[gardener247]

i know there has been a lot of talk on this topic but i thought i had a brainwave... Cling film in a 4 foot high barrier around my carrot area, weeding might be hard but would it work? thoughts??

[mumofstig]

the wind would rip it to shreds ..........poly sheeting would last longer

[gardener247]

so it wouldnt even last one season?

[DD.]

Doubt it's UVI either.

[peterjf]

i beleive the carrot fly only flies at about 1ft high,if so a barrier of 2 ft should be enough

unless ive been told wrong , this answer should get a few repies if im wrong ,

[noshed]

People on our site use that method - any old barrier really. Bits of plastic sheeting seem to be popular. I use enviromesh, which is great although a slight pain for weeding. Also late crops seem to miss the fly - I had quite a good late crop last year.

[kingston boy]

Grow onions between the rows of carrots. The smell of the onion deters the fly. Every year i do that and every year is fly free. Another of my grandads old ideas and he had allotments for over 50 yrs. Another thing he said about onions, if you loosen the soil around the bulb as its filling out they will improve in size. Old codgers are great to learn from. I'm just about one of them now tho!!

[gypsy]

my carrot fly likes the smell of onions and can fly high the carrot fly ruined my carrots and parsnips for 2 years now.

[Greendream]

In my first year i was told no one on our site grew carrots as they were decimated by carrot fly but I had some seeds, planted them, promptly forgot about them and then planted tall cornflowers seeds in the same bed.They looked amazing all summer and when I cleared them found a bed of perfect carrots underneath! 

[Cavolo Nero]

Im going to trying growing the resistafly variety right next to my garlic this year. If the flies still manage to munch it, Ill concentrate on beetroot. I prefer to eat beetroot anyway!

[Lupin lurcher]

Hi I was listening to the gardening programme on our local radio station last Sunday morning.  A caller phoned in and said last year he used cheap perfume to spray on his carotts and he had no trouble with the dreaded carott fly, he said there was no aftertaste either.  The expert went on to say she had heard of people using a spray consisting of a little chilli powder mixed with water to spray on them, apparently the little blighters do not like the smell.  Has anyone else heard of these methods.  Regards Mandy

[scabs]

Somebody last year suggested that I earthed them up a bit.

It was too late, the whole lot had been got to...

[aelf]

I have a long, deep wooden planter (would make a great coffin for me whem the time comes  ) and i have placed it on a stack of breeze blocks so the top of the planter is now 5 feet off the ground. That should stop them pesky critters! 

[DD.]

They can't fly that high, but they glide well in the wind though!

[aelf]

true. I guess the next step is to build a nuclear fall-out shelter, but they would still get in.