Resistafly

[dave45]

After being hit in previous years with carrot fly, this year I planted Early Nantes, Autumn King and Resistafly (super variety allegedly with improved immunity from carrot fly). All 3 varieties were absolute rubbish this year, and ALL ruined by carrot fly... just pulled up one row - not a single usable carrot. I fancied carrot soup today so after that disappointment I went to the local shop... 35p a pound for perfect carrots... why do I bother trying to grow the bl***y things against such skilful opponents?

[Green Aura]

Never tried them Dave. But I tend to agree about growing carrots being a bit of a pain. We always seem to get some carrot fly damage.

The best I've seen were at our old house in Manchester, where my DD was living. My mother planted a virtually a whole packet in a raised bed, while she was staying with her for a few days. As DD never ventured into the garden they remained completely untouched - not thinned out or anything - until I harvested them some months later. They were absolutely fantastic, not a hint of damage.

The downside was there were tons of the damn things (2 big trugs full!)- we were eating carrots with every meal for weeks and weeks.

[grahamhobbs]

As I've posted before only 1 in 7 carrots makes it to the shops, so don't be too disheartened. After a poor start when I couldn't get them to germinate (perhaps the seed was a bit old) I finally sowed Flakee and they germinated beautifully. They have gone on to be completely carrot fly free. This is the first time ever. I grow them in an 18" high raised bed, although in previous years this hasn't stopped the carrot fly.

We rarely buy veg, growing virtually all we need, but this weekend the OH bought a large bag of frozen broad beans for £1 and I thought god, the work I have to go through to produce that amount, saving seed, planting, protecting, weeding, picking, and even just podding the things - but she did say they were tasteless compared with the ones I've grown and have in the freezer.

[dragonoak]

We've always had the same problem.... apart from this year. We found an ancient packet of the "Value" BandQ white label carrot hidden in a drawer, and i though "Well, it can't hurt". They've come out lovely! A little on the small side- but the taste is all there. I'm just glad I didnt go out and buy some new seed- you can gaurentee sod's law would come a-knocking!

[oldjerry]

Well the carrot fly hit at a given time,here in upland Salop 2nd to 3rd week in may.Praps if you sow a fast variety early or late you give yourself a better chance.Otherwise cover with enviromesh,works for me.

[dave45]

Well the carrot soup *was* pretty tasteless (comparatively) from shop carrots ! but maybe thats a variety thing, like some spuds being better for chips compared to roasties or mash... mind you shouldn't complain... the kids will eat my carrot soup :-)
what frustrates my is that I do the crop rotation thing, I plant 3 different varieties in 3 different beds and they all get zapped.

bah humbug

[cafe_tom]

This year has been terrible for me with carrots. They just aren't germinating, or if they do, I am only getting 1 out of 20. I had to put four separate sowings in this year. I'll try the raised beds next year. A friend in Bristol has good results in his.

[gregorach]

Well the carrot fly hit at a given time,here in upland Salop 2nd to 3rd week in may.Praps if you sow a fast variety early or late you give yourself a better chance.Otherwise cover with enviromesh,works for me.

Yeah, a combination of early and late plantings plus fleece seems to keep the fly off here... Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the wireworm.

[dave45]

how early is early?

[Millymollymandy]

I gave up and just buy them now - they are cheap, they taste the same and they last a good month or so in the fridge. And they are sooooooo much easier to peel and no manky bits to chop out!

[oldjerry]

Well,it depends where you are,but heres an idea.Start your carrots(or any other 'untransplantable' root crop)in a green house, frame window sill whatever.You will need a V or deep U shaped bit of gutter or similar (could knock it up out of thin ply but plastic is more slidey)About 2 ft long.Holes drilled in bottom.Sow in this.When they're about 1\2 '' long get empty bit of gutter(you will want a few) and make an impression in your planting spot same length as the one you.ve planted up.Waterwell then slide contents into place on plot.This is nowhere near as complex as I've made it sound,and I 've done it for years with parsnips as I don't like interplanting them with radish.It should give your carrots an early start.

[gregorach]

how early is early?

March. The fleece helps right enough...

[Denzle]

I can agree with you on this one.

Although my carrots were pretty good this year, I was shocked to see in my local Aldi store a bag of beautiful carrots.

When I say beautiful, thats exactly what I mean. I even suggested to my wife that I should buy some and show them. We were bound to win.

They were approximately 7" + inches long and 1 1/2" wide. The sides were nice and smooth and they were as straight as a ruler with beautiful stump ends. Just as you see on the show bench.

Makes me wonder if I will be growing them next year, as I could fill a good few freezer bags of these and save me all the trouble of growing them. At only 39p a bag.

We bought a bag to try and they were 100% beautiful.

All I can Say is........Good One Aldi Store. Evesham. U.K.