A bunch of freshly pulled orange carrots with green tops on the soil
How to grow

Carrots

Takes a light frost. Sow outdoors 2 to 3 weeks before your last frost; sow in fall 10 to 12 weeks before your first fall frost. First harvest 65 to 100 days from sowing.

Photo: “The garden delivers carrots” by woodleywonderworks, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped).

  • Full sun6–8 hours or more
  • 1–4 in apartRows 12–18 in
  • 65–100 daysFrom sowing
  • Soil 40 °F +pH 6.0–6.5
  • Half-hardyTakes a light frost

Your dates

Put in your ZIP code to see when to start, plant and harvest carrots where you live, from your own frost dates.

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From seed to harvest

  1. SowSeed goes inWeek 0
  2. SproutFirst shoots showWeek 1–3
  3. True leavesFirst real leavesWeek 3–4
  4. ThinThin to final spacingWeek 4–5
  5. Root swellsRoots thickenWeek 6–8
  6. HarvestReady to pickWeek 9–14

How to plant and grow

  1. Loosen the bed

    Work the soil deep and remove stones and clods. Rocky or heavy soil makes forked, stubby roots.

  2. Sow shallow

    Sow seed about 1/4 inch deep, two to three weeks before your last spring frost, once the soil is workable.

  3. Keep seedbed moist

    Carrot seed is slow and must not dry out. Water lightly every day in dry spells until seedlings are up.

  4. Thin early

    When seedlings are about 2 inches tall, thin them to 1 to 4 inches apart so roots have room to size.

  5. Water evenly

    Keep soil moisture steady. Ease off a little near harvest to help prevent split roots. Cover exposed shoulders with soil.

  6. Sow again

    Sow a new batch about every four weeks into midsummer. Sow a fall crop 10 to 12 weeks before first frost.

  7. Harvest

    Pull roots once they reach full size for the variety. Cut off the tops and store cold and humid.

Common problems

A carrot rust fly maggot tunnelling into a carrot root
Photo: “Psila rosae maggot, wortelvlieg made” by Rasbak, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). The cropped version is shared under the same licence.

Carrot rust flyPestNo spray helps

What you'll see: Rusty-brown tunnels scar carrot and parsnip roots, and small cream-colored maggots may be inside. Tops may yellow and wilt.

Prevent

  • Cover carrots and parsnips with row cover from sowing, and seal the edges.
  • Lift carrots by fall rather than leaving them in over winter. Parsnips left in the ground stay at risk.
  • Move carrots and their relatives to a new bed each year.

Organic options

  • Row cover is the dependable control. Pull and destroy damaged roots.

Conventional options

  • None recommended for home gardens.
A carrot that has forked into two legs
Photo: “Carrot legs” by Jane955, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). The cropped version is shared under the same licence.

Forked rootsGrowing problemNo spray helps

What you'll see: Carrots split into two or more legs, or come out stubby and twisted.

Prevent

  • Loosen the soil deeply and remove stones before sowing.
  • Grow short-rooted varieties in heavy or shallow soil.
  • Root-knot nematodes can also fork roots; see that problem.

Organic options

  • Loose, stone-free soil is the fix.

Conventional options

  • None. No spray prevents forked roots.
A stunted carrot plant with a yellow, bunched witches'-broom top from aster yellows
Photo: “Aster yellows symptoms carrot 2” by Whitney Cranshaw, CC BY 3.0 US, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped).

Aster yellowsDiseaseNo spray helps

What you'll see: New leaves yellow and twist, and plants stay stunted with a tuft of thin shoots. Carrot roots turn small, hairy and bitter.

Prevent

  • Pull weeds such as wild carrot, chicory and dandelion that carry the disease.
  • Cover young plants with row cover to keep the leafhoppers that spread it off them.
  • Grow varieties sold as resistant or tolerant, where offered.

Organic options

  • Remove and destroy infected plants as soon as you see them.

Conventional options

  • None. No spray cures an infected plant.

Alternaria leaf blightDisease

What you'll see: Small dark brown spots with yellow edges show on older carrot leaves. The spots join, leaves brown and wither, and tops may snap off when you pull the roots.

Prevent

  • Start with fresh, clean seed and grow carrots in a different bed for 3 years or more.
  • Water the soil, not the leaves, and water early so leaves dry before night.
  • Clear carrot tops and debris from the bed after harvest.

Organic options

  • Pull off the worst leaves as soon as spots appear.
  • A copper fungicide can protect new leaves. Look for OMRI Listed products.

Conventional options

  • Chlorothalonil, if carrots are on the label, started at the first spots.

Bee caution: Don't spray open flowers. Spray in the late evening, when bees aren't flying.

Tomato roots swollen with root-knot nematode galls
Photo: Plant pests and diseases, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Root-knot nematodesPestNo spray helps

What you'll see: Plants are stunted and wilt in the heat. Roots have knobby swellings, and carrots may fork.

Prevent

  • Grow resistant varieties; look for N on the label.
  • Rotate susceptible crops, or move the garden.
  • Solarize the bed: clear plastic over moist, tilled soil for 6 weeks or more in summer.
  • Grow French marigolds as a cover in infested beds.

Organic options

  • Pull and remove roots after harvest.
  • Keep an infested bed bare and tilled through the summer.

Conventional options

  • None for home gardens; nematicides are for commercial applicators.

Read and follow the product label: it is the law. It sets the rate, the crops it is for, and the days between spraying and picking. Products registered vary by state; for organic growing, look for products allowed under the USDA National Organic Program (OMRI Listed). We name active ingredients, not brands or rates.

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Sources

Planting dates and growing facts checked against these university extension and USDA pages:

Growth-stage drawings: TallyTill.

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