Last edited on 2 Nov 2026. View history
Whanganui Giant Carrot
A variety of carrot
How to sow Whanganui giant carrot: Direct Seed, thin to 3cm apart when seedlings are 8cm high
Sun requirement for Whanganui giant carrot: Plant in Full Sun
A New Zealand heirloom carrot from Whanganui, thought to have been lost here until the grower found it again in an Australian seed curators' catalogue. The roots are large, long, tapered and orange, and excellent cooked.
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Whanganui giant carrot 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 Whanganui giant carrot, 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 Whanganui giant carrot 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 Whanganui giant carrots
- 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 Whanganui giant carrots with
peter pepper
pineapple tomato
rainbow carrot
Bonnie Little Bing Compact Cherry Tomato
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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) |
Learn more about Whanganui giant carrots
Resources outside Growstuff.
