How to avoid carrot fly

Posted by TopVeg - January 22nd, 2007

Carrot fly (latin name - Psila rosae) is a disaster. The carrot flies lay eggs in cracks of the soil, near carrots & parsnips. The eggs hatch out into maggots which enter the roots & feed on them. They ruin the crop.

  • Carrot flies are not strong fliers, so a windswept site is an advantage.
  • Grow a resistant strain.
  • Sow seeds thinly, to avoid having to thin the carrots out, as the fly is attracted by the smell
  • weed & pull carrots on a dry, still evening so the scent of the carrot does not reach the fly
  • use a net to keep the fly off the carrot

carrotnet.jpg

  • use a vertical barrier, at least 70cm high, of fine mesh or polythene around the crop

Posted in pests&disease

6 Comments »

  1. […] Thin carrots on a dry, still evening so that the smell does not attract the carrot fly. Another post discusses how to avoid carrot fly. […]

    Pingback by Top Veg » Blog Archive » How to Thin Carrots in the Vegetable Garden. - July 29, 2007 6:17 pm

  2. […] Carrot fly travel close to the ground, and a barrier 2 foot high will interupt their flight path, forcing the fly to take another route.  If carrots are planted in a container at least 2 foot off the ground, the carrot flies will just zoom past the side of the container, and not bother the carrots growing inside. […]

    Pingback by Top Veg » Blog Archive » Container Grown Carrots Avoid Carrot Fly. - August 7, 2007 7:54 pm

  3. […] Click the link for information on how to avoid carrot fly. […]

    Pingback by Top Veg » Blog Archive » Signs of Carrot Fly in the Vegetable Garden. - October 26, 2007 12:19 pm

  4. I keep my carrot beds covered immediately after sowing, and have found that I can remove the cover once the carrots reach a decent size. I don’t know if the fly leaves the larger carrots alone, or if something else is going on. Also, I did not know about the 2 foot barrier. I’ll try that!

    Comment by Cynthia Sandberg - November 6, 2007 5:33 am

  5. Cynthia

    Thanks for your comment on TopVeg. I wonder when you plant the carrots? There are definitely two periods in the UK summer when the carrot fly hatch - & attack! You could well be uncovering you carrots in a ’safe period’.

    It is important to remove all smells of ‘carrot digging’ - take leaves & any discarded carrots right away from the carrot bed, otherwise the carrot fly will home-in on the smell!

    Thanks for visiting
    TopVeg

    Comment by TopVeg - November 6, 2007 6:26 am

  6. […] are several practices a gardener can adopt to avoid carrot fly. If the carrot fly are a problem, the larvae eat into the root of the carrot and eventually destroy […]

    Pingback by Top Veg » Blog Archive » Grow Carrot Fly Free Varieties in the Vegetable Garden - February 15, 2008 2:22 am

Comments RSS  |  TrackBack URI

 

Leave a comment

Blog Home