How to protect carrots from carrotfly

Hi,

I'm curious, do people successfully protect carrots from carrotfly by building walls of netting or fleece around their carrots?

I like the idea of not having to cover/uncover the carrots with a net but before I try it I want some reassurance.

Last year I managed to give some beautiful carrots quite early on to my mum, but when I went back to pull them up later in the year they had been totally destroyed.

The other option is I guess to use very fine netting, which I already do for brassicas, but I would prefer not to have to net the carrots as well.

Any opinions greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

The 'wall of netting' idea is derived from the fact that the carrot fly is a weak flier and can't get more than a couple of feet from the ground, so a vertical barrier of around 2'6" or more should prevent them gaining access to the carrots.

Unfortunately these shortcomings in the flying department also means they are quite easily blown around by the wind, which could lift them over and therefore behind the barrier - I suspect that the greater the area of the carrot bed the more likely that would be to happen, and as you have noticed the effects can be devastating.

Yes, full covering with fine netting, taking great care there are no gaps round the edges either, is a bit of a pain in the proverbial, but is a much surer way of keeping them out.

I know - too slow again, but I wasn't going to delete it all after all that typing! 

I haven't asked a stupid newbie question for a while, so let's do one now:

How soon do you have to protect the carrots? The instant they appear above ground, or later, as the carrots begin to form?

i put mine on as soon as i sow the seed, i dont use DD posh cage tho,i put the net over the top and bury the edges all the way round, the foliage does the job of the blue piping.
enviromesh when correctly set up is 100% effective.

I heard that if you plant your onions and carrots together they protect each other anyone tried this

Lucky I never went with that then lol ... Mesh it is then ...

Or even fine net curtain

As long as it does not have an open work lace border of course 

Although enviromesh is not a cheap option, it does last for years 'n' years as it is UV stable, and a quick wash in the machine restores it to it original pristine condition.