QUESTION: Can you grow a carrot from a carrot? Is it possible to grow carrots from my kitchen scraps? -Teddy W.
ANSWER: If you have a whole carrot in your kitchen that’s starting to grow new leaves and you don’t plan to use it just yet, you can go ahead and plant the carrot so it can keep growing while it waits for you to be ready to put it to use. You can also grow a carrot from the sprouting top left over as scraps when you’ve consumed a carrot.
To plant a whole carrot so you can use it farther down the line, find a spot in your garden for it where it will get six to eight hours of direct sunlight each day. For best results, the soil where you plant your carrot should have been amended with four inches of organic compost worked into the top eight inches of soil. If compost is not available, you can use fertilizer as a substitute.
Plant your carrot with the pointed end down so that the sprouting leaves are above the level of the soil. Provide your carrot with at least one inch of water per week, taking rainfall into account. If the weather is extremely hot or dry where you live, your carrot may need more water than that—just keep an eye on the condition of the greens for a window into the carrot’s hydration level. If you’re planting more than one carrot, space them six to eight inches apart.
To plant just the sprouting top of a carrot from your kitchen scraps, make sure to reserve a slice off the top for the leaves to sprout from. This piece will eventually grow into a carrot. Place the top slice into a container of water, and find a sunny spot for it like a south-facing window. You will notice sprouts of green foliage beginning to appear as quickly as a couple of days.
Keep the carrot indoors until it’s large enough to transplant outdoors into your garden. Your plant will need to be introduced to the outdoor climate and direct sun gradually in a process called hardening off. You can read about how to do it in our article Hardening Off Plants: Common Reader Questions and Answers.
In this article, it was stated in the first paragraph of the answer that:
“You can also grow a carrot from the sprouting top left over as scraps when you’ve consumed a carrot.”
The fourth paragraph reaffirms the statement above:
“To plant just the sprouting top of a carrot from your kitchen scraps, make sure to reserve a slice off the top for the leaves to sprout from. This piece will eventually grow into a carrot.”
Unfortunately, these statements conflict with the answer given in:
https://www.gardeningchannel.com/carrots-regrown-from-tops/
as well as in other sources online.
I noticed the same!
I’ve started cutting the tops from all my carrots and many grow. So far I’ve moved some to an outdoor pot and they’re doing great.
I pulled one out to examine the roots and it was pushing out a thin root maybe a couple inches long. I don’t know whether that’ll mature into a carrot, but I’ll keep the experiment going and may use root hormone powder (indole-3-butyric acid) or try some alternatives (I’ve seen bananas, cinnamon, and honey suggested but I don’t know how well they work).
If these don’t grow into new carrots, perhaps the plants will reproduce.
Can carrot tops produce seeds after they bloom when they are grown into plants
Yes they will produce seeds, carrots seed in the second year, however I have never seen a new carrot grow.
I have a few real small carrots that were in a bag bought at the store.. They have the tops starting to grow and also regrowing the roots too… (Little white hairs (lol) all over the carrot) .. Will they do well replanting them….?
I believe that they will. Plenty of sun and neither too much nor too little nutrients and water (watch the leaves for visual feedback). It sounds like they “want” to grow and will flourish.
You may want to ensure space for any seed they release.
hmmm very nice and helpful. Thank you
This was a very efficient website and i very much appreciate the effort put into this site, this was very helpful for my first time in my green thumb life.
Will the stump grow into a carrot again after planted in soil? I would only attempt this if planting a carrot stump actually grows a new carrot, never heard of the greens being what people want from a carrot.