Learn How to Grow Carrots from Carrot Tops in this step-by-step guide and enjoy a fresh organic harvest in less than a month!
When we talk about How to Grow Carrots from Carrot Tops, we essentially mean growing carrot greens and not the root vegetable. It is impossible to re-grow carrots once they have been dug up from the ground. Although, you can enjoy a lush harvest of its stem and leaves through the method discussed below.
Learn everything about growing carrots in pots here
How to Grow a Carrot Plant from Carrot Tops?
1. Take a Fresh and Healthy Carrot
Get a fresh and healthy carrot from a garden or buy it from a grocery store or farmer’s market. It will be a bonus if the carrot top is already sprouted.
2. Cut the Top
Cut about an inch or two from the top portion of the carrot with a clean, sanitized knife and use the remaining part in your salads or cooking.
3. Place it in a Bowl of Water
Fill a shallow bowl with clean, non-chlorinated water and place the cut section in it in a way where only the bottom 2 to 4 mm touches the water.
Keep the bowl at a location where it gets partial sunlight, i.e., the morning sun. Do ensure not to submerge the cut carrot portion completely in water
4. Wait Till it Sprouts
After 3-5 days, you’ll notice the carrot tops sprouting new tender shoots. These are the greens you can harvest in the future for culinary purposes. Change the water every 2-3 days or when it looks muddy to avoid risks of fungal infection.
5. Transplant in Soil
In 2 weeks, you will see the cut section developing roots. This is when you can transplant it into the soil. For that, scatter some soil to create a shallow hole at a location in your garden that receives bright light.
You can also plant it in a pot filled with a well-draining potting mix amended with peat moss or cocopeat and compost.
Place the sprouted carrot stump as shown in the image above. Water evenly to keep the soil moist. Also, ensure it gets plenty of bright sunlight, but avoid the afternoon sun.
6. Watch the Plant Grow!
The plant will grow leafy stems with fresh fringes of green foliage in 15-20 days. You can now harvest one-third of the stems to use in cooking or garnish salads and soups with that. For some countable harvest, you’ll need to plant successively, and dozens of carrot tops.
7. Collect the Seeds and Carrots!
The plant will develop fully in about a month and start blooming tiny white flower clusters. These flowers will then dry to form seed pods which you can further germinate to grow root vegetables.
Note: You cannot grow the root vegetable from this method. Use the seeds to grow crunchy carrots, which will be ready in 70-90 days when grown from seeds.
