According to almanac tradition, carrots are a root crop, and root crops go in during the third quarter of the Moon, from full moon to last quarter, on days when the Moon sits in a fruitful or semi-fruitful sign. Gardeners who follow planting by the moon will find the traditional days for March through August 2027 in the table below. No effect of the Moon on carrots has been proven, and your state’s calendar always comes first.
What the tradition says about planting carrots
The almanac rule starts with the Moon’s phase cycle, which lasts 29.53 days. Tradition cuts that cycle into four quarters and assigns each one a kind of garden work. Carrots fall under “root crops, bulbs and perennials,” which the almanacs place in the third quarter, the stretch between full moon and last quarter. Because the cycle repeats, a third-quarter stretch comes around once every lunar month.
| Crop type in the almanac rule | Quarter | Phase span | Carrots |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leafy crops that bear above ground (lettuce, spinach, cabbage, broccoli, celery) | First quarter | New moon to first quarter | |
| Above-ground crops that bear seed inside the fruit (tomatoes, peppers, beans, squash, corn) | Second quarter | First quarter to full moon | |
| Root crops, bulbs, perennials (potatoes, carrots, garlic, onions, beets) | Third quarter | Full moon to last quarter | This row |
The fourth quarter, from last quarter to new moon, is the almanac’s rest period. Tradition saves it for weeding, pruning, turning the soil and composting, not for sowing.
A second filter sits on top of the quarter. Many moon-sign almanacs sort the twelve zodiac signs into classes. This convention labels Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces fruitful. It labels Taurus, Libra and Capricorn semi-fruitful. Aries, Gemini, Leo, Virgo, Sagittarius and Aquarius are labeled barren, though sources differ on Virgo, Sagittarius and Aquarius. A traditional carrot day, then, is a third-quarter day when the Moon is in a fruitful or semi-fruitful sign.
The astronomy gives no support for a physical effect. The Moon’s tidal pull at the Earth’s surface is about 1.1 millionths of a meter per second squared at its strongest, roughly one ten-millionth of gravity. That is far too small to move anything as small as a seed or a root. No effect of the Moon’s phase or sign on germination or yield has been established for carrots or any other crop, so the calendar below is a record of a custom and nothing more.
Traditional carrots planting days, 2026 and 2027
The table lists every month with traditional carrot days in the range this page covers. All the rows fall in 2027. Each entry combines the third-quarter rule with a fruitful or semi-fruitful sign, and all times follow Eastern time (ET).
| Month | Traditional days (Moon sign) |
|---|---|
| March 2027 | March 22-26 (Moon in Libra/Scorpio), March 29 (Moon in Capricorn) |
| April 2027 | April 21-22 (Moon in Scorpio), April 25-27 (Moon in Capricorn) |
| May 2027 | May 23-24 (Moon in Capricorn) |
| June 2027 | June 19-21 (Moon in Capricorn), June 24-26 (Moon in Pisces) |
| July 2027 | July 18 (Moon in Capricorn), July 21-23 (Moon in Pisces), July 26 (Moon in Taurus) |
| August 2027 | August 18-19 (Moon in Pisces), August 23-24 (Moon in Taurus) |
The months shown are those when gardeners in much of the country plant carrots. Your state may start earlier or later, so only the rows that fall inside your state’s own window count for you. A row outside that window is just a date on a chart.
Reading the rows
Days are read at noon ET, and the Moon changes sign during the day. Treat the first and last day of each run as soft edges. In March, for example, the run of March 22-26 carries two signs, Libra and Scorpio, because the Moon crosses from one to the other inside that run.
The signs in the table carry these labels in the almanac convention:
- Fruitful: Scorpio and Pisces
- Semi-fruitful: Libra, Capricorn and Taurus
Some runs are split in two within a month, such as April 21-22 and April 25-27. The break comes from the sign filter. Between the two runs the Moon is in a sign this convention labels barren, so those days drop out even though the quarter rule would still apply.
Check your state first: when to plant carrots where you live
The order of decisions matters. Start with your state’s planting calendar for carrots, because that is what tells you whether the ground is ready at all. Then, if you like the custom, look at the Moon and pick among the days your state already allows. Reversing that order is how a traditional day ends up pulling someone toward a sowing date their climate has not reached yet.
Frost dates and soil temperature decide whether a crop can go in the ground. The Moon, if you follow it, only chooses among days that are already open to you. It never overrides the calendar of the place.
For the local side, the page on when to plant carrots where you live covers carrot sowing dates and the conditions behind them. If you want your own state, the state guides collect the planting calendars in one place. Ohio gardeners can go straight to the Ohio planting calendar for carrots, which is one example of how a state page lays out its window.
Once you have your state’s window, hold it up against the table above. Keep only the traditional rows that sit inside it. If your window starts in the middle of a month, the early days of that row are out. If it closes before a later month, ignore everything after the closing date. What remains is a short list of traditional days, and nothing says you must use one. Plenty of gardeners sow on the day that suits their schedule and the weather, and nothing on this page claims they do worse.
The sign details in the table belong to a convention that varies from almanac to almanac, so treat them as one reading of an old custom. If you follow another almanac, its list of fruitful and barren signs may differ on a few signs, and its days may shift by a day or two.
A fair way to try it
Nothing on this page can tell you whether the custom matters for your garden. A home gardener can only judge it on their own plot, and a simple side-by-side comparison is the fairest way to do it.
- Pick a week inside your state’s carrot window that includes at least one traditional day from the table.
- Split the planting in two. Sow half the seed on a traditional day and the other half on an ordinary day inside the same week. Use the same variety, the same bed or matching beds, and the same row length.
- Label both halves with stakes or tags that show the sowing date and which group they belong to, either “tradition day” or “ordinary day.”
- Keep notes. Write down the date you first see seedlings in each half, the date of harvest, and how many roots you pulled and how they looked.
- Repeat in later plantings and later years, adding each result to the same notebook.
A single season will not settle anything. Weather, soil, pests and watering shift from year to year and from bed to bed, and one pair of rows cannot separate those from a Moon effect. Several seasons of notes will give you a better picture, though even then it is a picture of your own garden and not a general rule.
If your two halves end up looking identical, that is a perfectly useful result. It tells you the custom is optional for you and lets you plant whenever your state’s calendar and your schedule allow.
Questions about planting carrots by the moon
Does the tradition say to plant carrots in a waxing or a waning moon?
Almanac tradition puts root crops in the third quarter, which runs from full moon to last quarter. That stretch belongs to the waning half of the cycle, when the visible Moon is shrinking. You can read more about the broader custom on the page about planting in a waning moon. The waxing half, from new moon to full moon, is where the almanac places leafy and fruit-bearing crops instead.
What if a traditional day falls on a frost?
The tradition itself offers no ruling, and the Moon never overrides your state’s calendar. If a traditional day lands at a time your state’s planting guidance says to wait, skip it. Take the next traditional day inside your window, or plant on an ordinary day. Your state page, linked in the section above, owns the question of when the ground is ready.
Do I need to follow the Moon sign as well?
Not every almanac asks for it. The oldest and simplest form of the rule uses the quarter alone. Many moon-sign almanacs add the second filter, and the table on this page applies it, which is why some third-quarter days do not appear. Biodynamic calendars in the Maria Thun tradition use a different system, grouping signs into root, flower, leaf and fruit days. Their root days are Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn. That is a separate convention from the fruitful and barren labels used here, so pick one system and stay with it through your trial.