Topic: Carrot Root Fly

[David R]

Grew flyaway last year, uncovered, no garlic, nada - no fly either.

This year I am trying resistafly (wilko's) to see if its as good.

Apparently these carrots (the resistant types) lack an essential enzyme which the fly larvae require. You will still get the adult fly laying eggs, but as soon as the maggots hatch and start chomping, they run out of this enzyme and pop their clogs.

[Plottie]

One thing that puzzles me about the growing of carrots...........what do the carrot farmers do to avoid the dreaded fly?  They can't be covering up acres of fields with fleece or surrounding the fields with little bariiers can they?? ??? ???

Plottie

ps I've Nantes Early planted under fleece and looking fine so far, though i'm not sure I'd recognise a carrot fly  :-\

[tim]

Answer - they spray 5? times. Better than apples at 13 times?

[wardy]

Carrot farmer in Lincs sprays 7 times  :(

[diver]

I've planted my carrots in large containers which are sitting on top of my compost bin....this is made from 4 large pallets with a flat top and is about 3 ft off the ground....the carrot containers add another foot so I'm hoping I won't have carrot fly....but one of the old guys on the lottie told me today that carrot fly have wings and if they want your carrots they will fly up for them. I think I will fleece them just in case.

[redimp]

I will contact my organic box supplier (also Lincolnshire) and see how he does it.  Bet he doesn't spray 5-7 times.

[gavin]

For plottie - nope, no fleece.  Just spray, spray and spray again.  With some of the nastiest stuff around?

http://www.ruralni.gov.uk/crops/vegetables/technical_information/crfly.htm

Yuk - I don't buy carrots any more.  [edit]Ooops posts crossed - except organic ones![/edit]

All best - Gavin

[Wicker]

Gavin, hope this isn't nit-picking (or fly-picking!) but as that link is to an American site maybe better to mention that our 2  Fly periods are usually June and again in August (the link says earlier)  :-*

For me it's wooden frame, enviromesh, leaving covered start to finish  and little or no weeding/thinning ...........

[carrot-cruncher]

Last year I interplanted my carrots & 'snips with onions & leeks & had no problems with the blasted fly, something I plan on repeating this year, coupled with a fleece barrier

I'm also incorporating a suggestion from one of the old timers up the plot.   He takes toilet roll inners & cuts them in two then squashes them into an oval shape.   He then sows two seeds per inner, when the seedlings appear he then plants the whole lot in a trench in his plot.

He says the cardboard shell acts as a barrier against the fly & also removes the problem of thinning (& therefore wasting seeds).

CC

[westsussexlottie]

Apparently carrot fly can smell carrots from 4 miles away....

[Rox]

where do carrot fly come from? i was wondering if i would get them if i grew some carrots in a bucket in my yard (built up area with the sea 100 yars away) i don't know where they'd come from but i bet they would. like deep sea vent creatures probably.....

Hi Premtal,

do you crush the garlic as well, or only peel it? sounds like a great idea - may use it on other plants to kill-deter aphids?   

[PREMTAL]

Hi Rox,
           Leave them whole otherwise it will clog up the spray gun, the odour of the clove will transfer itself to the water very quickly. ( a sniff inside the bottle will be enough to convince you)

                                                 PREMTAL

[tim]

Interplanting can muck up your rotation?

[westsussexlottie]

So lets say I plant some parmex carrots in a tub of compost (no manure) in the garden and put it high up (on top of my tortoise house) - will they get carrot root fly?  Or other problems? Answers please!

[Vegemite]

errrm, just pulled up lots of baby carrots and i did have some carrot fly but only on two carrots! strange!

[cornykev]

I've got some eggs on the carrots Veg but the 30 or so carrots I've pulled so far are OK, I thought when I was reading through the posts I don't know some of these people then I realised it was 2005.  ;D ;D ;D

[Vegemite]

hi yup sorry I searched for carrot fly was really looking for my "carrot experiment" thread- where wise man tim told me I was encouraging carrot fly lol! the one Ipulled up I knew from on here had the carrot fly- apart from the obvious little grey flea looking things at the top of the root, the base of the green foilage was red and the root (carrot bit) itself  was a "size zero" (unlike me!) and pale.      important thing is all the lovely other ones i pulled up were smashing in a slowcooker with lamb shank and new nicola potatoes from the garden this morning.

BTW tim if you read this- the batch that had the two with carrot fly weren't they ones I thinned in my experiment... and.... the ones I replanted have taken and are growing well! madness! maybe my antipodean enthusiasm is having a strange effect on my veggies. 8)