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Allotment Gardening
Grow all you can eat on your own allotment.
grow your own
20:32, 10th May 2014
Smallholding for Sale in North Devon
Three bedroom detached house in 18 acres for sale - North Devon, UK
smallholding
20:48, 17th Mar 2013
Nettles
Find out more about nettles - how to benefit from them and how to get rid of them
foraging
16:12, 13th Apr 2012
Making Nettle Beer
Find out how to make your nettle beer
recipes
16:10, 13th Apr 2012
How to Make Sloe Gin
Find out how to make your own sloe gin
recipes
14:40, 13th Apr 2012
Grow Your Own Chilli Peppers
Find out how to grow your own chilli peppers
grow your own
13:33, 16th Mar 2012
Home Beekeeping
Find out more about keeping bees in your garden for honey
grow your own
15:40, 4th Jan 2012
Storing Apples
Find out how to store apples
fruits
13:23, 28th Jul 2011
Carrot Fly
Understand carrot fly and how to protect your crops from them
Carrot Fly
vegetables | grow your own
Carrot fly (psila rosae) are the scourge of many vegetable growers rendering carrots, parsnips, parsley, and celery inedible. The female carrot fly lays eggs in cracks in the soil alongside crops from which maggots (larvae) emerge. Newly hatched maggots feed on the fine roots, but as they grow larger they bore into the tap root about half way down making tunnels as they eat their way through the carrot. With the carrots riddled with holes, they usually become rotten.
Adult carrot flies emerge in May and June and start laying eggs alongside carrot plants just a few days later. Within 7-10 days the eggs hatch. The carrot fly maggots can grow up to 1cm long before transforming into the next generation of carrot fly. Two or three generations of carrot fly can occur through the spring and summer months before larvae or pupae overwinter in the soil to restart the cycle the following spring.
Since most of the damage to the crop occurs under the ground, the easiest way to detect carrot flies is that the foliage above the soil will become discoloured, wilted and droopy.
Preventing Carrot Fly
The simplest way to avoid carrot fly is to sow carrots late (at the end of May or in early June) so that the crops miss the first generation of the pest. If the carrots can be harvested before the end of August, then they are also likely to miss the second generation. Also, sow crops sparsely so that it is not necessary to thin the seedlings since when surplus plants are thinned out, female carrot flies are attracted to the strong smell released.
It is the maggots from the late summer generation which do the most damage, and the damage is worse the longer the crops are left in the ground.
Since carrot flies do not fly more than 2 feet above the ground, vulnerable crops can be protected by surrounding them with a 2 foot high clear polythene or thin mesh barrier. Alternatively, a horticultural fleece can be used to completely cover the crops. (Note that it is essential to practice crop rotation when using these methods otherwise pupae which have spent the winter in the soil will attack the following years crop.)
If carrots are grown in containers with sides more than 2 feet high, then they should also be safe from attack.
Being such weak flyers, growing carrots at a windswept location is an advantage, however, weeding and thinning should still be done on a windless dry evening so that the carrot scent does not get to the carrot flies.
Carrot Fly Resistant Cultivars
Some carrots have been bred to be less susceptible to carrot fly - such as Resistafly and Fly Away.
Article Published: 10:13, 5th Jul 2008
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Allotment Gardening
Grow all you can eat on your own allotment.
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Crop Rotation
Find out more about the importance of crop rotation
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