QUESTION: Can carrots be regrown from tops? Can I save my kitchen scraps to grow more carrots? -Tammy D.
ANSWER: Carrots, the root plant and orange vegetable, cannot be grown from planting just the top of the vegetable. But the carrot plant, or what is known as the carrot top, can be regrown from harvested carrot tops. Growing carrot tops from carrot tops is a common practice in children’s gardens, because it is incredibly easy to do and produces visible results in just a few short days.
Carrot tops make for attractive low-maintenance houseplants. Their fern-like foliage makes them an ornamental little plant in a flower garden and the carrot tops will eventually bloom, producing lacy white flowers. Your carrot top plant will not produce another carrot, but it will produce a pretty house plant that’s perfect for windowsills and indoor or outdoor container gardens.
There are three methods for growing carrots, all of which are easy and have a high success rate. One method is growing carrot tops in a small dish of water. Cut the carrot about one inch of the root top. Stick four toothpicks in each side of a carrot stump and use the toothpicks to balance the carrot stump at the top of a small glass.
Fill the glass up with water until the water is touching the bottom of the stump. Set the glass in a window that gets plenty of light, but not direct sunlight and keep the water level high so that the water stays filled up to the bottom of the stump. The roots will start sprouting out of the bottom of the carrot stump. At this point, the carrot stump can be moved into a container with soil to continue growing healthily.
Another easy method for growing carrot tops is to use marbles, water and a glass or ceramic pie plate. Fill the pie plate with a single layer of marbles. Place six or seven stumps on top of the marbles. Pour in water until it reaches the tops of the marbles and the bottoms of the carrot stumps. When they all begin to sprout up together in a single spot, they will make for an impressive sight.
You can also sprout carrot tops from using several layers of wet newspaper. Just lay the newspaper on the bottom of the plate after soaking it well and leave no standing water. Place the carrot tops on the top of the papers. In a few weeks, you will start to see the roots spreading and the tops start to sprout upwards. Keep the paper wet and once the plants develop roots, you can then move them into soil where they will continue to grow into small ornate plants.
Thanks
Good stuff. Thank you so much. I was hoping to actually regrow another carrot. Silly me. I still will figure a way to use the new tops, maybe a soup. I have never done this and any help would be much appreciated. I am a mechanic but still like plants and lately cooking better foods & dishes. Thank you again.
I don’t understand because I did grow a carrot by cutting the end off and sticking in my planted and I just harvested a carrot.
Please how can I get the plantable part of plant
You buy a carrot at the grocery store that still has the green tops attached.
I have recently found out planting a carrot will not produce more carrots but will produce a flower that is very pretty and when they dry out they have seeds, let them dry out on the plant and then you can take the seeds and produce more carrots this is new to me and I am trying it now so good luck..
If left in the garden , carrots will bloom the second year, and that is when they will go to seed.
Carrott top soup: about 6 carrots with tops—since most grocery stores remove the tops, I grow the “tops” for this soup, but still buy carrots in the store; 2 T unsalted butter; 2 large leeks, white part only; 2 T fresh thyme, 2 T fresh dill; 3 T white rice; 6 cups stock (chicken or vegetable, preferably unsalted); salt & pepper to taste.
pluck the carrot leaves off the stems (you’ll need 2 to 3 cups loosely packed); Finely chop carrots, carrot tops, leeks, thyme and dill. Melt the butter in a soup pot and add the vegetables and herbs. Cook several minutes, stirring a several times so it doesn’t stick, then season with 1-1/2 tsp salt. Add the rice and stock to the pot, then bring to a boil. Turn heat down and simmer 16 to 18 muutes. Taste for seasoning add additional salt of necessary and pepper to taste. Serve.
Actually, it will grow new carrots if you let it flower and collect the seeds. Thanks for the tutorial.
That’s what I was thinking! You have to think through the entire process. I am doing this with some varied colored carrots I bought at the apple orchard this fall!
If I cut the tops off of carrots growing in the garden will the carrots continue to grow?
Thanks for the tip?
I was told if you let the carrot top root then put them in dirt they will grow another carrot but not its saying no
Impossible