Harvested

Celery plants start from seeds that are grown in plastic trays in a greenhouse. When the small celery plants are around six weeks old, the tops of the plant are trimmed.

Celery plants grow in the greenhouse for about 2 months. As celery continues to grow, its leaves and tops are trimmed 2 to 4 more times. This is done to allow the roots to develop and to prevent the top part of the plants from becoming too large.

When the plants are about 15 to 20 cm tall and have 3 to 6 leaves, they are ready to be transplanted to the field. In the field, they are planted in rows and spaced about 6 to 8 inches apart. This results in about 45,000 celery plants for every acre.

For the next 4 1/2 months the celery is given a steady supply of water and nutrients. During this time, celery plants need a lot of water. In fact, for every acre, it takes about 3 feet of water for proper growth. Can you imagine an entire acre covered with 3 feet, or 36 inches, of water? Now that's a lot of water.

Celery in California

Celery is an interesting plant because it likes to grow in cool regions and not in hot regions like so many other vegetables. In the United States, California grows celery along its cool coastline. More than 80% of all celery grown in California grows in Oxnard in Southern California and Salinas in Northern California. In the winter celery grows in Oxnard, and in the summer it grows in Salinas.

Celery is harvested year-round. In Oxnard, it's harvested from the beginning of December until the 4th of July. In Salinas, its harvested from the 4th of July to the beginning of December .

How Selery is Harvested

Before harvesting, celery is measured from the soil line up to the first node of the celery stalk. Celery is ready for harvesting when it is at least 10 inches long, and the stalks are tight and compact.

Celery is harvested by a combination of manual and machine labor. A team of 45 celery workers, including cutters, packers and loaders walk through the rows to harvest celery. The cutters lead the way, cutting celery at its base with a special knife and removing any loose ends.

Next, they trim off the tops and leaves of celery so the trimmings fall on the raised rows. The celery is then carefully placed on top of the fresh trimmings to avoid contact with the soil.

The packers follow behind the cutters to sort the celery according to size and pack it into the appropriately sized box.

Depending on the size of the celery, each cardboard box contains between 24 and 48 stalks.

When celery is packed, most stalks go directly into the card board boxes. Some stalks are put into individual plastic bags, also called sleeves, before they are put in the box.

Finally, the loaders pick up the boxes of celery and place them on a pallet located in the field. A tractor picks up the pallets and brings them to a truck for transportation to the cooler.