carrots and when to plant

Hi all

I have an organic plot which I am new too. I want to plant some carrots there but it has been too cold I feel so far this year. I heard that if you sow early and sow late you can decrease the chances of them being attacked from carrot root fly. Is this correct?

Also is there anything else I can plant near to them or other means of detering this pest?

Many thanks

100% carrot-fly proof method - I have tried so many ways incl onions etc planted around with variable and unpredictable success, but this is now my definitive method:

(1) loose cover, with plenty of slack, as soon as sown with fleece and peg around corners and sides - loose to allow for expansion later.

(2) Build a fleece "wall" around carrot bed, about 2 foot high (I use bamboo canes at corners/down sides and poke it through the fleece to secure)

That's it - the few carrot fly that do blow over the "wall" will not get at the carrots.

I do thin when necessary but it is easy to climb over the "wall" and remove the main fleece to do so.

Caused a bit of mirth on my plot by some old boys who felt it was overkill ("oh you don't want to be doing that son") but I had the last laugh when I had perfect carrots and they got the dreaded fly..

Plenty of people here who have used a "two foot wall" and still got attacked by fly (they don't fly very high, but wind currents carry them where the wind currents go!)

My suggestion would be to make a "tent" with Enviromesh (which is small enough to stop the fly getting through). Its relatively expensive, but very durable, so will last many seasons. Make sure the "width" of the roll is enough to go across the width of your row / bed, and for the height of the sides (on both sides).

I support mine with hoops made from blue water pipe, but short canes with an old plastic bottle, or ball, on top dotted about would do

I go with the tent too, then use it on later brassicas and use longer canes and ping pong balls

Early and late planting to avoid carrot fly may have worked at one time but it certainly does not now. From what I can gather carrot fly are on the wing continuously from mid-April until mid-September.

They seem to have got a lot worse in the last few years. Is it the mild Winters? Will we see less this year?

If you do try the 'wall' barrier method it is best to slope them inwards so the airflow blows over them more smoothly.  Vertical walls as a windblock tend to have rotor on the lee side, swirling the airflow complete with carrot fly round and down to the soil!

 What on earth is fleece, apart from a sheeps jumper that is?

Hi all

I have an organic plot which I am new too. I want to plant some carrots there but it has been too cold I feel so far this year. I heard that if you sow early and sow late you can decrease the chances of them being attacked from carrot root fly. Is this correct?

Also is there anything else I can plant near to them or other means of detering this pest?

Many thanks

FLEECE