Saving Your Own Carrot Seeds

^{Jeff Favelle October 18th, 2022}

In the root crop world, not much can beat a sweet, crunchy, raw carrot right out of your own garden. Often picked young (who doesn’t love baby carrots?), and most certainly picked before flowering, not many gardeners have ever seen a carrot plant flower, let alone go to seed.

And rightly so. Carrots are what’s known as “biennial plants”. These are plants that take two years (well, growing seasons) to complete their life cycle of germinating, growing, producing flowers, and going to seed.

That sounds like a lot though, doesn’t it? Taking up bed space over the course of two growing seasons just to get seeds that are relatively cheap? Surely there must be a better way?

Fortunately, there is. Carrots are biennial, yes, but that only means that they need a winter vernalization period to stimulate flower production. So yes, if you plant in the spring and leave your carrot plants in the ground, in two summers you’ll get flowers and then subsequently some seeds.

But the same result will happen if you plant your carrots in the FALL. The key is the winter period to trigger that flowering cycle. So you’ll sacrifice the 2^nd spring/summer growing season, but by planting in the fall, thankfully that will be the only one.

The other thing making saving carrot seeds more lucrative is the sheer volume of seeds produced. The flowers are densely-packed umbels containing hundreds of inflorescences, meaning hundreds of carrot seeds eventually! Literally one or two carrot plants could provide you with enough seeds for years. Careful though. Carrot seeds are notorious for having a short shelf life. So either set up a trading system with fellow growers, or schedule a 2 to 3 year rotation of letting a few carrots go to seed for you.

Ok, with that said, let’s get into some carrot seed saving. Like we mentioned before, to minimize the amount of time you’re taking up garden space, if you’re growing carrots specifically just to make seed, plant them around a month or so before your first fall frost date. Carrots need relatively warm temperatures to sprout and send up their first true leaves, after that though, they are quite cold hardy.

Nothing needs to be done with them over winter and into the spring other than maybe covering them if the mercury really drops. Snow is an excellent thermal protector though, so if you have a foot or more over the plants, you’ll be in good shape.

Come spring time, the carrot plants will continue on as they normally do. It isn’t until the days get longer that you start to see the larger flower spikes coming out the center. Green at first, they soon turn white and begin to attract pollinators. Carrots cannot self pollinate, so they rely on numerous different species of insects to aid in fertilizing the flowers.

Because of this though, you have to be aware that varieties grown close together can, and will cross pollinate. Not only that, wild carrots can easily contaminate your cultivated carrot flowers, ruining the viability of those seeds producing a usable crop. Never grow different varieties together with the intent on saving seeds, and be aware of any wild carrots going to flower at the same time in your area.

Mature carrot flowers have an amazing ability to deal with dispersal and precipitation. As they age, they begin to curl inwards, resembling a sort of mini bird’s nest. Protection from excessive moisture allows the seeds to continue to develop as late summer and fall rains loom. The umbels can also band back outwards for easier distribution of the aged seeds!

For us growers though, we want to cut the umbels off before that happens. As soon as they turn brown, the carrot flower heads can be cut off from the plant and dried indoors for another 2 to 4 weeks. One late rain can ruin the chances of harvesting and successfully storing carrot seeds, so we need to collect them as dry as possible.

After a few weeks, shake the carrot seeds into a Tupperware or bucket. Try to remove as much of the shake and debris as possible for a cleaner product. Carrot seeds have a pretty elaborate hull on them, which is removed on commercial seeds. They can be left on or removed, that is up to you. A strainer with some rough shaking works great for this.

After drying, collecting, and sorting, you can store your carrot seeds in a jar, deli cup, or in a seal plastic bag. Make sure to label them and keep them in a cool, dry, dark space. Carrot seeds can last for up to 3 years, after which their viability begins to drastically decrease, much more so than other plants.