Carrot woes

 Yesterday I lifted my first carrots of the season. As you can see from the
photos, they are looking a bit sad. Something's been eating the Autumn
Kings:-
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd220/BertieDoe/IMG_2431.jpg
All carrots so far are undersized with a max length of 100mm / 4 ins. The
James Scarlett are prone to forking:-
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd220/BertieDoe/IMG_2432.jpg

The soil is neutral ph, gritty and well drained. The seeds were sown
sparsely so no thinning required. At seedling stage, the soil was firmed in
nicely. All the allotment had cow manure in December and a granular general
fertilizer (twice) throughout the growing season. I can see why non of the
other allotments bother with carrots, but I don't like to give up on this
one. Any thoughts, remedies etc. Thanks
Bertie

 On 03/10/2011 18:04, Bertie Doe wrote:

Looks like carrot fly to me, the bane of all carrot growers, I am on the
point of giving up. How do professional farmers manage?

--
Residing on low ground in North Staffordshire

 

Yes, in one of the pics the fly is there.

Baz

 
How do professional farmers manage?

Moonraker,

I have coppied this from an earlier post of mine:-

2 was the same and it nearly put me off growing the things.
Year 3(last year) I made a timber frame and covered it with pvc around, not
the top as water will not get through. I had no fly and someone here
suggested that it might be because the fly and its larvae died during
winter. I tested this year. I sowed seeds in the frame and a few in open
ground.

The carrots in the frame are perfect whereas the ones in open ground are
riddled with the thing.

To me this is case proven though when I first heard of the barrier method I
was very sceptical.(Isuppose some wiseass is going to make a joke about
barrier method)

It's a faff and expensive making the frame but a carrot fresh out of the
ground is something to write home about, and the frame will last a few
years?

Baz  

 

No faff or expense. I've posted this before.....surround the carrot bed with
'pea sticks', the green kind from shops. Get a roll of ordinary kitchen
cling film and run it several times around the sticks. Use some gaffer tape
to stop it slipping down the sticks. Also acts as a good windbreak when you
have a lot of top growth. :)
Pete C