maggoty carrots

[Percy T]

hi all or should i say morning all

what on earth are you all doing awake this time of the night?

I have just finished cleaning a crop of carrots, not that it was worth it!! most of them were maggoty.

I lifted a crop of carrots on Sunday sorted out the ones that looked any good and got rid of about 1/4 as they looked maggoty.

Brought the good ones (joke) home left them till today to sort and low and behold 50% of these were no good.

What am I doing wrong? surely it cant be that hard to grow a crop of carrots?

[Bigmallly]

That'll be the dreaded Carrot Fly Percy, rumour has it that they don't fly above 2' high but I am not so sure. Play safe next year and put a fleece barrier around them if poss.

Carrot fly / Royal Horticultural Society

[Aberdeenplotter]

I tried the variety Resistafly this year as in 2011 I managed to shut the carrot fly inside my fleece cover instead of shutting it out. Waste of time and money. The whole crop is useless. Had to try it though. The 2ft rumour is nonsense by the way. I grow long carrots in barrels 4ft above ground level and if not covered, they suffer badly as well.

They say carrot fly is active in may with a second flush in august. With the seasons seemingly changing it's not safe to rely on that though so as the guys say, cover with fleece from day one. It can only help to dig the soil over well in the autumn to let the birds get at any eggs in the soil and dig it over again in the springtime before planting time. I'll be scorching the soil with a flamegun as well next time.

My show carrots which are under environmesh are absolutely fine

[Paulottie]

Try 'enviromesh'.... bit more expensive than fleece but lasts years. Use hoops to keep it off young carrot and keep edges tight down...doesn't matter to crop if older carrot foliage is squashed...even flat

[WendyC]

Finally after 8 or 9 years with a plot I have grown decent carrots. Tried putting enviromesh fence for a few years but as said previously it doesn't work. Now I sow into a link a bord raised bed with a enviromesh hoop tunnel over from day one, secured all round the edges with bull dog clips. Only briefly uncovered for weeding, watering, harvesting and showing off!

[Pinfold Plotter]

You can also try interplanting with onions and garlic. This supposedly disguises the smell. Also, don't thin out in the middle of the day or when there is a breeze to carry the smell.

[rpt]

I grew my row of carrots next to a row of spring onions and the carrots are fine. Not a scientific double-blind controlled peer reviewed experiment but I'm going to do the same next year. Slugs did get a few though. Considering the seeds were about 5 years old I'm very pleased.

[Percy T]

Thanks guys

I did try to grow under netting, I have got a chap helping me this year and he is portugese and didnt seem to understand when I told him the carrots had to stay under the netting.

Oh well there is always next year

[veggiechicken]

You say what, Meester Fawlty?

[Aberdeenplotter]

You can also try interplanting with onions and garlic. This supposedly disguises the smell. Also, don't thin out in the middle of the day or when there is a breeze to carry the smell.

One of my fellow plotters sprinkles Asda garlic salt between the rows as well as using fleece. He pulled a carrot this morning to show off. Swine that he is.

[piskieinboots]

Carrots I can do - I never seem to get hit by carrot-fly
(*touching wood)

I sow a row of spring onions around some of the carrots and leeks around others - both lots are clean as a clean-carrot-fly-free-thing.

I've never meshed them - not sure if it's just luck for me?