Topic: Autumn King and Carrot fly

[vegmandan]

I remember reading somewhere that Autumn King is a good variety to grow if you want to leave your carrots in the ground longer as they never split ,and they have a fair bit of resistance to Carrot fly as well.

As I have grown Early Nantes for years which are really great early on but do tend to split badly once they get bigger I'm going to try Autumn King for a change.

Has anyone any experience as to their non splitting properties and also the apparent resistance,however slight, to the fly ?

Oh...and do they taste any good ? ;)

Cheers. :D

[kt.]

I am growing "Autumn King 2".  They are sown in an old fish box as it is about 18" deep.  This is my first year with this variety let alone a late - autumn winter one and they are doing well.  I sowed them late August to be ready for Christmas though they can be left in the ground and pulled when needed.  They seem to be doing well. 

http://www.thompson-morgan.com/seeds1/product/344/1.html

[tonybloke]

autumn king are one of the best, rarely splitting and a lovely sweet flavour. they can grow very large and have good germination rates. the fly resistance thing with these I'm less sure of, I keep my problems at bay by planting my early carrots undert fleece. My Autumn King don't get sown 'til july.(after the main carrot fly season) and they are usually sown between rows of main-crop onions, which possibly helps with fly detterent.  ;)

[shirlton]

We grow them under fleece just in case the fly gets in.   They are a lovely carrot and nice size too. Very nice deep colour too. we take them up as soon as the weather starts to get cold. I reckon they would be ok left in the ground for a while but it's a lot easier to dig them out of a sand box than a muddy plot

[jonny211]

My Autumn King don't get sown 'til july.(after the main carrot fly season) and they are usually sown between rows of main-crop onions, which possibly helps with fly detterent.  ;)

Hi Tony, I'd be interested in trying this myself as my allium/carrot bed for next year seems to be fully booked up already. How much space do you leave between your rows of onions to fit the carrots in?

Cheers.

Jon

[tonybloke]

this much![attachment=1] ;)

[tonybloke]

some images taken this a.m. of the same bed, 1st one from same position, showing carrots. [attachment=1]
a close-up of autumn king[attachment=2]
note the garlic coming through where the lettuces were last year along the side of the bed[attachment=3]
 This is one of my raised beds, it was heavily mulched last year through the winter, also applied comfrey leafmould as a mulch around the onions during the spring. I do put a lot of effort in to this bed, but get a lot of crop out! ;)

[misterroy]

buy some mesh, there's no such thing as carrot fly proof carrots.
I live in the fsaar nw of scotland and its quite mild, I had Autmn Kings in the ground up till april this year. The ones which had the shoulder exposed must have caught some frost and the top turned to mush. gonna cover the shoulders with soil this year. The ones in the shed in damp sand were ok, but nowhere near as tasty as the ones from the ground.

[tim]

Tony - you have the same problem as many this year - top soil washed away, exposing the roots to greening & slugs. If those were mine for keeping, I would hoe up.

Roy - mush is more likely to be damage rather than frost?

[cornykev]

Ive tried different types, interplanting with onions and fleecing,  the carrotfly always wins, until this year when I planted in big tubs with the rope handles that are used for storing toys and hey presto my first decent carrots.  ;D ;D ;D

[misterroy]

Tony - you have the same problem as many this year - top soil washed away, exposing the roots to greening & slugs. If those were mine for keeping, I would hoe up.

Roy - mush is more likely to be damage rather than frost?

there seemed to be a pattern, the higher carrots had a near liquid top, there were a lot of carrots, and many of the ones with exposed shoulders were mushy at the top. What would have damaged them, slugs? There did not seem to be much carrot missing, if any.

[kt.]

Ive tried different types, interplanting with onions and fleecing,  the carrotfly always wins, until this year when I planted in big tubs with the rope handles that are used for storing toys and hey presto my first decent carrots.  ;D ;D ;D

Same here. Had bumper crops of Early Nantes,  Valery and now the "Autumn King 2" are doing well.  I never got one carrot from sowing direct in the ground.

[tonybloke]

Tony - you have the same problem as many this year - top soil washed away, exposing the roots to greening & slugs. If those were mine for keeping, I would hoe up.

I brushed a bit of soil off to show the carrots, tim, the soil in this bed is very light, and yes i do hoe up the soil to over-winter. don't have much of a slug issue at all on my plot, every one else does, and uses pellets which attract them to their plots? I use a lot of seaweed on my plots, slugs don,t seem to like it at all!

[Sparkly]

Whilst having a nosey around the web I found this page:
http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/cultivation2.html

lots of useful info.

They seem to say that Autumn king suffer badly with carrot fly though?

[hopalong]

I tried sowing Nantes Frobund in August and they have been a complete and utter  failure. This thread suggests that Autumn King are at least reliable germinators.  Is that right?  Think I'll try them next year.

[bionear2]

I have grown autumn king for years, they are a reliable, well standing maincrop, but certainly not fly resistant. If you dont protect them they can be uneatable.
As for germination, after years of patchy results - I cracked it! Sow them in the usual shallow drills, but cover them with good compost instead of soil - this year I think every one came up(all varieties). Same advice applies to parsnips, which can also be a b****r to start.
Was also impressed with a late cropper called Belikumer, bought cheap from Aldi

[hopalong]

Useful tip about covering with compost rather than soil. Think I'll try sieving some of my home made compost rather than buying some.

[Kea]

Ive tried different types, interplanting with onions and fleecing,  the carrotfly always wins, until this year when I planted in big tubs with the rope handles that are used for storing toys and hey presto my first decent carrots.  ;D ;D ;D

I did that...big blue tub with rope handles...I've obviously got very smart carrot fly that fly higher!

I'll have to check the height.

[jonny211]

I've not had my usual carrrot fly fest this year and planted in the ground, the only different thing I did was to thin out in the evenings, then water the row and clear away all the thinnings. This gave me two unspoilt rows of early nantes which were sowed in april.

However a third row sowed in July got some fly damage.

Not quite sure what can be learned from this!?!?!

[Wicker]

After many years of hit and miss germination and battling with carrot fly we always cover with viromesh stretched over a frame from sowing right through harvesting.  In recent years we found the best germination came from broadcast sowing i.e. scattering (not in rows) and covering with riddled/sifted soil.  The bit of effort is well worth while and broadcasting certainly cuts down on thinning which in turns gives less access for the dreaded fly!.   It's routine now for us and it does seem to work.

Early Nantes and Autumn King are our choice too.