Attempting to beat the dreaded carrot fly.

Unfortunately carrot flies thrive in moist and mild climates – just like ours and our countryside provides many wild plants, such as cow parsley, which the carrot fly is attracted to. Problems with carrot fly larvae can discourage gardeners from even trying to grow carrots.

Carrot fly are small black insects, about 5mm long, that feed on nectar. They look a little like an ant with wings. The female lays her eggs in the soil close to where carrots are growing so that when hatched the tiny maggots have a ready food supply. The maggots feed on the root of the carrot and are responsible for the brown tunnels that regularly spoil the carrot crop.

Carrot flies are said to be poor fliers and it is suggested that any open topped barrier that surrounds the carrots will prevent the fly from entering. I must admit to being a bit sceptical about this, it is likely that carrot flies can be carried over the barriers on the wind, so we prefer to completely cover our carrot crop with Enviromesh. To be effective the covering needs to be in place before the flies begin to lay their eggs. This tends to be in May but accurate forecasts are produced on the web.

Removing the covering in order to weed the crops can allow some fly in meaning this isn’t a foolproof method.

Carrot flies home in to the smell of the carrots so weeding when there is little breeze on a dry evening can reduce the chances of carrot fly invasion of your carrot beds. After weeding firm down any loosened soil. There is also a suggestion that growing carrots alongside a different strongly scented crop such as onions or garlic can help control the fly. Research does back up that this does have some effect but it is only small and it need four rows of onions to each row of carrots. It is not effective until the onions are making leaf.

To avoid a build up of pests it is essential that you do not grow carrots in the same place in two consecutive years.

Another pest of newly emerging carrot seedlings is the slug so your chosen control of these greedy creatures needs to be in place before the carrot seedlings start to germinate.

Our sowing and growing method