How to harvest carrots? If you have been experimenting with backyard farming or urban farming, you might still be confused about the right time to harvest carrots as these are biennial crops. Today’s blog post will hopefully remove any confusion about the right time to harvest carrots, so you can have a more joyful time farming this incredible crop.
How Do You Know When Carrots Are Ready for Picking?
Carrots are a type of crop that is super easy to grow. People consume carrots for their natural beta carotene content. Consuming just half a cup of fresh carrots provides more than 100% of the RDA for vitamin A for adults (males and females).
That’s how nutritious carrots can be if grown well. If you live somewhere where there is generally mild climate, you can plant carrots repeatedly throughout the year and get really good results.
When to harvest carrots?
Carrots have different varieties. Check the seed packet and follow the manufacturer’s instructions for planting and harvesting. There are margins of days and weeks for each type of carrot variant. You wouldn’t want to harvest carrots too quickly.
When to pick carrots?
Some varieties are ready to be plucked from the ground after fifty days. Other varieties need ten to thirty days more. The average harvest time is seventy-five days for the most common varieties of carrots. If you want them to be bigger and thicker, you need to wait before harvesting.
What Happens If You Leave Carrots in The Ground Too Long?
Carrots left in the ground for too long will eventually die around fall, so be sure to remember to harvest them before cold weather comes. Due to the short growth period of carrots, some people can plant carrots several times throughout the year.
As long as there is no frost, you can do this too. Also, we recommend buying carrot seeds or varieties that don’t take eighty days to mature, so you won’t have issues with how long you have to wait before harvesting your carrots.
How Do You Tell When Carrots Are Ready to Pick?
When are carrots ready to harvest? Visually, carrots are ready to be harvested if the carrot tops are at their thickest circumference, with the color being deep green. Upon harvest time, the tops of carrots might reach eight to ten inches in height.
The carrots should also look thick enough. Just think of the carrots that you purchase in the supermarket. We are after the same size. Of course, the carrots’ final size would depend on the type of carrot that you planted. Some carrots varieties are more extended and slimmer. Others tend to be shorter but thicker around the base.
To be safe, wait at least sixty days before checking if your carrots are ready to harvest. If you are not after a lot of weight, you should be able to harvest with no issues after sixty days.
Note that the countdown begins after you have put the sprouted carrots to the ground. Also, you can harvest just a few of them at a time when you need to. Carrots can still be gathered in the second growth period just before they expire. Cold weather is not suitable for carrots, so it’s best to harvest them before the snow comes. Carrot preservation (and there are many ways to do this) can be used to prolong the life of your harvest.
What Happens If You Don’t Harvest Carrots?
Carrots have two growing seasons. Farmers usually harvest carrots after the first growing season. The end of the first carrot-growing season is usually when the carrots are already full of nutrients and ready to cook.
The roots of the carrot plant at this point are already thick and sweet – exactly how people like them. If they are not harvested, the carrots will continue developing after spring. White flowers will begin to develop at this point, too. Carrot seeds emerge during the second growth period. Before fall, the carrot plant dies.
How long does it take carrots to grow?
Carrots have a splendidly short growth period. You only need to wait seventy to eighty days after planting to harvest your carrots. Carrots are ready to be produced to the ground when the roots are at least an inch long. Wait for the roots to reach 1.5 inches in length if you want to be extra-secure.
If your state isn’t so cold, you may be able to sustain growing your carrots through the winter through mulching. Mulching helps maintain the ground temperature and also protects plants from the harmful effects of frost. The ground freezing is a big problem for many crops, so if you can, late fall should be the deadline or harvesting your carrots. Otherwise, you may have to exert extra effort in preventing the frost from ruining and eventually killing your crops. This warning applies to all kinds of plants, not just carrots.
Storing Carrots Properly
Freezing is probably the most practical way to store carrots for the long term. Be sure to trim the carrot tops. Leave only about an inch of the carrot tops before placing the carrots in a zip lock bag or any other container you want to use in your freezer. You can also submerge the carrots in a container half-filled with water. Place the box in the refrigerator and use the carrots before the water becomes cloudy. If the water becomes cloudy or if there is any weird color of any kind, don’t use the carrots anymore. This storage method is perfect if you are only storing the carrots for about seven days. The goal is to maintain the crispness of the carrots. However, it is not a super long term storage solution. If you want long-term storage, there’s the freezer for that purpose.
