Topic: Fooling the carrot root fly - what are peoples experiences

[George the Pigman]

I was sowing my first row of carrots yesterday and it reminded me I must do something about preventing the carrot root fly from decimating my late carrots. What are peoples experiences of the various techniques suggested on the web?
A lot of people swear by Enviromesh but I noticed that the company that makes the original Enviromesh doesn't specifically claim it prevents insects like carrot root fly whilst a lot of its imitators do! They see it as primarily a weather/frost protector.

[Jeannine]

The fly doesn't fly very high less than 18 inches so I have never had a problem in my tall raised beds,  if you surround the area with a small barrier it works unless the area is very big. The fly apparently just glides over the surface of the soil and if it come to a barrier it turns away. I guess of it was a huge area it could come down again further on but in small patches it works. When I was in the UK I had a long cucumber frame that was about 30 inches high. I grew carrots in it and never had a problem either.

XX Jeannine

[Plot22]

Now where do I start on this subject. The 1st year on the allotment I was plagued with carrot fly so the following year I tied a barrier about 3' high and set Marigolds all the way round so far so good. As soon as you get any wind it blows the carrot fly over the top hence another ruined crop.
 Plan B I bought Veggiemesh to make a barrier the width of the allotment about 30" high . The problem with this barrier was that I had to lift the sides up to get at the crop . The result was better than Plan A but not perfect. I now use this barrier for my brussels.
Plan C  we went to town on this one . Bought Veggiemesh again but this time to make a 3'6" tall with plenty of spare fabric for the sides and ends. I can crawl into this net to set the carrots, weed and thin them and also to pick them. I get inside close the ends behind me and I do not get carrot fly using this method. Not cheap to set up with the extra long blue pipe that I need but I am in my 5th year with the same net.
Just a word of warning on the sides where I weight the barrier down I put a strip of plastic so that the weeds do not grow through otherwise the barrier will have holes in after the first season. Also I strap 3 rows of canes all the way down the blue pipes to make it more rigid. Me and my wife put it up last Sunday ( a 3 hour job) and I set 5 rows of carrots in there yesterday.

[Deb P]

Perhaps I'm just lucky, but I grow my carrots in a not very high raised bed in trenches which I earth up as they grow. Nil to very little damage in 10 years growing like this..

[johhnyco15]

this is how i do it  much the same as plot22 6 rows under this cover sown too weeks ago looked today and they are just peeping through hope this helps

[Vinlander]

I picked up someone else's idea in this forum and it's never let me down - it's growing carrots in builders' bags filled to 70+cm above the ground.

Maybe the airflow around solid cubes behaves differently from around open ones of mesh.

BTW some yellow carrots have a fraction of the fly damage (yellowstone is good - though I found an unnamed one in a mixed packet that was even better).

Purple carrots suffer twice as badly as orange ones, but I can still grow clean ones up in the bag.

I start the bags as compost heaps, then when they've settled I put a 20cm layer of rotted woodchip on top and sow in that. I can get a couple of years before I start again.

Cheers.

[BarriedaleNick]

It is rife on our site so virtually no one grows carrots anymore - just me and a couple of others.  I love home grown carrots and think that you get so much from a small area that it is worth the effort.

I use enviromesh - works fine but of course you will get gaps unless it is all weighed down so there is a little fly damage.  However we would be decimated without it. My oppo on our site uses a double layer of net curtains but completely covers them like the pic above and grows absolute monsters - all fly free!

[Tee Gee]

I have started growing my carrots in the greenhouse borders!

[laurieuk]

One thing you must remember is that if you use a barrier , carrot fly over winter during the winter in the soil (according to RHS so be carful if carrots have been grown in that area before. We now grow them in very large pots on the balcony as we have no garden  only an allotment where the badgers love carrots.

[Crystalmoon]

I have never attempted to grow carrots as the plots round here seem to be plagued with the fly & buying organic carrots is pretty cheap (I tend to grow things that are very expensive to buy organic in shops).
After reading this thread I think I may try to grow some in pots on a table I have at my allotment to see if height will be enough to deter the fly....don't think my arthritic knees will allow me to crawl into mesh tunnels 

[caroline7758]

I grow carrots in dustbins- not a huge harvest but no problems with the fly!

[Hector]

Not very attractive but works for us....growing in recycled insulation/poly boxes from cold food suppliers.

avoided carrot fly but made carrots right height for invader pony stretching neck over to steal them. At least his carrots were not adulterated by fly.