Paano Magtanim ng Carrots: How to Plant Carrot the Traditional Way
Paano magtanim ng carrots? Here is how traditional Filipino farmers usually plant karot (carrot), step by step from getting the field ready to the harvest, with the day of each step and what to change for a higher yield.
This guide shows how traditional farmers usually plant karot. Use it as a starting point. For a higher yield, update it: plant certified seed or clean planting material, test your soil, and follow the right spacing and fertilizer.
How Filipino farmers usually grow carrots, sown straight on raised beds in the highlands all year and in the lowlands only in the cool months, up to the harvest two to three months later. For highland vegetable growers and lowland farmers trying a cool season crop, with the changes that give straight, smooth roots.
Before you plant, get the field ready with our land preparation guide for root crops. Then choose your seed or planting material with the karot varieties sold here. If the leaves turn pale later on, the karot nutrient deficiency guide helps you find what is missing.
When to plant karot
In the highlands, such as Benguet, Mountain Province, Ifugao, Nueva Vizcaya and Bukidnon, carrots are sown all year. In low and mid elevations they are sown only in the coolest months, from about the last week of October to February. In hot weather the roots turn pale, woody and misshapen.
What you plant
Seed, about 6 to 8 kg a hectare, sown straight on the bed. Most varieties grown here are short, thick Kuroda types. Growers in the lowlands pick strains that take some heat.
Paano magtanim ng carrots, step by step
The crop is ready about 90 days after sowing.
Before planting (Bago magtanim)
21 days before sowing: Plow and harrow until fine
Plow and harrow several times until the soil is fine and free of clods and stones, because lumps make forked, crooked roots.
7 days before sowing: Raise the beds and mix in manure
Make beds about 20 cm high and 70 to 80 cm wide with 30 cm paths. Work rotted chicken dung and complete fertilizer into the bed about a week before sowing.
Planting day (Pagtatanim)
Sowing day: Sow in shallow furrows
Spread the seed evenly along shallow furrows on the bed and cover with fine soil, no more than about 2 cm. Water the beds and lay rice straw over them. Tip: Seedlings take up to two weeks to come up, so keep the bed moist the whole time.
Care while it grows (Pag aalaga)
Day 3: Water every few days
Carrots need steady moisture in the first month. Water every five to seven days, or more often in dry spells, and keep it even so the roots do not crack or fork.
Day 14: Move the mulch to the rows
Once the seedlings are up, lift the straw off the rows and lay it between them to hold moisture and keep weeds down.
Day 30: Weed and thin
Pull the weeds and thin the seedlings so the plants stand about 10 cm apart.
Day 31: Side dress and hill up
Right after thinning, put the rest of the fertilizer along the rows and cover it as you pull soil up over the shoulders of the roots, which keeps them from turning green.
Day 40: Scout the beds
Look for cutworms and mole crickets at the base, aphids and armyworms on the leaves, and leaf blight spots. Remove rotting roots.
Day 75: Second weeding and hilling up
About 45 days after the first, weed again and hill up the rows.
Day 90: Trim, wash and sort
Cut the tops 5 to 8 cm above the shoulder, wash and air dry the roots, and sort out cracked, forked and broken ones before packing. Bring them out of the sun right away.
Harvest (Anihan)
Day 90: Pull the roots
Two to three months after sowing, once the lower leaves start to yellow and the roots have reached market size, push a spading fork in beside the row to free the soil, then lift the carrots out gently.
Watering karot, stage by stage
Carrots are watered by sprinkler, hose or furrow about every five to seven days, more in dry weather, with the most care in the first month while the seed comes up. Growers lay rice straw over the sown beds to keep them moist and move it between the rows once the seedlings are up. Sprinklers or hoses fed from springs in the highlands, and furrows or watering cans in the lowlands. Water in the morning.
The first month: sowing to young seedlings needs steady moisture. Root growth: even watering, because swings from dry to wet crack and fork the roots.
| Stage | When | How often | How much |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sowing to coming up | Sowing day to day 14 | Water the beds right after sowing and laying the straw, then lightly every day or two so the top soil never dries | A fine spray through the straw, enough to keep the top soil damp |
| Young seedlings | Day 14 to 30 | Water about every five to seven days, more often in dry spells, after moving the straw between the rows | Even waterings that wet the bed to the roots |
| Roots growing | Day 30 to 80 | Keep to the five to seven day schedule. Water after the side dressing | The same even amount each time, never a long dry spell followed by a soaking |
| Before pulling | Day 80 to 90 | Water less in the last days. Give a light watering the day before pulling if the soil is hard | Light |
Without irrigation. Highland carrots sown in the rainy months live mostly on the rain on raised beds. In the dry months they need a sprinkler, hose or furrow. Without one, sow in the cool months near a water source and keep straw over the beds and between the rows.
In the dry season. Water every five to seven days, or more often in dry, windy spells and on sandy soil, keeping the amount even each time. Water when the top soil under the straw is dry a finger deep.
In the rainy season. Sow on raised beds that drain and skip watering in rainy weeks. Soaked beds rot the seed and the young roots, and roots sitting in wet soil split and rot.
- Too little water: Seedlings come up patchy, leaves wilt in the heat, and the roots turn thin, woody, pale or cracked.
- Too much water: Seedlings rot at the base, leaves yellow, and the roots split, fork or rot.
To water better for a higher yield: Keep the watering the same every few days instead of letting the beds dry out. It cuts cracked and forked roots. Lay rice straw over the sown beds and later between the rows to hold moisture and save water.
Spacing, water and fertilizer for karot
Spacing
Raised beds about 70 to 80 cm wide and 20 cm high with 30 cm paths. Seed sown in shallow furrows on the bed and thinned to about 10 cm between plants.
Water
Watered by sprinkler, hose or furrow every five to seven days, more in dry weather. The first 30 days need the most care. Uneven watering makes roots crack and fork.
Fertilizer
Highland growers rely on rotted chicken dung, about 3 to 5 tons a hectare, with 3 to 5 bags of complete fertilizer worked into the beds a week before sowing. The rest of the nitrogen and potash goes on at about 30 days, after thinning, and is covered during hilling up. To read what a bag really gives, see our guide to fertilizer for this crop.
Care and harvest
Care while it grows
Straw mulch at sowing, moved between rows after the seedlings come up, thinning to about 10 cm at a month, side dressing and hilling up after thinning, and a second weeding and hilling up about 45 days later.
When and how to harvest
Most carrots are pulled two to three months after sowing, when the lower leaves yellow and the roots reach market size. Roots are loosened with a fork, pulled, topped, washed, air dried and sorted, and moved to the shade or packing house quickly.
Common mistakes when planting karot
- Sowing on cloddy or stony soil, which gives forked and crooked roots.
- Fresh, unrotted manure in the beds, which also causes forking.
- Skipping the thinning, so the roots stay thin and twisted.
- Watering unevenly, dry then soaked, so the roots split.
- Sowing in the hot months in the lowlands.
How to get a higher yield of karot
The traditional way gets a crop, but small changes add up. These are the first things to change, one season at a time.
- Use fresh seed of a variety suited to your elevation and season.
- Prepare deep, fine, raised beds and use only well rotted manure.
- Test the soil and give potash enough, since carrots need more of it than most leafy crops.
- Thin on time and keep the moisture even, with mulch between rows.
- Rotate with corn or other crops outside the carrot family to keep root knot nematodes down.
- Harvest on time and keep roots cool and shaded after digging.
anee.io helps with each of these. The NPK Plus calculator checks that your fertilizer plan feeds the yield you want, the pest and disease finders tell you what is on the leaves before you spray, and Anee, the smart farm technician answers your questions in Tagalog or English.
Members open this guide in the How to Plant tool and send every step to the Protocol Builder in one tap, each on its own day. There you can change the seed, the spacing and the fertilizer, then turn it into a cropping calendar for your lots.
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Start freeQuestions about planting karot
Paano magtanim ng carrots?
When do farmers plant karot in the Philippines?
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What do you plant to grow karot?
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