I have an allotment and want to grow carrots this year. All the other
allotment holders have been telling me of the menace that is "carrot fly".
I know about taking the carrot thinnings away from the allotment as the
carrot fly is attracted by the smell of the bruised foliage, but I wondered
if there are any more precautions I could take.

I have heard tell of earthing the carrots up to cover the foliage
completely, but I don't personally know of anyone who has tried this and
wondered if anyone here had tried it and if it worked. Also, how common IS
carrot fly?

Any help or experiences would be very much appreciated.

Thanks.

Jeannie

Sorry about the false email address but my actual email account was
inundated with spam everytime I posted in usernet so the address I now use
is fake

In message , Jeannie
writes
I have an allotment and want to grow carrots this year. All the other
allotment holders have been telling me of the menace that is "carrot fly".
I know about taking the carrot thinnings away from the allotment as the
carrot fly is attracted by the smell of the bruised foliage, but I wondered
if there are any more precautions I could take.

I have heard tell of earthing the carrots up to cover the foliage
completely, but I don't personally know of anyone who has tried this and
wondered if anyone here had tried it and if it worked. Also, how common IS
carrot fly?

Any help or experiences would be very much appreciated.

Thanks.

Jeannie

Sorry about the false email address but my actual email account was
inundated with spam everytime I posted in usernet so the address I now use
is fake


Jeannie,
Put a barrier to stop the flies getting at the carrots.
I have found sowing under a cloche made of enviromesh the most
successful; see www.organiccatalogue.com.
Books say a vertical barrier of a fine mesh surrounding the rows can be
used, I have had less success with this method.
regards
John

--
John

"Jeannie" wrote in message
I have an allotment and want to grow carrots this year. All the other
allotment holders have been telling me of the menace that is "carrot fly".
I know about taking the carrot thinnings away from the allotment as the
carrot fly is attracted by the smell of the bruised foliage, but I
wondered
if there are any more precautions I could take.

I have heard tell of earthing the carrots up to cover the foliage
completely, but I don't personally know of anyone who has tried this and
wondered if anyone here had tried it and if it worked. Also, how common
IS
carrot fly?


Very common problem but they only fly close to the ground, they would rather
fly around something than over it, so a barrier works. Like others I know we
use a wooden fence, a rectangular box like structure around the carrot bed
to deter the pests and although about 18 inches is optimum we find even a
scaffold board height is enough to give some protection. Tried using
"Envirofleece" but nothing germinated and we have a problem with foxes here
jumping on and tearing to bits such fleece etc. the cost of a new bit every
day is too much! :-(

--
Regards
Bob

Some photos of my plants at.....

Hope you like them.

John Pearson wrote:
: In message , Jeannie
: writes
:: I have an allotment and want to grow carrots this year. All the
:: other allotment holders have been telling me of the menace that is
:: "carrot fly". I know about taking the carrot thinnings away from the
:: allotment as the carrot fly is attracted by the smell of the bruised
:: foliage, but I wondered if there are any more precautions I could
:: take.
::
:: I have heard tell of earthing the carrots up to cover the foliage
:: completely, but I don't personally know of anyone who has tried this
:: and wondered if anyone here had tried it and if it worked. Also,
:: how common IS carrot fly?
::
:: Any help or experiences would be very much appreciated.
::
There are various puffers around that are supposed to protect them against
the fly but they do not work in my experience and probably aren't very good
for man or beast. As the other contributor said enviromesh or fleece should
keep the fly off. I am trying fleece this year. Never heard of covering the
foliage, I think that must be wrong or they wouldn't grow. Heard of earthing
over the top of the actual carrot, perhaps that's what you meant. Anyway
it's going to be fun weeding with this fleece around, all the best

I fear that avoiding 'carrot fly' is difficult to impossible. Never cover
the foliage. A little banking up seems to help as does NOT thinning. Try not
to expose the top, or any part, of the root. Personally, I gave up growing
to maturity and pulled them all as 'baby carrots' rather than use various
chemicals. They froze well.
Commercially there are very effective chemicals but I would rather avoid
them~~but with no knowledge that they
are harmful.
Best Wishes Brian.
"Jeannie" wrote in message
...
I have an allotment and want to grow carrots this year. All the other
allotment holders have been telling me of the menace that is "carrot fly".
I know about taking the carrot thinnings away from the allotment as the
carrot fly is attracted by the smell of the bruised foliage, but I
wondered
if there are any more precautions I could take.

I have heard tell of earthing the carrots up to cover the foliage
completely, but I don't personally know of anyone who has tried this and
wondered if anyone here had tried it and if it worked. Also, how common
IS
carrot fly?

Any help or experiences would be very much appreciated.

Thanks.

Jeannie

Sorry about the false email address but my actual email account was
inundated with spam everytime I posted in usernet so the address I now use
is fake

On Wed, 12 May 2004 18:28:46 +0100, "Brian"
wrote:

I fear that avoiding 'carrot fly' is difficult to impossible. Never cover
the foliage. A little banking up seems to help as does NOT thinning. Try not
to expose the top, or any part, of the root. Personally, I gave up growing
to maturity and pulled them all as 'baby carrots' rather than use various
chemicals. They froze well.
Commercially there are very effective chemicals but I would rather avoid
them~~but with no knowledge that they
are harmful.

The theory behind 'earthing up' carrots is that the carrot root fly
likes to lay its eggs as close as possible to the root - so that when
the larvae hatch they can get munching without delay.
Putting a couple of extra inches of soil over the root head stop the
little buggers from getting at the important bit.

A chap on the Gardener's World allotment feature last year was using
this method, evidently with success.


Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{whoisat}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk

"Stephen Howard" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 12 May 2004 18:28:46 +0100, "Brian"
wrote:

I fear that avoiding 'carrot fly' is difficult to impossible. Never cover
the foliage. A little banking up seems to help as does NOT thinning. Try
not
to expose the top, or any part, of the root. Personally, I gave up
growing
to maturity and pulled them all as 'baby carrots' rather than use various
chemicals. They froze well.
Commercially there are very effective chemicals but I would rather avoid
them~~but with no knowledge that they
are harmful.

The theory behind 'earthing up' carrots is that the carrot root fly
likes to lay its eggs as close as possible to the root - so that when
the larvae hatch they can get munching without delay.
Putting a couple of extra inches of soil over the root head stop the
little buggers from getting at the important bit.

A chap on the Gardener's World allotment feature last year was using
this method, evidently with success.


Regards,



--

I think that's where I heard about earthing carrots up but wasn't sure of
the actual procedure. I think I'm going to try the enviromesh option this
year and see how I go. Thanks to everyone that replied!

Jeannie

I have an allotment and want to grow carrots this year. All the other
allotment holders have been telling me of the menace that is "carrot fly".

Anyone familiar with planting onions near them. I heard the carrot fly
doesn't like the smell.

In article , Steve Simpson
writes

I have an allotment and want to grow carrots this year. All the other
allotment holders have been telling me of the menace that is "carrot fly".

Anyone familiar with planting onions near them. I heard the carrot fly
doesn't like the smell.

That is true, and onion flies don't like the smell of carrots.

Carrot flies are attracted to the aroma from carrot leaves, they can
smell them a mile off if the leaves are crushed or bruised, i.e. during
thinning, hoeing or hand weeding, so try to avoid touching the leaves.
They cannot fly very high though, so a physical barrier around the
carrots can help to deter them.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.