Kitchen Garden Forum

I have a lot of carrot fly damage on carrots lifted from a pot.

My question is - having rescued as much as possible for lunch, can I put the infested parts of the roots on the compost heap, bearing in mind it is not very big and does not get hot enough to destroy weed seeds for instance?

Will the fly maggots just be very happy in the heap and return next year in force?

Hello Mika
I don't know whether carrot fly will overwinter in your compost heap or not but I don't think that is worth the risk of trying to find out. This is such a devastating pest. I would dispose of everything from your crop even the kitchen trimmings either in a dustbin or in your garden waste bin.
Next year try growing carrots under a mesh or in a raised container. I grow some of mine in a blue barrel which is about 2 ft high and filled with old potting compost. This works well and no mesh is needed.



You could try your luck and make another sowing of carrots now for a late crop - choose a quick growing variety.

Hope this helps

John

Yes I agree, I wouldn't risk it. I'm having great success with carrots in large black tubs in the greenhouse this year. I've been using old compost from pots etc. then adding a top layer of fresh about 2" and sowing Early Nantes type. Kept me going all summer in young fresh carrots and I now have 4 more on the go to supliment my main crop on the lottie.

Beryl.

I've been plagued by carrot fly since I started this garden five years ago so I never put any infected material in the compost. This year I've grown the F1 variety Flyaway which has suffered almost no damage so that's one I'd suggest if you have a bad problem.

Thanks folks

I've put the rubbish in the bin.
I'm hoping the carrots in the raised bed haven't been infected and also the seedlings coming in some other pots. Keeping my fingers crossed.

MikA

solway cropper wrote: This year I've grown the F1 variety Flyaway which has suffered almost no damage

I tried them last year. Less damage, yes, but you can tell why the root fly leave them alone. They are not the tastiest of carrots !

One of the best ways of avoiding root fly is to grow carrots in a windy place; not that we usually have much choice, but my allotment is more exposed than the garden plot, so I grow them there.

We cover our carrots with a frame covered with enviromesh - the odd carrot fly may get in when we are weeding etc. but generally we have a really good harvest. This way you can grow whatever variety you like.

I agree - I made a Carrot Cage some years ago and have had good carrots ever since.

One of the best ways of avoiding root fly is to grow carrots in a windy place

There can be few places in England windier than west Cumbria where I live. And the idea that the fly only travel a few inches above the ground is a myth. I've tried containers on a bench two feet high and they still get in.

I'm going down the enviromesh route next year.

Must admit I have always wondered how a carrot fly can get into a walled garedn if it can only fly low!

They just go with the flow.

Going slightly off subject, but after reading on the site about planting carrots high up to avoid the dreaded fly, I experimented by using two large plastic crates, 3 feet above ground. One was planted with Early Nantes and has produced lots of fly-free carrots.
The other, which we are just starting on, is next to it and contains Autumn King. But they have suffered quite a lot of damage, though I'm not sure if it is all carrot fly. Not as bad as those planted in the ground, but much worse than the Nantes.
What is the evidence of fly damage, as against slugs, snails and other pests?

John I generally find the early sowings miss the fly, it's usually the main crop such as you say Autumn King that suffers the most.
I think it has been Johnboy in the past that has stressed that the fly can fly as high as any other insect it just comes in low to to lay its eggs.

Since the withdrawal of Bromopohos some yesrs ago I'm convinced that complete covering is the only answer.

Beryl.

From the moment my carrots are sown, right up to when cropping is finished they stay under a fleece tunnel. No damage at all

Some years ago I lived at the top of a hill and the garden had a 6ft fence around it, but the carrot fly still arrived in force. I too, think the low flying thing is a myth

To go back to the question. I doubt it would make the slightest difference to next year's population of the little b*****s if you composted the damaged ones. Consensus seems to be netting.
JohnN - little holes that usually develop patches of rot and generate hairy roots and the foliage goes bronze.