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So I planted some radish in my garden and they grew fine but when I went to harvest they were tall and had started to flower but the radish was almost non existent. What did I do wrong?

JStorage
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haakon.io
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  • Now this is a rarity. We really need more info, haakon. What fertilizer did you use? What have you done or added to your soil. Is this in a green house or an out of doors garden? Indoors? Tall vegetation and no root size means too low of light energy with which to photosynthesize to make food for the plant and store in the roots...as a radish. Or, too high nitrogen 10-5-7 the N being higher than phosphorus and potassium or using manure that is not decomposed. Pictures please. – stormy Jun 23 '17 at 19:30
  • Sorry, I'm not as green a thumb as I thought. My roses were epic lol. I planted in my room mates garden outdoors, not sure if she fertilized so that might be the issue. The location gets plenty of afternoon sun but not so much morning sun. I have chives, green onions, thyme and arugula planted nearby and all seem to be doing great. – haakon.io Jun 23 '17 at 19:39
  • No one is born with a green thumb. Those that care about healthy plants are certainly the gardeners in this world. Morning sun is no big deal as much as later in the day. Your radishes are actually 'bolting' trying to produce seed because they are not happy. Bamboo is very good at this and talking about a 'cool' season crop is very correct. Too hot or too cold after plenty of warmth will cause cool season crops to bolt. I would get more radishes planted. They are the first crops to be harvested. Try to keep them cooler by covering with row or shade cloth. Where do you live? – stormy Jun 23 '17 at 20:20

1 Answers1

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Radishes like full sun and an enriched (with manure preferably) soil, and they are ready to harvest very quickly, sometimes within three weeks. They're also a cool season crop, so don't do well if you try to grow them in summer. It may be that you left them too long in the ground and they deteriorated, or insufficient sunlight meant you got tall, leafy plants and no swollen roots (the radish), as well as the lack of fertilizer or enrichment of the soil. More info here http://www.almanac.com/plant/radishes

Bamboo
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    Hot weather isn't the only cause of bolting. Many plants are genetically programmed to grow as daylight hours increase and the flower and set seed as night hours increase. To be honest, I'm not sure if that applies to radishes. I never grew them as I'm not fond of them. – Jude Jun 23 '17 at 22:14
  • @Jude not relevant to radish, they just don't do well at warm/hot temperatures – Bamboo Jun 23 '17 at 22:38