[rugbymad40]

I suffered greatly last year with the dreaded carrot fly on carrots and parsnips.  I have been told that they can't fly about a certain height and I should think about raised beds.

1) Does anyone know where I can get cheap scaffold boards from to acheive this
2) How high do they need to be
3) Is there another alternative?

All advice will as usual be greatly appreciated.

Rugbymad40

P.S. To those who know me Sian (Daughter) is doing extremely well and is back at school now, misbehaving and generally doing everything she couldn't before her heart operation. The wonders of modern medicine!

[WG.]

Have a trawl through some of the other topics rugby since this has had a bit of an airing recently.

Personally, I stopped growing carrots for this very reason (but they never seem to touch me parsnips).

I was planning a few carrots this year but was going to use a simple 2ft high fence of polyester fleece around (not over) the carrots.   Also trying some in Deep beds for cheapskates http://www.chat.allotment-garden.org/viewtopic.php?t=2491   I'll report back how it went.

[flatcap]

hi rugby
relative of mine grows his carrots in a trench made from tin roofing sheets in his polytunnel hes never had a problem he did say they could only fly so high being female didnt take much notice of how high it was :oops:

[GrannieAnnie]

Supposed to be about 2ft isn't it?  I thought I'd have a go with this old bath our friends gave me, so I put some crocks in the bottom, especially around the plug hole so it doesn't get waterlogged. Filled the bottom half with old hanging basket compost, then soil on top, and becausde weve had so much rain, its still waterlogged!!!  Could be because its sat on the ground, must et up there and jack it onto bicks or something, or dig out watery soil and start again.

I'm also going to try the idea of putting fleece around them this year, but last year it wasn't so much carrot fly I had trouble with, it was just the germination rate, and I waited til the weather got better too!!!

[ziggywigs]

Lady Carrot fly fly at 18" and tends to lurk around the edge of the garden or fields.  They are very weak fliers and tend to fly in sunlight.

I tend to thin/pull my carrots in the evening when the sun has sunk a bit and usually after watering or rain.  Any thinnings should be taken straight to the compost bin.  

I edged my  raised bed with fencing facings...the type used for ranch style fencing and it works ok.

[Trillium]

Carrot flies fly low, but it's the smell of the carrots and parsnips that draws them to the right spot. Snap a carrot green off and you'll know what I mean. If you're thinning or pulling either plant, make sure all other carrots/snips are quickly covered with soil and that any root shoulders coming out of the ground are hilled a bit as well. Be careful not to damage/bruise/brush any carrot or parsnip leaves when weeding or such as that also releases the irresitable unmistakeable smell to them. Never ever leave any leaves or thinnings around, take them far far away. Night harvesting is a good idea. And if you have such a problem, always keep light fleece, weighted at the sides, over the whole row of carrot and parsnips until harvest. A nuisance, but you'll get crop. Oh, and dill is also part of that family so you'll want to grow it (if you do) well away from your carrots and snips.

[WG.]

Oh, and dill is also part of that family so you'll want to grow it (if you do) well away from your carrots and snips.

Does that mean dill (and presumably fennel) get attacked by fly too, or only that they attract them?

[milkman]

Hallo Rugbymad hope all's well with the family - I grow my carrots under viromesh and my carrots are guaranteed carrot fly free.

[mercury]

Hello rugby, welcome to the site mate, i always grow my carrots in baths, and never have trouble with the fly, glad to hear your daughters doing well  

[Trillium]

Don't grow fennel, Rugbymad, so I don't know about it, but I get a lot of a green & black caterpillar eating my dill and sometimes the parsley. Not sure what fly/beasty it's from. But dill is very fragrant when touched and would draw the carrot fly simply because the same basic family gene is there. So I guess that would include fennel. I know that whenever I harvest carrots and forget to fill in the hole, I start getting fly damage. We get cabbage butterfly as bad as the UK gets carrot fly and this year all my brassicas are staying under floating covers. Hope that helps. And good news about your daughter.

[BAK]

I grow carrots on an approx. 4 feet square piece of bed. I place a sheet of corrugated plastic along each side held in place by sets of 2 canes that are lashed together with string near the top so that the plastic sheets can slide between them. Foliage gets to be a bit drawn but it does not affect the quality of the carrots. 99%+ success rate.

If you want to see a picture go to

http://www.b.king.dsl.pipex.com/allotindex.htm

click on picture gallery and then click on Janet & Brian's carrot barrier.

[mr dave]

ive heared growing carrots in old oil or plastic drums has some success in beating carrot fly  

[muntjac]

sure does .anything that astops the fly going higher than 32 inches is good ,they get altitude sickness i hear  

[purplebat]

sure does .anything that astops the fly going higher than 32 inches is good ,they get altitude sickness i hear  

do i take it then that if your raised bed is high enough it would be good to grow carrots in?

[vron]

Hi there, we are growing carrots on our lottie for the first time this year, we have grown them in containers at home before with no problems.

I was wondering, you have mentioned enviromesh as a barrier against them, would this be anything like the netting that we already use which is debris netting as used on building sites, it is very fine, green or blue in colour.  We bought it by the roll last year for our brassicas.