Some gardeners prefer to buy seed from the store year after year. I prefer to save myself money by harvesting as much seed as I can, including carrot seed. Once the stalks of carrot plants are dry and the seeds are brown, I then come around the stalks to harvest them.
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Harvested Carrots in a Pot |
Because carrots are outbreeding plants, it is recommended to have at least 12-20 plants to keep the seed strong. As I harvest the seed for a particular trait, such as color or root thickness, I keep the seeds of plants with desirable traits from the seeds of undesirable plants. In this way, I seek to slowly shape my carrot variety into something that I want them to be.
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Carrot seeds in a dry, well-ventilated place |
After harvesting the seed I keep it in a well-ventilated dry place to keep the seed stalks from molding. It only requires a few days of wet seeds to have them mold.
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Some Carrot Processing Material. |
When stalks are dry, use a comb or other method to remove the seeds.
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Combing Seed out of the stalk works pretty well |
Carrot seeds are very hairy. The first time I harvested carrot seeds I didn’t worry about the small hair. However, when planting the seed, the hair can make the seeds difficult to handle. They tend to cling to each other which tends to waste seed.
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Hairy seeds tend to stick together |
To remove the hair, rub the seeds through screen that is slightly larger than the seed. This will separate the hair from the seed. Both will end up falling into whatever container you have below the screen.
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Seperating the hairs from the seed via rubbing through a screen |
To separate the seeds from the hairy mess, take a handful of seed and hair mixture to winnow away the small hairs and the other small material by using a fan or blowing away the hair with your mouth (as pictured).
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My lovely picture demonstrates my method for winnowing seed |
What is left after winnowing is the usable seed and a few other small branches you can pick out, if you desire. Home-harvested seed may not be as clean as from a seed catalogue but the quality of the seed can be much greater when harvested when the seed is completely grown.
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Finished Carrot Seed |