Last edited on October 14, 2026. View history
Carrot (Akaroa)
A variety of carrot
How to sow carrot (Akaroa): Direct Seed, thin to 3cm apart when seedlings are 8cm high
Sun requirement for carrot (Akaroa): Plant in Full Sun
A rare New Zealand heritage carrot, originally from Akaroa, so possibly came with the French settlers. It is a medium-size, deep orange to red carrot, with a tapering end and is juicy and sweet with excellent flavour, harder, denser flesh than modern super-sweet cultivars.
Planting Instructions: Direct scatter sow over 1sqm in spring. Cover with an old sheet or 70% shade cloth while germinating.
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Carrot (akaroa) facts
Lifespan
Crop cycle
Max altitude
Optimal light
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For carrot (Akaroa), the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 3°C and a shortest growing cycle of 40 days at its best temperature, about 660 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your carrot (Akaroa) will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
Growing carrot (Akaroa)s
- Dig the bed fine and stone free 1 week before sowing
- Keep the seed bed moist at sowing every week
- Thin the seedlings 3 weeks after sowing
- Weed between the rows 4 weeks after sowing every 2 weeks
- Start pulling young carrots at first harvest
- Lift the rest of the crop 8 weeks after first harvest
Plant carrot (Akaroa)s with
peter pepper
pineapple tomato
rainbow carrot
Bonnie Little Bing Compact Cherry Tomato
Video
Where carrot (Akaroa)s grow
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Who's planted carrot (Akaroa)s
- JamieG Garden
JamieG
Carrot (akaroa) harvests
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Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Daucus carota L.
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Rosidae Apiales Umbelliferae |
|---|---|
| Killing temperature | growth: 0 °C, rest: -1 °C |
| Life form | herb |
| Life span | biennial |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | medium (50-150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | medium, organic |
| Optimal soil fertility | moderate |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | long day (>14 hours) |
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