Harvesting carrot seeds?

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gardener4life
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Harvesting carrot seeds?

Post by gardener4life »

So I've been wondering how to harvest carrot seeds.

The key here is that they are biennial. That means they will not produce seed the first year but will make the seeds the second year of the plant. There are a lot of plants like this, like kale and swiss chard. Some types of radishes can either be annual seeding or biennial like carrots. Cabbage is supposed to be biennial as well but I haven't tried growing cabbage yet myself.

But I've done swiss chard and it works. Swiss chard you just leave the plant out there all winter and it comes back early spring. It does it very easily and naturally as long as you provide water.

With carrots I'm not sure the best process. Most how to videos only talk about the easy steps and don't even gloss over the whole procedure. Do you take the carrots out and store them in root cellar and then transplant them back outside in Spring? Or do you just leave it out in the garden all winter, then start watering it in Spring again like Swiss Chard? None of the guides I see are clear on this but this would be a huge deal breaker at this stage if done wrong. I'd appreciate advise on this. Most guides gloss over the last few steps and skip crucial knowledge base and forget that not everyone who reads their article is an expert gardener with 10 years of experience.

Also I've never done cabbage, so any advise there would be nice too.

If it helps any I'm in Utah climate. (cold winters, hell summers). Thanks

Onsdag
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Re: Harvesting carrot seeds?

Post by Onsdag »

For what it's worth, I live in Utah County and planted carrots two summers ago and also planned to collect seed from them. First year they grew great. Over winter I left them in the ground unattended, and the following year they came back just fine. Unfortunately, in spite of me telling friends and family not to eat all of the carrots so that I could collect seed this year, they enjoyed eating them so much that virtually nothing survived. One other thing to note - Carrots will cross quite readily with Queen Anne’s Lace, so unless some precautions are taken your seed may not produce true to type, if you're concerned about that.

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brlenox
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Re: Harvesting carrot seeds?

Post by brlenox »

gardener4life wrote: November 16th, 2017, 8:07 pm So I've been wondering how to harvest carrot seeds.

The key here is that they are biennial. That means they will not produce seed the first year but will make the seeds the second year of the plant. There are a lot of plants like this, like kale and swiss chard. Some types of radishes can either be annual seeding or biennial like carrots. Cabbage is supposed to be biennial as well but I haven't tried growing cabbage yet myself.

But I've done swiss chard and it works. Swiss chard you just leave the plant out there all winter and it comes back early spring. It does it very easily and naturally as long as you provide water.

With carrots I'm not sure the best process. Most how to videos only talk about the easy steps and don't even gloss over the whole procedure. Do you take the carrots out and store them in root cellar and then transplant them back outside in Spring? Or do you just leave it out in the garden all winter, then start watering it in Spring again like Swiss Chard? None of the guides I see are clear on this but this would be a huge deal breaker at this stage if done wrong. I'd appreciate advise on this. Most guides gloss over the last few steps and skip crucial knowledge base and forget that not everyone who reads their article is an expert gardener with 10 years of experience.

Also I've never done cabbage, so any advise there would be nice too.

If it helps any I'm in Utah climate. (cold winters, hell summers). Thanks
I have grown a non-heated winter Garden for several years in Utah. Best time to grow lots of different vegetables. Carrots do fabulous just left in the ground. If yours are outside a good mulching will surely be more than adequate. Remove mulch late February. Sometimes carrots will force seed first year. Never collect first year seed.

Cabbage is a little tricky and some types are easier than others. However, the really dense head varieties need some help. After they winter over, very protected, in the spring say around February or after the last hard freezes, then cut an 6 inch or so "X" about an inch deep into the center of the head. This will allow the flower head to push it's way through. The stalks go tall and it is best to build a cage or such that will prevent wind destruction of stalk.

gardener4life
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Re: Harvesting carrot seeds?

Post by gardener4life »

brlenox wrote: November 16th, 2017, 10:47 pm
gardener4life wrote: November 16th, 2017, 8:07 pm So I've been wondering how to harvest carrot seeds.

The key here is that they are biennial. That means they will not produce seed the first year but will make the seeds the second year of the plant. There are a lot of plants like this, like kale and swiss chard. Some types of radishes can either be annual seeding or biennial like carrots. Cabbage is supposed to be biennial as well but I haven't tried growing cabbage yet myself.

But I've done swiss chard and it works. Swiss chard you just leave the plant out there all winter and it comes back early spring. It does it very easily and naturally as long as you provide water.

With carrots I'm not sure the best process. Most how to videos only talk about the easy steps and don't even gloss over the whole procedure. Do you take the carrots out and store them in root cellar and then transplant them back outside in Spring? Or do you just leave it out in the garden all winter, then start watering it in Spring again like Swiss Chard? None of the guides I see are clear on this but this would be a huge deal breaker at this stage if done wrong. I'd appreciate advise on this. Most guides gloss over the last few steps and skip crucial knowledge base and forget that not everyone who reads their article is an expert gardener with 10 years of experience.

Also I've never done cabbage, so any advise there would be nice too.

If it helps any I'm in Utah climate. (cold winters, hell summers). Thanks
I have grown a non-heated winter Garden for several years in Utah. Best time to grow lots of different vegetables. Carrots do fabulous just left in the ground. If yours are outside a good mulching will surely be more than adequate. Remove mulch late February. Sometimes carrots will force seed first year. Never collect first year seed.

Cabbage is a little tricky and some types are easier than others. However, the really dense head varieties need some help. After they winter over, very protected, in the spring say around February or after the last hard freezes, then cut an 6 inch or so "X" about an inch deep into the center of the head. This will allow the flower head to push it's way through. The stalks go tall and it is best to build a cage or such that will prevent wind destruction of stalk.
Hmm so what do you mean by a winter garden? Can you be more specific? I thought people mostly only did summer and fall ish...but it seems I have a lot to learn from you.

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brlenox
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Re: Harvesting carrot seeds?

Post by brlenox »

gardener4life wrote: November 17th, 2017, 1:39 am
brlenox wrote: November 16th, 2017, 10:47 pm
gardener4life wrote: November 16th, 2017, 8:07 pm So I've been wondering how to harvest carrot seeds.

The key here is that they are biennial. That means they will not produce seed the first year but will make the seeds the second year of the plant. There are a lot of plants like this, like kale and swiss chard. Some types of radishes can either be annual seeding or biennial like carrots. Cabbage is supposed to be biennial as well but I haven't tried growing cabbage yet myself.

But I've done swiss chard and it works. Swiss chard you just leave the plant out there all winter and it comes back early spring. It does it very easily and naturally as long as you provide water.

With carrots I'm not sure the best process. Most how to videos only talk about the easy steps and don't even gloss over the whole procedure. Do you take the carrots out and store them in root cellar and then transplant them back outside in Spring? Or do you just leave it out in the garden all winter, then start watering it in Spring again like Swiss Chard? None of the guides I see are clear on this but this would be a huge deal breaker at this stage if done wrong. I'd appreciate advise on this. Most guides gloss over the last few steps and skip crucial knowledge base and forget that not everyone who reads their article is an expert gardener with 10 years of experience.

Also I've never done cabbage, so any advise there would be nice too.

If it helps any I'm in Utah climate. (cold winters, hell summers). Thanks
I have grown a non-heated winter Garden for several years in Utah. Best time to grow lots of different vegetables. Carrots do fabulous just left in the ground. If yours are outside a good mulching will surely be more than adequate. Remove mulch late February. Sometimes carrots will force seed first year. Never collect first year seed.

Cabbage is a little tricky and some types are easier than others. However, the really dense head varieties need some help. After they winter over, very protected, in the spring say around February or after the last hard freezes, then cut an 6 inch or so "X" about an inch deep into the center of the head. This will allow the flower head to push it's way through. The stalks go tall and it is best to build a cage or such that will prevent wind destruction of stalk.
Hmm so what do you mean by a winter garden? Can you be more specific? I thought people mostly only did summer and fall ish...but it seems I have a lot to learn from you.
Everything I know came out of this book and the next one that this author publishes.:
https://www.amazon.com/Winter-Harvest-H ... ter+garden

https://www.amazon.com/Four-Season-Harv ... S71XCV2Q4Z

eddie
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Re: Harvesting carrot seeds?

Post by eddie »

I'm only interested in obtaining donut seeds.

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brlenox
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Re: Harvesting carrot seeds?

Post by brlenox »

eddie wrote: November 17th, 2017, 6:31 pm I'm only interested in obtaining donut seeds.
Those can be found at this link:
http://www.cheerios.com/en/Articles/Donut-Seeds.aspx

gardener4life
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Posts: 1690

Re: Harvesting carrot seeds?

Post by gardener4life »

brlenox is truly a master gardener! Nobody else could have thought of that.

eddie
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Re: Harvesting carrot seeds?

Post by eddie »

brlenox wrote: November 17th, 2017, 8:17 pm
eddie wrote: November 17th, 2017, 6:31 pm I'm only interested in obtaining donut seeds.
Those can be found at this link:
http://www.cheerios.com/en/Articles/Donut-Seeds.aspx
🍩 LOL !!

OCDMOM
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Re: Harvesting carrot seeds?

Post by OCDMOM »

I know you have to use non-hybrid seeds. You leave the plant you want for seeds to grow all season and don't pick and then they go to seed. When the seeds are dry sprinkle seeds in a dry container to store. Leave in the ground and next season the plant will be tougher but will produce seeds. My Dad did this with lettuce, onions etc.

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Yahtzee
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Re: Harvesting carrot seeds?

Post by Yahtzee »

Do you have Seed to Seed?https://www.amazon.com/Seed-Growing-Tec ... 1882424581
I've never tried saving them. Carrots are tough because they will always cross with queen annes lace and that is dominant so they'll always revert back to that. It is recommended that you isolate for 1/2 mile to avoid cross pollinating.
At any rate, if you want to give it a go, you would dig them up in November, store in sand, then replant in spring. I'm in a mild micro climate in Provo and have left mine in the ground with mulch successfully (watch out for mice!).
When you plant the saved seeds you'll need to make sure they aren't white roots.

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brlenox
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Re: Harvesting carrot seeds?

Post by brlenox »

Yahtzee wrote: November 19th, 2017, 1:40 am Do you have Seed to Seed?https://www.amazon.com/Seed-Growing-Tec ... 1882424581
I've never tried saving them. Carrots are tough because they will always cross with queen annes lace and that is dominant so they'll always revert back to that. It is recommended that you isolate for 1/2 mile to avoid cross pollinating.
At any rate, if you want to give it a go, you would dig them up in November, store in sand, then replant in spring. I'm in a mild micro climate in Provo and have left mine in the ground with mulch successfully (watch out for mice!).
When you plant the saved seeds you'll need to make sure they aren't white roots.
"Seed to Seed" is the only book of value that I have ever encountered on the subject and it is one of my favorites over all. Nonetheless, as for digging them up, I live in Layton Utah, and have harvested more carrot seeds than Carter has pills and, same as Yahtzee, have never dug them up. If they are outside exposed to the elements then absolutely mulch them nicely but if they are in a cloch, or a covered raised bed or other means of protection that prevents actually contacting the weather, chances are fabulous that you will collect seed.

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Yahtzee
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Re: Harvesting carrot seeds?

Post by Yahtzee »

brlenox wrote: November 19th, 2017, 10:20 pm
Yahtzee wrote: November 19th, 2017, 1:40 am Do you have Seed to Seed?https://www.amazon.com/Seed-Growing-Tec ... 1882424581
I've never tried saving them. Carrots are tough because they will always cross with queen annes lace and that is dominant so they'll always revert back to that. It is recommended that you isolate for 1/2 mile to avoid cross pollinating.
At any rate, if you want to give it a go, you would dig them up in November, store in sand, then replant in spring. I'm in a mild micro climate in Provo and have left mine in the ground with mulch successfully (watch out for mice!).
When you plant the saved seeds you'll need to make sure they aren't white roots.
"Seed to Seed" is the only book of value that I have ever encountered on the subject and it is one of my favorites over all. Nonetheless, as for digging them up, I live in Layton Utah, and have harvested more carrot seeds than Carter has pills and, same as Yahtzee, have never dug them up. If they are outside exposed to the elements then absolutely mulch them nicely but if they are in a cloch, or a covered raised bed or other means of protection that prevents actually contacting the weather, chances are fabulous that you will collect seed.
That is exciting to read!! I'm going to assume you don't have half an acre. How many generations have you been able to save? All the seed savers i know are so pessimistic about carrots. If you've been successful, maybe I'll give it a go next year. I've still got some carrots in the ground I could use.

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brlenox
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Re: Harvesting carrot seeds?

Post by brlenox »

Yahtzee wrote: November 19th, 2017, 11:06 pm
brlenox wrote: November 19th, 2017, 10:20 pm
Yahtzee wrote: November 19th, 2017, 1:40 am Do you have Seed to Seed?https://www.amazon.com/Seed-Growing-Tec ... 1882424581
I've never tried saving them. Carrots are tough because they will always cross with queen annes lace and that is dominant so they'll always revert back to that. It is recommended that you isolate for 1/2 mile to avoid cross pollinating.
At any rate, if you want to give it a go, you would dig them up in November, store in sand, then replant in spring. I'm in a mild micro climate in Provo and have left mine in the ground with mulch successfully (watch out for mice!).
When you plant the saved seeds you'll need to make sure they aren't white roots.
"Seed to Seed" is the only book of value that I have ever encountered on the subject and it is one of my favorites over all. Nonetheless, as for digging them up, I live in Layton Utah, and have harvested more carrot seeds than Carter has pills and, same as Yahtzee, have never dug them up. If they are outside exposed to the elements then absolutely mulch them nicely but if they are in a cloch, or a covered raised bed or other means of protection that prevents actually contacting the weather, chances are fabulous that you will collect seed.
That is exciting to read!! I'm going to assume you don't have half an acre. How many generations have you been able to save? All the seed savers i know are so pessimistic about carrots. If you've been successful, maybe I'll give it a go next year. I've still got some carrots in the ground I could use.

I have been doing this for about 8 years and have collected carrot seed around 4 of those eight years in abundance. I do have to caveat that I have an unheated greenhouse with 7 raised beds in it so that I am able to protect from cross contamination. My bee hives are right behind the greenhouse and I have one that is opened into the greenhouse so that the melons and carrots and everything else can be pollinated. As a greenhouse crop, they really are only suitable to be raised from August of one year to July ish of the next year as the heat drives going to seed. So they mature into edible carrots around the end of October of the first year for winter harvest and then the ones I hold over go to town on the seed wagon as soon as they get growing in the spring. They start becoming increasingly inedible the second year as they start growing as going to seed causes the core to become increasingly woody.

If you have some in the ground, and live in a very residential area, I would not be overly concerned with cross contamination with Queen Anne's lace unless you can see possible access places where it might grow. If you think there is a potential you could build a very temporary structure with Cattle panels or PVC pipe that might provide a shelter from cross contamination. It needs to be at least 5 feet high as the seed stalks can get that tall easily.

I have way less than half an acre.

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Yahtzee
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Re: Harvesting carrot seeds?

Post by Yahtzee »

I'm surrounded by rentals who don't mow their weeds. I can safely say there is contamination risk within 25ft. So I stick with self pollinating and hand pollinating crops. But that gives me hope. I love hearing success stories!

gardener4life
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Re: Harvesting carrot seeds?

Post by gardener4life »

Yahtzee wrote: November 19th, 2017, 11:06 pm
brlenox wrote: November 19th, 2017, 10:20 pm
Yahtzee wrote: November 19th, 2017, 1:40 am Do you have Seed to Seed?https://www.amazon.com/Seed-Growing-Tec ... 1882424581
I've never tried saving them. Carrots are tough because they will always cross with queen annes lace and that is dominant so they'll always revert back to that. It is recommended that you isolate for 1/2 mile to avoid cross pollinating.
At any rate, if you want to give it a go, you would dig them up in November, store in sand, then replant in spring. I'm in a mild micro climate in Provo and have left mine in the ground with mulch successfully (watch out for mice!).
When you plant the saved seeds you'll need to make sure they aren't white roots.
"Seed to Seed" is the only book of value that I have ever encountered on the subject and it is one of my favorites over all. Nonetheless, as for digging them up, I live in Layton Utah, and have harvested more carrot seeds than Carter has pills and, same as Yahtzee, have never dug them up. If they are outside exposed to the elements then absolutely mulch them nicely but if they are in a cloch, or a covered raised bed or other means of protection that prevents actually contacting the weather, chances are fabulous that you will collect seed.
That is exciting to read!! I'm going to assume you don't have half an acre. How many generations have you been able to save? All the seed savers i know are so pessimistic about carrots. If you've been successful, maybe I'll give it a go next year. I've still got some carrots in the ground I could use.
One of the reasons I'm interested in carrots and other root vegetables is that they do well in hot climates like Utah. If I grow Swiss Chard or some other stuff, unless its big and watered tons it will easily get defeated by the heat. The same for cucumbers and pea plants, and a few others if they don't have a whole bunch of themselves together.

But even before modern techniques came out, people in the SouthWest have been able to do root vegetables fairly well here without special modifications. Sugar beets were all over, so were normal beets, potatoes are root vegetables too. That's partly what made me want to ask about this. But the down side to me with root vegetables is that to be able to harvest the fruit you have to destroy the plant and that's discouraging. Also everyone I know In Utah did really terrible with gardens this year, and with tomatoes especially. So this has started to help me think maybe I'm too dependent on one type of plant to grow.

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brlenox
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Re: Harvesting carrot seeds?

Post by brlenox »

gardener4life wrote: November 20th, 2017, 10:23 am
Yahtzee wrote: November 19th, 2017, 11:06 pm
brlenox wrote: November 19th, 2017, 10:20 pm
Yahtzee wrote: November 19th, 2017, 1:40 am Do you have Seed to Seed?https://www.amazon.com/Seed-Growing-Tec ... 1882424581
I've never tried saving them. Carrots are tough because they will always cross with queen annes lace and that is dominant so they'll always revert back to that. It is recommended that you isolate for 1/2 mile to avoid cross pollinating.
At any rate, if you want to give it a go, you would dig them up in November, store in sand, then replant in spring. I'm in a mild micro climate in Provo and have left mine in the ground with mulch successfully (watch out for mice!).
When you plant the saved seeds you'll need to make sure they aren't white roots.
"Seed to Seed" is the only book of value that I have ever encountered on the subject and it is one of my favorites over all. Nonetheless, as for digging them up, I live in Layton Utah, and have harvested more carrot seeds than Carter has pills and, same as Yahtzee, have never dug them up. If they are outside exposed to the elements then absolutely mulch them nicely but if they are in a cloch, or a covered raised bed or other means of protection that prevents actually contacting the weather, chances are fabulous that you will collect seed.
That is exciting to read!! I'm going to assume you don't have half an acre. How many generations have you been able to save? All the seed savers i know are so pessimistic about carrots. If you've been successful, maybe I'll give it a go next year. I've still got some carrots in the ground I could use.
One of the reasons I'm interested in carrots and other root vegetables is that they do well in hot climates like Utah. If I grow Swiss Chard or some other stuff, unless its big and watered tons it will easily get defeated by the heat. The same for cucumbers and pea plants, and a few others if they don't have a whole bunch of themselves together.

But even before modern techniques came out, people in the SouthWest have been able to do root vegetables fairly well here without special modifications. Sugar beets were all over, so were normal beets, potatoes are root vegetables too. That's partly what made me want to ask about this. But the down side to me with root vegetables is that to be able to harvest the fruit you have to destroy the plant and that's discouraging. Also everyone I know In Utah did really terrible with gardens this year, and with tomatoes especially. So this has started to help me think maybe I'm too dependent on one type of plant to grow.
You will never taste better Swiss Chard than winter grown. The freezing temperatures change starches to sugars so your carrots are sweeter, swiss chard is delightful with just a hint of sweet. Most leafy things you can just pick a couple of leaves and let the plants keep growing. Most will make it clear through winter but in mid December through January will be moderately affected by the cold. I still pluck leaves when I want salads and such but some of the leaves wilt much quicker but are delightful still.

Here is a list of some of the more useful plants I have done.
Beets, beet greens, parsnips, root parsley, skirrit, burdock, Boc Choy, Swiss Chard, Kale, mizuna, mibuna, cabbage, spinach, mustard greens, miners lettuce, mache, dandelion, Green onions, Kohlrabi, cress and finally the glorious Tatsoi. Oak leaf lettuce, and a butter crunch lettuce are two that grow flattened close to the ground and most years they do very well taking a hit during the DEC-Jan window. But when it warms up they usually pop right back. Upright varieties of lettuce will do fine until the cold hits and most likely not make it through. Micro greens are fabulous because they are only around a 30 day growth and they are ready for harvest. so up to the Dec temp drop and within 30 days by the end of Feb most years you can be back into lettuces and other micro greens. There are a few others that I don't remember but the point is there is a huge assortment of material that can be grown that is just fabulous. Standard Mustards do great and there are multiple varieties but I am not very fond personally of the heat they put in a fresh salad but some people think they are wonderful. The mizuna and mibuna are very mild mustards which do well to replace lettuce as the primary in a salad.

Cilantro does great until the Dec - Jan coldest temps and then will only make it if it is heavily sheltered in the undergrowth of other plants.

UNLESS, everything does better in the coldest months if you pull a layer of seed cover over it to act as a thermal barrier. At the very coldest, when I was in better health I would pull an additional piece of clear plastic over it to add a second thermal barrier. This is based on a study that UofU did in Logan growing winter vegetables and they found that each layer raised the environment one growing zone per layer. This makes it the equivalent of a zone 7 in the dead of winter.

Arugula, endives, and chicory all can do well but tend to be bitter and I am not fond of them.

Best Prices on plastic and seed cover:
http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/?gcl ... 2-EALw_wcB

Good source for the Asian Greens
http://www.kitazawaseed.com/all_seeds.html

For seed collecting on these varieties be aware that most of these seeds group into mustards, Brassica (broccoli family), beets (swiss chard) and will cross readily.

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