The elusive Dark Knight Carrot

I want to participate in Carrot Week 2013. I have planted some Kaleidoscope Carrots, but I want to go one step further and plant some Dark Knight Carrots. I understand they are an F1 hybrid, so I think that means you can't expect to get the same type of plant from any seeds that might result from the first planting.

All that aside, I have been trying to locate them (I'd love to give them a try). Here's the thing, I've only been able to find them on Amazon. You can see them here:

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Knight-Carrot-100-Seeds/dp/B001OK619Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1363102374&sr=8-1&keywords=dark+knight+carrotff

However, I am not about to spend $14.95 for a packet of seeds (I don't care how rare they are).

In my travels searching for an alternative to the Dark Knight Carrot, I came across the Purple Dragon Carrot. Seeds for this carrot are offered by Cooks. You can see them here:

http://www.cooksgarden.com/vegetables/carrot/carrot-purple-dragon-prod000121.html?_requestid=265203

I've heard that some folks have gotten Dark Knight Carrot seeds from eBay. I can't find any there right now. I've done a Google search, and that always leads me back to Amazon.

Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks all.

When you save the seeds from a hybrid and then plant all of them you should have half that appear like the original hybrid and a quarter that appear like each of the hybrids parents. That is if the hybrids were pollinating each other and not from yet another carrot variety. You can keep selecting for the ones that look like the original hybrid planted and eventually it will settle into an OP variety. I am told it takes 7 generations of inbreeding. The mutts are all edible anyways.

That might be a worthwhile project if seed is so high.

Try Johnny's they had them listed before,you do know these are really almost black so they won't look so good in your soups

http://vegetableplantsseedsbest.blogspot.com/2012/03/black-knight-carrot-100-seeds-first.html

I settled on Territorial's dark carrots:
http://www.territorialseed.com/product/12052

From what I found in my search for "true" black carrots, if that's what you're looking for, they are very hard to find here in the states and if you do get some they don't produce here very well at all.

Hello HillbillyBob. I appreciate the time you took to find the Dark Knight Carrot. I checked the link you listed, but, it leads right back to the 14.99 listing on Amazon. Sigh. Oh well. In any case, I do very much appreciate that you checked for me.

Turan. I did not know anything about seed harvesting with regard to a hybrid. Thanks for teaching me the facts. I like your idea. If I ever find some reasonably priced Dark Knights, I'll try what you suggested.

Also, Rooster... I looked at your link to Territorial's carrots. I like those and I might buy some. They are much more reasonably priced. Did not know true black carrots are such poor producers. Also very good to know.