Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: white westie on June 17, 2010, 22:12
-
Hi
I have some early nantes that i have planted in five different successions in pots.The first pot is ready to harvest only when i pulled some today on the top of the carrot just at the bottom of the greenery there are loads and loads of white buggy things all creepy,does any one know what these are?Should i throw the carrots in the bin?Do you think they are harmfull to the carrot?Can we eat the carrot is it safe??????
I checked one of the other pots that are coming along and that is filled with them to. >:( :(
-
It's almost certainly carrot fly WW, almost the only serious carrot pest, but none the less devastating for that!
They are basically bin-fodder unless the damage is slight, and it doesn't sound like that I'm afraid.
Being such a common problem there are dozens of threads on this site about it; you need to read up about it because it can and does ruin many carrot crops but the good news is it can be overcome. ;)
-
JAY are you really from Yorkshire or have you just moved there? BIN FODDER ! , if it is root fly there are only certain bits of the carrot affected these can be trimmed out and you can still use the carrots for stews and casseroles, nobody has had on their death certificate "died from eating carrot fly infested carrots"
-
Not so sure about carrot fly, white buggy things at the bottom of the greenery, does not sound like them.
It only happened once, but when growing carrots at home I had a similar infestation and it was mealy aphids. A quick blast with insecticide did them.
-
PaulW; not quite sure of the connection between "bin fodder" and being a true Yorkshireman, but then again not sure whether I could be considered one or not; born and raised in the South East, but the last 40 years in Sheffield! :unsure:
Blunt Yorkshireman or not I've not developed the habit of disagreeing with DD ( :nowink:) who may be right; in my experience the tell-tale sign of carrot root fly damage is when the leaves start to turn a reddish-purple colour, by which time the damage underground will look something like THIS. (http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?pid=485)
-
I've never seen carrot fly larvae have a group hug at the top of a carrot!
-
I've never seen carrot fly larvae have a group hug at the top of a carrot!
Yorkshire carrot fly larvae are obviously a lot more touchy-feely than Leicestershire ones DD!
Seriously, mealy aphids look nothing like carrot fly larvae, which you don't normally see above ground although it is surely a rare thing to see on carrots.
-
Carrot fly larvae would not gather in the way described, which makes me suspect it's something else.
-
JAY
A true Yorkshireman has short arms and long pockets and would never waste anything.
-
JAY
A true Yorkshireman has short arms and long pockets and would never waste anything.
Ah gotcha!
Well certainly that part of Yorkshire-ness has rubbed off on me then (although I call it thrift!) :blush:
Still wondering what has happened to WW though................ :ohmy:
-
Hi everyone thankyou very much for your replies,
I've never seen carrot fly larvae have a group hug at the top of a carrot!
Ahh dd love this pharse. lol.
Well im pleased to tell you the white buggy things have gone,i went out to the garden and the carrots were covered in ants everywhere,then the next day the bugs had gone whether the ants ate them or not i do not know im baffled but dd you must be right on this one it must have been an aphid.I have pulled some carrots washed them and eaten them they were excellent i must say. :)
Thankyou all for your help. :) :)
-
I have to ask... Could they have been ant eggs? I found a ton of them under one of my pots, and they look like little white grubs with a tiny dark dot on one end. The ants quickly carried them away to a safer place when exposed.
(http://webzoom.freewebs.com/allanwootton/wing7.jpg)
ants really seem to be taking over this year!! i have found hundreds of little colonies under the soil!