Producing Your Own Carrot Seed

[macmex]

Carrots, like parsnips and beets, are biennials. This means that it takes two seasons to produce seed from them and usually, upon producing seed, the plant dies. That's the end of its life cycle. Not too many people save seed from biennials but it can be very worthwhile. This is especially true, considering the paltry amount of seed one often gets in a packet compared to the hefty price it carries. I was commenting to my wife the other day, that with some biennials, the amount of seed one gets for the price is about what it would cost to purchase  the same amount of finished produce that the seed will produce!

Interestingly, most biennials produce LOTS OF SEED. I remember the first time I grew my own beet seed. WOW! I had quarts and quarts of seed, and that, from only six plants!

Carrots are hard for us, here. I joked with someone today, that we have about a "three day planting window" between when it's too cold to plant and too hot. It makes matters worse when one has only a pinch of seed with which to work.

Jerreth made a special effort to grow carrots last year. She prepared a planter with commercial growing medium and then had us both watering and covering it, when necessary, to get the carrots going. We only had a dozen or so make it, which is kind of typical for us. Part of the reason was that we used a bunch of older seed packets, so germination was spotty. Anyway, what came up grew well, but then we decided since the crop wasn't going to be very big, that we'd let it go to seed the following year (2022)

Carrot flowers look like Queen Anne's Lace (wild carrot). I didn't take a picture, or at least can't find one right now. Here's a picture of a carrot plant with seed, ready to harvest. I harvested seed on August 10.




Here's a picture of one of the umbels with mature seed. Just one of these has more seed than what is contained in a typical seed packet of carrot seed, from a box store.



I didn't take a picture of it, but I harvested about 2/3 of a paper grocery sack of seed heads. These sat on our table for way too long. I decided to process them on Christmas Eve! 
Here's a photo of a good deal of processed seed with some seed heads setting on top.



Here's a photo of a dried seed head (umbel) from my sack, after months of storage.



Look at all that seed!

Finally, here's a shot of the processed seed in a large metal mixing bowl.



You'll notice that there are pieces of stems, etc. in the seed. Commercial seed producers clean their seed with various kinds of sieves. I only rub the seed free from the umbel and pick out the larger pieces of stems. I leave the rest. After all, one challenge I have, when planting carrots, is that I tend to plant too thickly! I store the seed in a sealed glass jar. It should be good for two years at room temperature if stored away from direct light. I squirreled away a small package of it into my frozen storage, where it should be good for many years.

The beauty of producing carrot seed is that, in the coming year... we can BROADCAST seed where we want to grow it!

Okay, I may add some to this later. Please pitch in with your own experiences and information.

[macmex]

Oh, I should add, when I first got into seed saving, the recommendation was to save seed from at least 6 plants (for most biennials). It's likely that those numbers have been revised upward, but I would encourage folk to save seed, even if they don't have an optimum number of parent plants. Do it. Learn. Then, maybe you can refine.

[FrostyTurnip]

My garden real estate is limited, so carrots require an obnoxious amount of details to get started.  I’m grateful for having an abundance of pollinators in my area, but they do a swell job of pollination wild cow parsley and, sometimes, Queen Anne’s lace. 


Cut two pieces of cardboard small enough to fit inside a 1 gallon zip lock bag.  Saturate the boards with water.  Place a paper towel atop one of the pieces of board.  Lay out carrot seeds on paper towel in whatever dimensions you choose.  Make sure the paper towel is moist.  Sandwich the seeds between two pieces of wet cardboard, close up inside the plastic bag and set in a warm place or atop a heat mat.  Check frequently to ensure the moisture level remains consistent.  Wait until germination.  

You’re looking for germ action with at least 1/4” root.  They grow quickly, so check several times a day.  As soon as the root is long enough, place them in your well prepared bed.  Cover lightly with soil or medium and ensure it is moist, not soaked but just wet.  

Carrots prefer to germinate in the dark at very warm temperatures.  80 degrees works like a charm for me.  But after that, they like cooler temps.  Little garden “Divas” they are.  Keep in mind, the warmer the environment, the more likely it will dry out.  I keep a spray bottle of water nearby.

The soil needs to be very fine for steady growth but only the first 1/2” of soil or so.  As long as the garden soil beneath isn’t too rocky, they’ll do well.  I don’t mind crooked roots.  

It’s important to be diligent with care throughout the growth and to immediately remove any that might be off from its original growth pattern to avoid harvesting that which is cross contaminated.  This is the case for me as I haven’t much space.  We’re close to eradicating the noxious weeds but must also consider the neighbor’s properties.  There are so many look alikes.  It’s hard to tell the difference! 

[macmex]

Thank you for that! That is excellent information. We will try it in the coming growing season.

[amyinowasso]

I don't remember the year, but I planted spring carrots and I think we had a late frost or cold spell. It apparently tricked the carrots into going to seed the first year. It was one of those years the garden was neglected for family issues, so they didn't get harvested and suddenly were blooming. They're a very pretty flower. No, I didn't save seed, but if it happened now, I certainly would.
I plant spring carrots with a few radishes. The radishes break the soil crust. I admit, I always sow too thickly. Fall crops are planted under wet burlap that is kept moist till they germinate. It is then used as a sun shade until they're established. One year I glued seed to thin paper napkins in the pattern I wanted and covered with thin layer of soil. I couldn't trust it though, and added extra seed. I can't remember if I put burlap over it or not. My source said to use plain old Elmer's glue. I got good germination, though still too
thick. I've also chosen to only grow Napoli carrots, because they have given me the best crop. Apparently it is a Hybrid though. I may have to reconsider that.

One source I read said to have a nursery bed for biennials that would hold a dozen or so brassica or other biennial plants for seed growing. I don't have that much room. I would put them in a pot, but husband's garden OCD wants all pots emptied every year. (It looked dead to me).

[FrostyTurnip]

macmex

I beg of you to tell me how tall the flowered plant on carrots are.  I dunno why, but this info for any variety is very difficult to find.  It is so much easier for my mind to install supports at the time of germination or transplant.  From your photo above, I figure at least 4 foot?  
Bonnie

[amyinowasso]

I don't think mihe were that tall. But as I said, I usually plant a hybrid, which might effect the height. I would guess mine were 2', at most 2.5. I'll see if I can find a picture.

[amyinowasso]

ibb.co/Srb96R7

As you can see the flowers are above the other plants (I don't know what else was planted there.

There's a cattle panel arch on the far side. The beds are 4x8.

[macmex]

Amy, that's a nice picture of a carrot plant in flower.
Ours were much taller. I'd say they ran about 36" on average. There are probably varieties which are shorter or taller. Really, My impression is that diversity of carrots available to home gardeners is pretty slim.

My all time favorite was sold by Glecker's Seedmen, back in the late 80s. It was called Topweight, and it produced really impressive, large carrots. I grew them in Central Mexico but was forced to harvest without saving seed, due to an unexpected move. That variety has apparently disappeared. I never saw it offered after Glecker's shut down.

[FrostyTurnip]

amyinowasso

That’s a great photo, Amy.  So lush!  

[Tucson Grower]

And, again, another garden plant, I haven't tried for a very long time. If I remember correctly, I wasn't very successful when I did plant them. So, I just obtained some fresh seed from Baker Creek, of a variety called, "Manpukuji". I'm planning to give it a try.




I hope these grow, and that they will survive our summer heat, so they can flower and set seed. If so, that would be nice.

[FrostyTurnip]

Wow! Look how long those are! 

[macmex]

Hope you have DEEP topsoil! I once grew a very long variety but I planted in a spot with over 20' of sand/pumice type soil, very light. It worked great. In my currant soil I'd almost always chose something like Danvers Half Long.  

[Tucson Grower]

macmex, I have a few 15 gallon pots I was going to try some in. I just measured them and their's only about 16 inches of potting media depth. I think I'll sacrifice one by cutting out its bottom, then stack them. That way there will be at least 32 inches of potting soil depth. My primary soil type, on my acre, is fine sand, and in some places a layer of adobe clay. It should work okay, but I'd sure need to prep by digging in plenty of organic matter - deep (to ensure it stayed loose) and watering like crazy. I'll go with the stacked pots, for now. If the carrots do good, maybe I'll prep a small elevated bed for a later batch. Hopefully I can keep them going long enough to get a batch of seed. Good news, I have a few volunteer wild carrots, that just started as volunteers, this autumn.

[heavyhitterokra]

Jan 8, 2023 19:55:28 GMT -6 FrostyTurnip said:

Wow! Look how long those are! 

And their ability to levitate is a handy characteristic too.  That would sure come in handy when my hands are too full to carry all of my carrots home.