Carrots

[Johnboy]

Hi Solway Cropper,

I have to agree with the last few posts and I like the term good gardening practice. I could never be 'organic' in the sense that the Soil Association defines it and it doesn't bother me one little bit. My garden rarely sees 'chemical' fertilizers and pesticides but it does see them occasionally because I'd rather have a crop than starve. I know a couple of local farmers who tried organic and came out of it for a variety of reasons. They did learn from the experience that excessive reliance on 'chemicals' was not always a good thing. I'd call that good agricultural practice.

A very well reasoned posting and I feel that this wraps-up a great many peoples thoughts especially my own. So if you haven't got the right home compost to hand at the time it is needed you do not rule things out through sheer dogma. Bravo!
Nobody in their right mind would use a chemical "cide" unless there is another way around the problem. I use herbicides but not on productive land with the exception of killing off an isolated incident when the offending weed will affect my crop and this will be applied by hand and not sprayed. I do not believe in losing a crop for somebody else's misguided principles.
Slug pellets have been so improved and made safer and a whole lot more environmentally friendly that I cannot see why people still refuse to use them. I still use Nicotine because it is a natural pesticide. It is used very sparingly and protect other insects especially bees when I use it. I have had occaision to use it about three times in the last ten years so it is not so habit forming as is made out to be.
I call good gardening practice 'Pragmatic Gardening.'
JB.

[thetangoman]

After years of battling with carrot fly I now grow mine under cover ..sow thinly and cover with a sealed mini poly tunnels , covered with either fleece or polythene ..always produces super carrots.
Of course rains gets through the fleece so make holes in the polythene , leave until ready to lift, check regulary and SHAZZAM..

[Beryl]

Yes, I do always use fleece but not polythene as I also have to make a cage with netting to keep out badgers and foxes. who would soon destroy fleece and polythene.
After several attempts at an early crop I can now say I have 3 good rows up.

Beryl.

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Beryl, glad to read your determination has paid off....

[Ricard with an H]

I feel a little guilt about my flurry of posts, i'll settle-down, and if it's any consolation to anyone who might huffy I am doing a lot of reading and learning.

About fleece then, I bought some fleece mainly as a method to keep the ground warm when needed but also as a wrap for windy days. Being so close to the coast means we get the prevailing winds first and strongest most of the time and they tend to blow everything down.

Fleece gets heavy and saturated so I was concerned, from a couple of previous post it seems fleece is useful for more than just keeping warm but what about the weight of sodden fleece, how do you cope.

What I can share is that pieces of sawn timber that has prickly bits sticking out is a good way of weighting down fleece rather than pegs.The prickly bits grip the fleece and hold it.

So I have a new row of carrot just showing their heads but alongside plants that are a foot high, difficult to just put the fleece over the carrot so might there be a problem covering the lot and just removing it for access ?

[Beryl]

Richard. Carrots should really be covered right from the sowing stage to avoid the carrot fly. The only way I find best is to use some form of support. I make a large cloche tunnel with hoops. If you are not troubled by annimals as such then it does make a very good insect barrier. Cats will love to get underneath as it is so warm so make sure it is well secure at the bottom.

Beryl.

[glallotments]

Don't apologise abouting posting R with an H.
We use enviromesh to cover carrots rather than fleece as we found it stronger and longer lasting but you could use fleece in the same way.

We make a frame using pieces of wooden laths and bamboo cames and drape the mesh over that weighting down the ends with wood and bricks etc. The frame is high enough so I can lift up on from the path e side and duck underneath to weed from the path alongside.

As Beryl siad cover up from the start but if you haven't done that it will still be worth covering now.

[Ricard with an H]

Ahhh, it's like being a child again. I haven't a clue what carrot fly looks like and my current crop don't have any other problems than being bendy and being lifted. No pecking marks and no bugs that i'm aware of.

I'm hoping the coastal conditions might mean my carrots don't suffer. Next year I might plant things differently, carrot and beetroot together with some onions. Spring-onions ?

How about different varieties, I bought Nantes but I don't remember if it had a number after the name. More than one variety of Nantes I suppose.

[Beryl]

I'm sure someone else can explain the carrot fly to you better than me Richard but the first sign you will see is the bronzing of the foliage. The fly lays its eggs at the base of the carrots these hatch out and burrow through the carrot making them inedable. It will destroy most of your crop. I am on the South Coast and it makes no difference at all.

Beryl.

[Johnboy]

Good morning Richard,
There is an awful lot of myth and legend regarding Carrot Root Fly.
They always fly low and are not capable of flying high. Myth.
If you grow your carrots high off the ground the fly cannot reach them. Myth.
When Carrot Root Fly are looking for somewhere to lay their eggs common sense says they fly low along the rows of unprotected carrots, select the spot and lay their eggs and the emerging grubs will probably infect very many in the whole row. At all other times they fly high just like any other fly.
This happens everywhere in the country and being close to the coast will not prevent such attacks.
We have carrot cages here which are 19" high clad with Anti White Fly netting and are 72" long and they fit together with special end cages which, would you believe, have a net section across one end.
We have found that this or a similar method using fleece is really the only surefire method of combatting these little buggers.
By the way Environmesh will do the same job but has a slightly larger mesh than anti White Fly netting.
Fleeces come in two weights 17 grams per square metre and a more robust 40 gram to the squre metre. We have found that the 17g fleece to be too light and easily torn so we use the 40g product when needed.
Having the cages 19" allow the carrots to grow their little hearts out without hinderance. The cages we have made are 39" x72" x 19" high. and fit our 30 ft beds perfectly the 72" sections actually bolt together to prevent there being any movement with the wind. We are at about 500' and can be extremely windy at times hence the precautions.
I do hope this is of use to you but should you have any questions do feel free to fire away.
Sincerely,
JB.

[Ricard with an H]

Thanks Beryl and thanks JB for the very-detailed details.

To be honest, if I had problems with carrot fly I would give up growing carrots. Building structures to deal with the pest is all within my capabilities, I'm a very practical man but I don't have the enthusiasm when there are so many local small-holding producing good carrots successfully.

Digressing again.
I wanted chickens, my lovely-lady pointed out all the extra work, the huge population of fox and that every other farm has chickens laying eggs most of the year round for £1 a box of six very nice eggs.

I chose to grow carrot because a lot of the supermarket carrot taste like they've been dipped in white spirit, occasionally I get carrot that taste like carrot.

Sorry to sound so pathetic about a subject you are all so keen on and obviously experienced about, at my last house on the edges of a city my garden was sheltered and sunny, the soil was good end everything I put in the ground grew quickly and healthy. Where I live now is most peoples dream including mine but it's open to the elements, salty driving rain and wind with poor soil.

I need another ten years to get this plot sorted, it's taken ten years to get it to where it is now and some plants will cope. Those that cope i'll grow and I now feel in good company being able to share this stuff with you-lot.

Seems if i'm determined to grow carrot I need a carrot plot where the soil has been sieved and the plot has a cover.

Digressing again.
My current nemesis is beans, as soon as they go in the ground they start to wither. Sort-of go crinkly then sulk until the stem rots, i'll keep trying with another batch which i'll cover but I really think this cool weather or the soil isn't suitable. Broccolli is romping along.

Grass is growing nicely, six inches in a week on the most fertile part of my paddock area and two hours work on a ride-on mower and then I still have the domestic areas of grass and banks.

Carrots will either grow with a little help and consideration or i'll buy them.