Question
Hi, I have a few hundred of a carrot seed that I purchased from a seed company in PEI Canada, the seed (called HEALTHMASTER) is no longer available to buy. My only chance is to propogate my own, but I D'ont have a clue how to do it with carrot. I get my own seed on simpler plants like beans, peas & potatoes.
I currently have a small bed of this carrot growing.
Thank you in advance, any help would be appreciated.
Bill H

Answer
Hi Bill,
Thanx for your question.  I think Healthmaster is a Davers hybrid.  That means if you try to save seed, chances are the seed will not produce plants similar to the ones from which you collected the seed.  Thompson and Morgan and Vesey's carry the Healthmaster Carrot seeds.  Both companies have offices in the U.S. and you can buy the seeds via the Internet.  If you still want to save seeds, the carrot is a biennial so, it will spend the first year growing and then the next year it will flower and set seed.  If you can protect the carrots from freezing in the ground you can leave them out all winter, if not, dig up about 20 of them and place them in wet sand, keeping the sand wet and cold (not freezing) in the basement.  It must be cool, warmth will cause the tops to start growing again.  Anyway, they will go dormant until spring and then you can put them out and they will flower and bees and other insects will pollinate them.  Once the flowers have died (put a paper bag around the flowers so when the capsules burst and seed won't be lost on the ground.  If there are any Queen Anne's lace in the vicinity your seeds will be worthless because carrots willingly cros with Queen Anne's lace which is a close relative.  I hope this helps.
Tom