Topic: protection against carrot root fly

[hopeful vegigrower]

From what stage do you need to protect against carrot root fly?  Do you need to do it right from when you sow the seed, or will it do at a later stage?   

[manicscousers]

we cover when we sow, just a bit of fleece to start, then it goes over hoops as they grow   :)

[Mr Smith]

Between my carrot rows  I've have planted Chives which I planted when I put the carrot seeds in, I'm very organic sometimes when I want to be, :)

[little pud]

I cover mine with fleece from the go

[shirlton]

Me too. I don't take any chances

[hopeful vegigrower]

Thanks all.  I'll do it from the off with my next sowing.  ::)

[Tee Gee]

On reading this thread and others within the recent past on the same subject, it has set me thinking.

In this thread it is said;  I cover mine with fleece from the go is this a good thing or bad?

Why I ask is; It is a known fact that the grubs overwinter in the soil meaning that when they mature into flies in spring! are they not trapped under the fleece cover.  ???

Is this why we read/hear of people having carrot fly problems despite covering with fleece from the outset?

Similarly it has been said; I've have planted Chives obviously the plan here is; the smell of the chives will deter the fly.

Then there is the experiment on a similar vein that I am going to try this year, and that is; I plan to water the drill with an Armillatox mixture prior to sowing.

My plan is; to leave 'my scent' shall we say? like some animals do to ward of intruders from their territory, in the hope that I will ward off the fly

So c'mon everyone what is your view on 'carrot fly deterrants'?

Lets have a good debate on this one!  TG

[grannyjanny]

What rate of dilution will you be using for that experiment Tee Gee? How soon will you have any results?
Janet

[Bjerreby]

Lets have a good debate on this one!  TG

I'd like to join in Tee Gee...............but I can't get carrots to grow at all.  :-\

[gardentg44]

Just may be lucky with the fly this year,

managed to get my hands on some( BROMOPHOS)

Have to use it sparingly though :o :o

[davyw1]

Lets have a good debate on this one!  TG

I'd like to join in Tee Gee...............but I can't get carrots to grow at all.  :-\

What do you mean ? you can,t get them to germinate or they germinate then don,t grow on.

[shirlton]

Tee Gee. I have some armillatox. Please explain to me exactly what you do and I will put my Autumn King in using it. Don't forget that I am using your spent compo method as well. So when do I use the armillatox before or after the filling of the trench and do I have to leave it for a while before I sow. Sorry to be so demanding ;D

[raisedbedted]

I'm sure that armillatox would prove effective against the carrot fly.  With all those tar acids in armillatox I wouldn't touch them either.

Jeyes is another (Tra Acid) favourite on our site - the older boys drench their soil in jeyes before putting the carrot seeds in.

I tried armillatox as a deterrent for white rot, the smell of it instantly dissuaded me from its 'organic' acceptability and I refused to grow anything edible there for a couple of seaons.

[Mr Smith]

The reason I have planted Chives with my carrots  is I like to listen to people that have had success with doing this, :)

[lewic]

I've covered mine with a Lidl mosquito net.. no idea whether it will work or not. Have been warned that carrots never grow on our site though, so it might be a waste of time anyhow.

Saw a supposedly fly-resistant variety called Fly Away, anyone tried these? Did wonder if they were particularly tasteless thus less attractive to pests!

[davyw1]

The carrot fly has given a lot of people a lot of grief over the years. Some will say it does not fly over 18", rubbish.
First have a look at where you are going to grow your carrots. The fly hides in scrub, bramble and any other bush that grows in or near your garden, so growing any where near that should be avoided.
There is no point in putting up netting if you have had carrot fly in that place previously because it will still be there in the soil waiting for you to plant.
Some of the growers i know and including myself came to the conclusion that Jeys Fluid is no longer affective against the fly so now at the end of the season we sterilise with bleach ( GASP i HEAR ) two capfuls to a gallon of water. No i am not worried because by the time it comes back round to planting the bleach will have been flushed through the soil and gone.
Like TEE GEE i have considered using Armillatox but my prefer ed method would be to water it in a couple of weeks prior to planting hoping it will kill off any thing left in the soil that the bleach did not get.

[Tee Gee]

Thanks for the response and as I thought it is quite a varied response.

A number of questions have been asked which I will give MY opinion on.

Note; Anyone who disagrees with me please respond in the usual manner, after all it is a 'debate'

What rate of dilution will you be using for that experiment Tee Gee?
How soon will you have any results?

It will be as the manufacturers recommendation.

The beauty of the armilatox bottle is; it comes with its very own measuring container.

Can't remember what the details are but I fill the gauge to the top mark and add 2 galls of water to it.

I won't know the results until I harvest the carrots .......assuming I get a harvest ::) ;D

managed to get my hands on some( BROMOPHOS)

Have to use it sparingly though

Try this for economy; put a drop of Bromophos in the foil pack, I found that half filling the foil packet was sufficient. Shake the foil packet to mix bromophos and carrot seed together then sow the seed/bromophos in the normal manner (see slide show below)

I am using your spent compo method as well. So when do I use the armillatox before or after the filling of the trench and do I have to leave it for a while before I sow.

Ok prepare your 'Vee' trench as previously instructed then form a drill in the top of this i.e. as you would in normal soil (see slide show).

Soak the drill with the armillatox mix then sow seeds again as shown in the slide show.

Note; OK the seeds shown in the slide show are lettuce seed but the same principle applies to any other type of seed including carrots.

http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Data/Seed%20sowing%20outdoors/Seed%20sowing-%20outdoors/seed%20sowing-%20outdoors.html

[shirlton]

Thanks Tee Gee. I'm going to try some with the spent compo and armillatox and some with just the spent compo. We have rotated our crops over thepast 3 years since we got the plot and before that it hadn't been worked for approx10 years. So the carrot fly hasn't reall had time to get established. I am still going to cover both lots just in case. Think I might just sow a few up a corner just using the Armillatox without netting for experimental purposes.

[davyw1]

I do much the same as TEE GEE except i don,t put my seeds directly onto the soil.

First i make my drills

[attachment=1]

water it then add a layer of compost and then water that

[attachment=2]

I then add my seeds and water them in

[attachment=3]

finaly cover them with anther layer of compost and water that

[attachment=4]

[Kepouros]

Tee Gee is  quite correct in his proposals.  Many years ago I carried out experiments on defeating carrot fly - the results were in fact posted on the oldBBC Gardening Board several years ago.  The main conclusions were that once the seed have germinated there is no period of more than about 2 weeks during the summer when carrot fly are not active, and that cover from sowing is vital, and also that there was still some damage from carrot fly which could not possibly have penetrated the cover.

When I repeated the experiment I first soaked the carrot bed (4ft wide, with the carrots sown in  rows across) and a surrounding border 1 ft wide with cheap coffee mixed at drinking strength to shift all the slugs, then a week later with Armillatox at the same concentration as the instructions recommended for Club Root a full 6 weeks before I intended sowing (this 6 week period was actually quoted in the Armillatox instructions at the time - I don`t know whether it still is, but it is also necessary because of the coffee).

The bed was covered immediately after sowing and remained covered throughout, and there was no fly damage whatever.

For those with slug problems, the border around the carrot bed should be re-treated with the coffee about every 6 weeks, and this will stop slugs repopulating the bed.  However, no coffee should be applied to the crop itself until it is fully mature, or severe chlorosis will probably result.  With maincrop (Autumn King type) coffee can be applied direct to the crop from late September onwards when growth has ceased and this will provide slug protection for those left in the ground