Carrot fly.

[Gerry]

Good evening,

I have grown carrots under fleece. Can anyone advise me when it is safe to remove the fleece please. I have heard that the fly only has one laying period and I also heard that they have two.

Any clarification will be appreciated.

Regards, Gerry.

[Johnboy]

Hi Gerry,
Sadly it is not true. CRF have several periods when they attack the plants and lay their nasty little eggs. I grow Carrots in an Anti White Fly net tunnel from day one until harvest and have found that this is the only way to keep clear of them.
Environmesh will do the same thing but the AWF netting is a throw-back to my commercial days.

www.ruralni.gov.uk/index/crops/vegetabl ... /crfly.htm

JB.

[Elderflower]

Hello Johnboy - that anti whitefly tunnel sounds useful! Can ordinary gardeners obtain them or only professionals?

[Monika]

We keep the fleece on the carrots and parsnips until about November, just lifting it occasionally for harvesting. It then stays off for good. And we don't usually get problems with carrot root fly.

[Gerry]

Hi Johnboy and Monika,
Thanks for your replies. I will leave the fleece on as you both suggest. Funnily I don't protect my parsnips and have never had a problem but the carrots do suffer badly. Perhaps this year there could be a problem as the parsnips are in the next bed to the carrots. Too late to do anything about it now I suppose.
Regards, Gerry.

[Johnboy]

Hi Elderflower,
I do hope you're sitting down cos the price for Anti White Fly Netting is 1M wide x 100M £165.00 delivered and 2M wide x 100M is £325.00 delivered.
Minimum quantity 100M.
Have you now come out of your faint.
JB.

[Elderflower]

Hi Johnboy, (raises a weak smile)
I`ve quite gone off carrots! Nasty orangey things!

[Johnboy]

Hi Elderflower,
Sorry for the nasty shock!
I used to raise vegetable plants as part of my nursery activities and I simply could not afford any pest to reach my crops so although I didn't have to pay that much when mine was bought but the figures quoted are November 2007.
This netting not only excludes White Fly but Carrot Root Fly, Cabbage Root Fly and Flea Beetles. The ends of my tunnels are clad in it and 4 tunnels have a meter wide skirt of it all the way round.
This gives superb protection and the tunnels do not overheat.
I now grow Carrots in a designated raised bed 4' x 6'
for my own use and only ground sow those for sale.
JB.

[Chantal]

You can buy micromesh from

www.gardening-naturally.com

which is a lot more affordable for small scale growing I've bought a lot from them and it's an excellent company.

I'm growing carrots in barrels this year so the low flying carrot root flies won't be able to reach the required altitude.

[glallotments]

One thing has always baffled me. If carrot fly only fly low then how do they get into a walled garden - wait for someone to open the door?

Or are they transported on the wind?

[Johnboy]

Hi Glallotments,
Carrot Root Fly are no different to other flies but the observations are that they approach Carrots from low level fly pasts and then home in at the base of the Carrot where they lay their eggs. Many people protect their Carrots by erecting a vertical net wall against them. I have found to my cost that this doesn't work for me. Although Chantal is growing her Carrots in a barrel she really still needs protection at the base of the Carrots.
JB.

[glallotments]

Mmm I'm not convinced either - I'll stick to environmesh. It has worked for us for several years