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.

[pipscariad]

I've got two rows of them in my plot at the moment, and I'm pleased with them. Did actually pull up two that had a tiny bit of carrot fly only yesterday, although they were the first. I'd been getting a bit blase about it, so they probably did it on purpose to shake me out of my complacency! They've grown very well, lovely looking carrots and so far they have coped really well with staying in the ground. Taste good too - not the sweetest I've grown, but perfectly acceptable and it was a good winters supply I was after, which they certainly provide.

Hope this helps!

[lynda66]

i've grown them too ........ i've had a couple of split ones ....... but due to the amount of rocks and crap soil ....... most of them have had some weird shapes ........ amused me no end ...... taste ok too, but then none of my other carrots are ready yet, so none to compare with ....... i pull them up as i need them and the others seem fine in the ground growing their larger protruberances

dunno about the carrot fly really ....... as no one grows veggies round here, and theres no commercial growing, so imagine theres not many around my area anyway ...... but they haven't had any problems.

[kitchengardner]

autumn king

Autumn king grow well and are pretty resistant to carrot fly (but still worth fleecing) but I find they taste a bit bland, especially if stored for a few days. Adonis F1 are also quite good & taste a lot better but are not great storers

Regards

Kitchen gardener

[Snadger]

Carrots usually just split if the water availability changes.....i.e. drought then flood.
I grow Autumn King carrots because the seed is cheap and they are reliable. Didn't know they had any carrot fly resistance tho............I keep mine under enviromesh for 52 weeks of the year and lift a few as I need them.

[Two_Sheds]

I've had a surprise ... I grew Resistafly, Chantenay, Purple Haze, Kinbi and Kuttinger this year.

The only one that had hardly any fly damage was the purple one ... maybe the fly can't see it? *

* I know, they detect carrots by smell. So how do you explain it then?
btw. Resistafly was particularly useless, see pic

[zazen999]

Both yellow and purple carrots seem to attract less carrot fly, even when grown as a mix all together. I think it's just less carroty smell.

[plantsbypost.com]

Is there anyone here growing their carrots in barrels above 1m high, or was this theory given the push a while back.

Neil

[kitchengardner]

carrots & barrels

Is there anyone here growing their carrots in barrels above 1m high, or was this theory given the push a while back.

Neil

I used to grow my carrots in a barrel and found it worked fine as long as you have plenty of drainage, the trick is to ensure the soil level is at least 8" below the rim (not sure why)

However it took a lot of growing media (compost:sand mix) for relatively little surface area (& thus low yields). So now I grow them in raised beds surrounded by fleece supported on canes (ie as a windbreak) which is a very effective barrier against carrot fly

Regards

Kitchen gardener

[BrideXIII]

I used to grow my carrots in a barrel and found it worked fine as long as you have plenty of drainage, the trick is to ensure the soil level is at least 8" below the rim (not sure why)

However it took a lot of growing media (compost:sand mix) for relatively little surface area (& thus low yields). So now I grow them in raised beds surrounded by fleece supported on canes (ie as a windbreak) which is a very effective barrier against carrot fly

Regards

Kitchen gardener

would it be worth , do you think, building like a little, carrot cage, with fleece?
I have some framing that i could use in this way.

[lynda66]

would it be worth , do you think, building like a little, carrot cage, with fleece?
I have some framing that i could use in this way.

i wondered why on earth you were building a parrot cage then

[Snadger]

This is mine.........using enviromesh!

[Snadger]

i wondered why on earth you were building a parrot cage then

Nooooooooo! It's Two Sheds who has the parrot.....not bride!

[lynda66]

think i need new glasses

[BrideXIII]

This is mine.........using enviromesh!

Yep thats the bunny ( not lynda's phsyco one), no idea what enviromesh is (looks like a net curtain to me), but i know what fleece is