Carrots and Carrot fly

Thanos

Hi all,

2 years ago I first tried to grow some carrots and they did very well. So, I decided to grow them again last year.

However they did not do well at all, they seemed to all rot away. Now this could have been down to the amount of rain we were having as the roots were forming and begining to swell but I think it was also to do with carrot fly.

Any tips on protect carrots in a raised bed from carrot fly?
Does planting garlic beside them help?

winnie the poo

Hey,

Plant onions beside carrots. Carrots get carrot fly and onions get onion fly but both dont like the smell of the other crop. So that should work nicely.Maybe garlic works in a similar way i dunno, never tryed it before.

Also carrot fly's are usually very low to the ground so puting up a small barrier around your carrots should help, even one or one and a half foot would do, high enough so that it protects from carrot fly but not so high that it stops the sunlight getting in at your carrotts. click on the link below to get an idea of what im talking about. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/790/420327.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.dkimages.com/discover/DKIMAGES/Discover/Home/Gardening/Kitchen-Garden/Vegetables/Vegetable-Groups/Root-and-Tuberous/Carrot/Protecting-Against-Carrot-Fly/Protecting-Against-Carro-1.html&usg=__P6HQJDzbMFSX_UbY00rAhP869xM=&h=512&w=624&sz=68&hl=en&start=2&um=1&tbnid=kLItgY2O1CvlhM:&tbnh=112&tbnw=136&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcarrot%2Bfly%2Bbarrier%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7DAIE%26sa%3DN

hope that helps

Minder

I have also heard that carrot fly are low flying - so planting carrots in a raised bed prevents them from attacking the crop.

pops

I hear that carrot fly only attacks during the month of may so I planted my carrots in early june one year and I had the best crop ever. They were autumn carrots of some variety, but they did really well for me.

I also covered them with a horticultural fleece and this helps as well apparently as it prevents the fly getting the 'smell' of the carrot tops. You should never leave carrot thinnings nearby as this also attracts the carrot fly.

Aeneas

If there is carrot fly in your garden/area I think it's almost impossible to avoid some attack. But your carrots should not rot. Carrot fly - which is actually the maggot of the fly - attacks the carrots boring into them and creating a black mark or ring at the point of infestation. If the attack is not too bad I simply cut out the portion that is attacked and cook the rest. From my own experience I find that a combination of methods is necessary to reduce the effect of attack. I have raised beds but this in itself does not seem to deter the fly. And personally I am sceptical about claims of growing onions or garlic nearby to deter the fly. This is what I do: 1. I grow my carrots under fleece to prevent the fly landing and laying its eggs; 2. I grow resistant varieties like Resistafly or Flyaway; 3. in between these I grow a row or two of a non-resistant variety, eg Nantes, to attract the fly; 4. I am careful to dispose of thinnings quickly. In this way I generally get a good unmarked crop over the summer and autumn. But since I leave my roots in the ground over winter - I am still harvesting last year's crop - some level of infestation, even on resistant varieties is inevitable.