103aa628ddcd5cf100f1a1823049a
You got the vegetarian version.
But really, you could have pulled it too soon, had too compacted of soil, or too hot of weather.
Too much nitrogen, not enough phosphorus and potassium, too much warm weather usually cause this along with the bolting you described. Looks like you got a nice harvest of salad greens out of it though. I’d consider this a success.
Your soil need to be really loose to get best results for root vegetables. Compacted soil tends to elongate them for me.
The temps are making them bolt. Radishes don’t like hot weather. Once they start making seed, the roots are going to get hard and woody. If many of them look like this, consider removing them or allowing them to seed so you can save seed for another round of growing late this summer for an autumn harvest.
the same thing happened to me at first, i let them live in the garden for extra months and eventually they produced well.
like others said, it could be thinning or nutrient issues.
also, perhaps it could be when you planted them, if they are spring or fall radishes
I grew this exact cultivar from the same supplier. And I got the same results as you (if not thinner and worse). Planning on trying to improve my phosphorus in my soil
Too early.
It says on the website these radishes do better as winter harvest, not enough time in the spring for them to mature
I don’t know if this will help, but I’ve found from my own experience that if you want pretty round radishes you should avoid planting them too deep.
My best results were from radishes where I just sprinkled the seeds over the top of the soil, not even covered with dirt, watered, and let them germinate. First time actually getting radishes that looked round like on the package.
That one must be planted in cool weather. It‘s a fall variety.