[Aidy]

SUCCESS!

Tried a lottle experiment this year, sowed 4 rows of carrots (chatenay) straight after lifting the onions. The thinking behind this was they would miss the fly.
Well it has worked a treat and we are getting perfect carrots for sunday dinner.

[mumofstig]

Certainly worth a try

[CHRISDONOHUE]

Most people have found that sowing carrots near onions does not work consistently to deter carrot root fly.   The incidence of carrot root fly on my carrots this year has been much less than last year.   It could easily be a coincidence, but if it works for you two years in a row, please let us all know.    Horticultural fleece though expensive is a much more reliable solution and carrot seed itself is very cheap.

[jambop]

I have my carrots in a raised bed about 30cm above ground and I have some nice carrots with no fly damage and they were next to a bed of shallots and onions. Coincidentally I grew some chantenay as well and I have some absolutely huge carrots not long but some 8cm in diameter the torchon carrots did ok too but I am going chanteny next year again. Dry weather was a problem this year and I think they would do better in a more normal year.

[mumofstig]

Most people have found that sowing carrots near onions does not work consistently to deter carrot root fly.   The incidence of carrot root fly on my carrots this year has been much less than last year.   It could easily be a coincidence, but if it works for you two years in a row, please let us all know.    Horticultural fleece though expensive is a much more reliable solution and carrot seed itself is very cheap.

I thought the point of the OP's post was to stress the timing of the sowing, rather than the onions deterring the fly 

[rowlandwells]

interesting reply Mum however its always nice to get something told that mite be worth trying next season because i must be the worlds worst for growing carrots yet the wife grows good carrots in raised beds covered with a suitable netting

i think i mentioned this in a previous reply that we. sorry the wife's trying some pelleted carrot seed next season so hopefully spacing the pelleted seed without disturbing the carrots could prove yet again some resistance against the dreaded carrot fly attacking the carrots?

its always a suck it and see basis when growing  some we win some we loose all we can do is try these things and hope it works 

[jambop]

While I think pelleted seed is a good idea I have my doubts as to whether I would use them. I lost a lot of my early carrots to slugs just after germination so I tend to sow thinly but reasonably thickly at the same time 

[rowlandwells]

I take your point Jambob however my method was to space the carrot seed [pelleted ] to save pulling and spacing the carrot crop as i understand pulling carrot's attracts the carrot fly  i also have other methods to sort those  slugs that does work

[CHRISDONOHUE]

It is fairly well-known that if you are willing to sacrifice growth made between March or April to the end of May, sowing in June tends to avoid carrot root fly.   Specialist workers tend to be good at identifying their target crops and have an enviable work ethic.   The gardener at RHS Wisley who chose to grow the variety Resistafly but still covered them with horticultural fleece had a proper respect: it says they are resistant, it does not say they are immune.

[Aidy]

Most people have found that sowing carrots near onions does not work consistently to deter carrot root fly.   The incidence of carrot root fly on my carrots this year has been much less than last year.   It could easily be a coincidence, but if it works for you two years in a row, please let us all know.    Horticultural fleece though expensive is a much more reliable solution and carrot seed itself is very cheap.

I thought the point of the OP's post was to stress the timing of the sowing, rather than the onions deterring the fly 

You are indeed correct Mum.
Our site every year gets hammered by the fly, the thought proccess was to grow a quicker growing varity in the onion bed once the onions were lifted on August when the fly in theory will not be making love and producing offspring!
I will of course be doing the same next year.

[jambop]

I am interested in this fly  In as much as I live in a very small village and the nearest veg plot is a long way from mine. If you add to this the fact that few people down here grow carrots anyway because of the very dry summers we get and the heavy soil. I have heard that carrot flies are very poor fliers, is this true? The reason I ask is that if that is true, in theory at least, I should never have a problem with the blighters because before I started my veg plot carrots had not been grown here for more than ten years.  As a scientist I am interested in how an insect would navigate over what would be quite a distance( there is not a garden within 500m of mine) to find my carrots

[New shoot]

You also have to account for wild plants in the same family that carrot fly attack Jambop.  Could be a hop, skip and a jump from the nearest hedgerow, or even a feeble flutter.

[Aunt Sally]

You also have to account for wild plants in the same family that carrot fly attack Jambop.  Could be a hop, skip and a jump from the nearest hedgerow, or even a feeble flutter.

I just wrote a very similar post, New Shoot but forgot to press post 

The flies can get blown a long way by breezes too.

[CHRISDONOHUE]

Gardening from Which found Fly Away to be the most resistant variety with Resistafly also resistant.   They suggest the fly will travel miles to seek out carrots!   Farmers use traps to decide when to spray their carrots with sprays which are unavailable to amateur gardeners.    Which probably makes growing your own a much healthier option.

[Aunt Sally]

Absolutely Chris, carrots are the most sprayed of all the farm crops.