How to Harvest Carrot Seeds
Saving carrot seeds, or any other vegetable seeds is a rewarding and cost effective activity. It also gives you the opportunity to trade your seeds with other gardeners and get rare varieties in return. Did you know there are purple, red, yellow and white carrots? You can try them and save the seeds. Carrots are a biennial, so the process is a bit more involved, but it isn't difficult. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- Strong, healthy, perfect carrots
- Sawdust
- Boxes
- Cool, dark location
- Desiccant packets (optional, but useful)
Instructions
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Harvest Carrot Seeds
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1
Harvest your carrots as usual the first year. Select several carrots that are perfect and undamaged. Make sure that they are the variety you want to raise for seeds.
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2
Trim the tops of your seed carrots to one inch. Bury these carrots completely, in a box filled with sawdust. Make sure that the carrots don't touch each other, and make sure the carrots you save this way are absolutely perfect and undamaged.
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3
Store your seed carrots in a cool, dark, dry place until the next spring. When the soil warms up, bury these carrots back in the garden, in loose, sandy soil. Treat as you would any other carrot plants.
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4
Wait for these plants to go to flower, then wait for those flowers to begin to dry out and become brown. When they are almost completely brown, loosely fasten a plastic bag around the flower head. Let the flowers become completely dry and brown.
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5
Cut these flowers completely away from the carrots, including the bag. Tuck them away for two or three weeks to complete maturing.
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6
Rub the seed heads in your hands, inside the bags, to release the seeds. Remove the plant material from the bags and seal the bags. If you are using desiccant packets, add them now. Store your carrot seeds in a cool, dark place, like your freezer or a root cellar.
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