I have covered a raised bed of carrots with enviromesh, supported on
hoops. Sadly the germination rate is awful, is it the enviromesh
protection (against carrot root fly) the cause of this. Are there any
tips for growing under this mesh please?
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On Sun, 14 Jun 2009 13:56:12 +0100, Broadback wrote:

I have covered a raised bed of carrots with enviromesh, supported on
hoops. Sadly the germination rate is awful, is it the enviromesh
protection (against carrot root fly) the cause of this. Are there any
tips for growing under this mesh please?

Never had any problem with it myself. Unlikely to affect germination IMO.
This year, for the first time, I've used Suttons seed tapes for my
carrots. No thinning needed so no root-fly (I hope!) and therefore no
need for enviromesh. Not too late to try some 'early' carrots now
(Nantes). If it makes things easier, carrot root-fly doesn't above
13" (fly, that is) so simply surrounding the bed with a 14" fence will
suffice and allow hoeing.

OTOH while the parsnip seed-tapes and carrots have been an unqualified
success the beetroot ones disappeared without trace - not a single plant,
no sign of the tape! FWIW my climbing French beans sown under cloches
also failed spectacularly. Have had to re-sow in root-trainers in the
airing cupboard to try to catch up. Funny year for seeds? First year on
my new lotty so I can't really tell.

Derek Turner wrote:
On Sun, 14 Jun 2009 13:56:12 +0100, Broadback wrote:

I have covered a raised bed of carrots with enviromesh, supported on
hoops. Sadly the germination rate is awful, is it the enviromesh
protection (against carrot root fly) the cause of this. Are there any
tips for growing under this mesh please?

Never had any problem with it myself. Unlikely to affect germination IMO.
This year, for the first time, I've used Suttons seed tapes for my
carrots. No thinning needed so no root-fly (I hope!) and therefore no
need for enviromesh. Not too late to try some 'early' carrots now
(Nantes). If it makes things easier, carrot root-fly doesn't above
13" (fly, that is) so simply surrounding the bed with a 14" fence will
suffice and allow hoeing.

OTOH while the parsnip seed-tapes and carrots have been an unqualified
success the beetroot ones disappeared without trace - not a single plant,
no sign of the tape! FWIW my climbing French beans sown under cloches
also failed spectacularly. Have had to re-sow in root-trainers in the
airing cupboard to try to catch up. Funny year for seeds? First year on
my new lotty so I can't really tell.
Derek, if you are usually plagued (as I am) by carrot root fly, could
you post here after harvesting your carrots and let us know how
successful the tapes have been please? Also if you took any other
precautions, I am sure others would be interested if the tape works. TIA

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On Mon, 15 Jun 2009 09:02:56 +0100, Broadback wrote:

Derek, if you are usually plagued (as I am) by carrot root fly, could
you post here after harvesting your carrots and let us know how
successful the tapes have been please? Also if you took any other
precautions, I am sure others would be interested if the tape works. TIA

New lotty this year so I don't know the carrot-fly history. In my
previous garden I gave up on carrots altogether as the soil was too
heavy: now I have lovely sandy soil and watering is the problem!

I'll take some photos of the growing plants and post them on flickr.