[hiccup]

               

     Hi All
            Can someone please tell me what's eating this little fella, unfortunately
              he is not alone.

[sunshineband]

Carrot fly larvae have caused the damage.

The only certain way to avoid this is to grow carrots under a very fine mesh such as enviromesh, carefully weighted down around the edges so the pesky little flies can't get in the lay their eggs.

Some people recommend companion planting (unsuccessful for me) or growing them in containers over 2 ft tall (a lot of compost to find) or creating a 2ft high barrier around the carrots (very windy here and it blew down )

It is such a shame when what looks like a promising crop is ruined like that 

[hiccup]

Thanks sunshine, your right,they were doing well till I thinned them.
    Oh well, live and learn, fortress mesh next year. thanks again.

[sunshineband]

You are very welcome

I learned this lesson the hard way too. Somehow the black tunnels don't show when you first pull up the carrots, but when they are washed, there they are for all to see, in their horrible glory.

I keep the mesh on  right from sowing through to the last harvest in the winter. I suppose it could come off at the end of this month really as the Carrot Fly should surely be gone by then........ but you never know 

[GrannieAnnie]

My problem this year and last year wasn't carrot fly, but slugs or something eating the tops off, they are also now chomping their way through the rest of the beetroot!   

[Salmo]

My problem this year and last year wasn't carrot fly, but slugs or something eating the tops off, they are also now chomping their way through the rest of the beetroot!   

If there are tooth marks it could be voles.

[devonbarmygardener]

Thanks sunshine, your right,they were doing well till I thinned them.
    Oh well, live and learn, fortress mesh next year. thanks again.

Thinning them is what sends out the smell to the carrot fly like a flag that says 'Free Food and Lodging here!!'
Meshing them - not necessarily right over but over a foot high around will help (the theory is that carrot fly can't fly very high)

Otherwise, sow sparingly and you won't have to thin out, but you might not get as many successes

[cadalot]

I used carrot on tape pre spaced so no thinning

[sunshineband]

My problem this year and last year wasn't carrot fly, but slugs or something eating the tops off, they are also now chomping their way through the rest of the beetroot!   

As Salmo said, it could be voles, but it could also be rats. Our carrot tops were munched off and left to wilt, then bites taken out of the  root tops..... Rats!! I actually saw a culprit so am certain where to point the finger of blame on our plot 

Voles tend to collect seeds at this time in the year so can decimate anything like late strawberries for example, or sweetcorn.

[rubberfrog]

Tried all sorts over the years, now I just sow thinly, fill in the gaps a week or so after germination and leave them to it.  May occasionally do some very careful weeding.   Pull carefully as needed.  Try planting some Marigolds as companions.

We pulled these last night.  A few random sizes but taste mighty fine.

[devonbarmygardener]

Lovely carrots there rubberfrog

Mine are always forked/weird and wonderful shapes and sizes but they still taste great

[Anton]

I tried the fleece trick a few years ago but then taking a quick peek a found most of them had been wolved down by slugs.

Had better luck this year by making sure the seeds are for "early carrots" rather than the ones to be conserved so the growing time is a lot shorter. I didn't bother thinning, left that to the slugs. These year has been my best ever crop. They are not overly large carrots but comparatively undamaged and very tasty.

Anton

[AnneB]

Thanks sunshine, your right,they were doing well till I thinned them.
    Oh well, live and learn, fortress mesh next year. thanks again.

Thinning them is what sends out the smell to the carrot fly like a flag that says 'Free Food and Lodging here!!'
Meshing them - not necessarily right over but over a foot high around will help (the theory is that carrot fly can't fly very high)

Otherwise, sow sparingly and you won't have to thin out, but you might not get as many successes

I have tried the mesh / growing high but not right over method, but have to report in my case it didn't work.   Carrots still got carrot fly after I grew them in a tall half barrel with fleece wrapped around above that.   I have had successful carrots only in the last two years by 1) Sowing the first week in May when it is warm enough for germination.  2) Sowing thinly so I don't thin the carrots at all.  3) Making sure the bed is as weed free as possible, so I only weed once in the early stages after seedlings are showing and also that the bed hasn't been manured recently to avoid carrots forking. Finally and most importantly 4) keeping the bed fully covered in enviromesh from sowing until harvest.    I have had really good disease and pest free crops this way.

[Kristen]

they are also now chomping their way through the rest of the beetroot!

The tops of my beetroot have been eaten this year, in some cases its at least 50% of one side of the root too ... dreadful year for slugs (I assume it was them)

[Anton]

Had to sow beetroots several times last year because of slugs but this year bought beetroot plants off the market, which are doing fine. Had the same thing with spinach, so I think I will use paper pots next year. All my parsnips were grown using paper pots and all my runner beans. I put some beans in the ground at one stage but nothing came up!

Anton