[Yabba]

Knowing * all about growing stuff I've had to resort to using the evil googy bots results .... but every search I do for "are my roots safe" end up leading to some obscure vi@gra.tld .... so, I thought I'd ask the experts

I read shedloads about carrort root fly, lots of advice about it's flying height being limited to below the brim of a gnomes hat .... unless it's one of those gnomes that's fishing, they always lean forwards ......


.... anyway .... I heard it's attracted to the leaves when you thin them and stuff ... so, I had a brain wave ... this year I planted all my seeds upside down so the foliage is never exposed to air, and it mostly seems to work

.
... Unfortunately, I'm having a problem with the thieving * that walk past and can see how AWESOME the roots look ... is there some form of organic spray I can use?

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[compostqueen]

nah, I'd lie in wait and get em with me trusty gadder  :twisted:

[Yabba]

nah, I'd lie in wait and get em with me trusty gadder  :twisted:

I wish I knew what the hell a gadder was!

... until then I'll pretend it's organic

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[johnhar]

hi to you yabba
the only control that is really available is to cover the carrots with fine mesh netting see harrod horticultural there is a link to ther site on the home page. all pesticides rhat we used to use as a soil drench have now been withdrawn and really the mesh is better as you canharvest your carrots when you want to , with most of the drenches there was at least 7 days harvest interval and some had 21 days
hope this helps

[DD.]

the only control that is really available is to cover the carrots with fine mesh netting

A 24" high polythene fence also works.

[Yabba]

A 24" high polythene fence also works.

Whilst that sounds like a great solution to a real world problem .... these * are between 5ft and 6ft tall ... are you sure 24" will stop them? ( unless it's 24" of "gadder" )

On a more serious note ( and assuming I plant the seeds the right way up next year ) ... how small are these flies? ... I ask because I've recently obtained some mesh that I could use next year .... mind you, I've also obtained a shedload of poly ... so either way is doable ... I just feel that mesh would be better for the carrots ( air circulation and all that? )

In the meantime I'm gonna keep googling for "gadder"

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[peterjf]

hi , the dreaded carrot fly only flies at a low height , i thnks its below 18 inches , we use double thickness scaffolding mesh to catch the little * , 99% of them get eaten by our resident spiders on the plot hahahahahahahahahaha ,nothing to loose , carrots to gain,

[DD.]

how small are these flies?

¥

4 - 5 mm.

[gobs]

how small are these flies?

¥

4 - 5 mm.

And they live in trees, that much about how high they can fly.

[Bignij]

In the meantime I'm gonna keep googling for "gadder"

¥

A gadder is a catapult.

[Yabba]

how small are these flies?

¥

4 - 5 mm.

And they live in trees, that much about how high they can fly.

*, we have some preeeeety tall trees around us ... dunno if I have that much plastic!

The good news is, the net *might* be fine enough ( we use it to keep wind off the dahlias, so I'm optimistic ).

The bad news is ... we just gained some more growing space, so when I get my head straight about what space we have, and what we'd like to grow in it, I'm gonna be back with a "wtf do I do with all this blooming room?" thread ... and I expect y'all to reply .... preferably with summat useful

A gadder is a catapult.

*, I was thinking more along the lines of a length of 2"x2"

................. btw, how the hell do you get "from catapult" to "gadder" ? ... Yer from some inbred area of the country huh? I can tell, you lot always make up new words  to try and confuse us blondes :roll: ... one day you'll realise that it takes * all to confuse a blonde and save yourself loads of effort

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[woodburner]

I seem to have escaped the dreaded fly (at home) by planting block planting (and not thinning,) half a bed (lengthwise) with carrots and the other half with onions. I also was less than diligent with the weeding as I have heard that they have to land on carrot 5 times in a row before they lay their eggs.

I think my lottie site has a two legged onion fly:
Lottie neighbour has just been around with a key, as he has had a load of Japanese onions lifted both literally and metaphorically, so he got the council to get some fencing stuff which he has put up and added a padlock and chain for good measure! Luckily there are only three of us so no problem getting enough keys.
I think I might grow just fodder and mulching crops there (alfalfa, wheat clover etc.), rather than veg as I do have some space at home, just to spite the b*****d.

[Yabba]

That's pretty similar to how we're ( currently ) growing our carrots, except we also have leeks along the edges of the bed. I'm not "overly" concerned about the carrots as I don't eat them myself, but my better half loves them so I'm trying to do the best I can.

One of the biggest problems we have is with foxes, there's a family of them in the graveyard that backs onto the field and they they're constantly digging in the soil looking for worms or just playing.

I think I'll give the netting a shot and see how that works.

The real fun is going to start when the tomatoes ripen ... I already know I have a two-legged tomato fly in the field .... and I can't shoot him because it's his field

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