Carrots in Michigan

Carrots are grown in Michigan for processing and fresh market use. They are primarily grown in deep, well-drained muck and mineral soils. Carrots are extremely sensitive to environmental conditions such as heat, soil compaction, and particularly water stress and saturation. Michigan farmers often intercrop carrots with rye and barley to protect the young seedlings from wind damage, and rotate with lettuce and onions.

Carrots are a cool season crop; young seedlings can withstand mild frosts, but can be significantly damaged by high temperatures. Thus, planting usually begins in mid-April to mid-June and is often scheduled to allow for continuous harvesting. The plants then take approximately 120 to 180 days to mature.

Fresh market carrots are harvested from late July through September or October, while processing carrots are harvested from early October through late November. Carrots are mechanically harvested in Michigan. The roots are undercut and then they are lifted out of the soil by grasping the leaves. If foliar diseases are left uncontrolled it is difficult to harvest the carrots because the foliage is too weak to lift the carrots out of the ground.

Healthy leaves are important for effective harvesting. Weeds and foliar diseases can interfere with harvesting. Carrots are loaded onto machinery, washed, cooled and packaged, then placed in storage. Great care is taken with post-harvest handling to ensure good quality. Carrots are the second highest volume fresh market vegetable grown in Michigan.

History of Carrots

The root vegetables we know today as carrots originated 3,000 years ago in Middle Asia in the area of Afghanistan, and slowly spread into the Mediterranean area. The first carrots were white, purple and yellow – not orange. The Dutch developed orange carrots in the 1600s. All modern day carrots are directly descended from Dutch-bred carrots. Early Colonial Americans grew carrots. Thomas Jefferson raised several types of carrots in his Monticello garden. Carrots are easy and fun to grow.

The carrot is a biennial orange-colored plant, which produces an edible root. There are yellow-colored varieties, but the orange ones are the most common. Nowadays all carrots come from the Dutch orange-colored variety and their crop and consumption has extended worldwide.

Why are Carrots Orange?

Have you ever wondered what makes carrots orange? The plant pigment that gives carrots and other vegetables their vivid orange color is beta-carotene. Fruits and Vegetables that are yellow/orange in color contain beta-carotene and carrots are one of the vegetables richest in Beta-Carotene. Our bodies convert beta-carotene into Vitamin A.

One carrot supplies enough beta-carotene to meet our daily requirement for Vitamin A. In fact, one carrot has 220% of the Vitamin A we need every day! Carrots are also a source of fiber, potassium and Vitamin C.

How to Shop for Carrots

When shopping for carrots, look for those with orange-yellow color that are firm and have crisp, green tops. These tops should be trimmed when storing in a cool, dark and ventilated area to prevent the formation of chemical compounds which produce a bitter taste.

Nutritional Information

Also known as Daucus carota, the carrot is an herbaceous plant containing about 87% water, rich in mineral salts and vitamins (B, C, D, E). Its high level of beta-carotene is very important and gives it the distinctive orange color. It also contains, in smaller amounts, essential oils, carbohydrates and nitrogenous composites. Carrots are well known for their sweetening, antianaemic, healing, diuretic, remineralizing and sedative properties. 

Did you know that?

	Carrot cake gained its popularity by being served at America's county fairs in the 1960s?
	In the 1960s, Viola Schlicting, from Texas, created the first carrot cake from her German carrot-nut bread recipe? The first carrot cake had an orange glaze and used Texas pecans.
	In the Middle Ages, carrot juice was used to make butter a more appealing color?
	The first time carrots were used as a food instead of a decoration was in 12th Century Spain when they were eaten with oil, vinegar and salt?
	During some religious festivities, people eat carrots cut in rounds, like coins, to symbolize future prosperity?
	The Ancient Greeks called carrots "karoton"?
	The saying "dangling a carrot" as a way to get someone to do something, originates from the 1890s, when carrots were dangled in front of donkeys to get them to move?
	In Germany, a hot beverage was made from carrots which had been chopped into small pieces and roasted?

How to Grow Carrots in Your Backyard Garden

Carrots are very resistant to weather changes, and they are, therefore, very easy to grow at home.

Carrots require a very sandy soil, free of stones that may hamper their growth. This soil must also be very rich in nutrients, otherwise you will have to add fertilizers. It is particularly important that the root has enough potassium in order to grow properly. In spring, plant the seeds directly in the ground with a depth of 1.5 cm and a distance between rows of 40 centimeters. As soon as the plant is visible, you need to give it space to grow, so you may have to pull up the other plants that grow too near. In general, a distance of 8 centimeters should be enough. Water moderately during the whole season, trying not to form puddles around the area, and harvest when the plants have reached an appropriate size. The bigger carrots become, the less sweet they taste. In case of plague contact your usual seed provider, who will surely advise you on the best remedy for each illness and climate.

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