The Modern Victory Garden

Someone noted in the comments on this week’s Harvest Monday post that my carrots were cute, thinking they were baby carrots.   Unfortunately, that was not the case (although I can see why it looked like that).   While they were indeed relatively young carrots, the real reason they were short and small is that I had already trimmed off the tips, which had carrot fly damage.   I always trim and clean my harvested produce before I weigh or photograph them.   I don’t weigh items that are damaged and I generally try not to weigh parts of the plant that are not edible.  That is why my carrot tops are always trimmed off, corn husks removed, etc. before I weigh.                         

I had some carrot fly damage for the first time last year and that should have been a sufficient enough warning to trigger me to take immediate action to put reemay row cover material over the plants, which is truly the only organic method to manage this particular pest.   However, I personally really do not like to use reemay in my garden because even though the lighter weights allow a great deal of sun to pass through, it still blocks a certain percentage of it.   In a growing climate like mine where the sun is often blocked by cloud cover, I am not anxious to put yet another filter on the sunshine by using reemay.   In this case though, I really should have taken action this spring to protect the carrot patch with some protective cover.                  

For those not familiar with the carrot fly, let me give you a brief introduction to this damaging little garden pest.   Carrot fly are small flying insects that look somewhat like an ant with wings.   The female lays her eggs in the soil close to carrots so that when hatched out her tiny maggots have a food supply.   The maggots feed on the carrot root and create dark tunnels and decay.   Carrot flies are attracted by the smell of carrots.   One way to help avoid an infestation is to try not to weed or harvest when it is damp or breezy and avoid unnecessarily crushing the actual carrot leaves.   Some people grow carrots next to a different more strongly scented crop (such as onions or garlic) to control the carrot fly.   There is some research that supports this approach but the effect is fairly negligible and not a true protection but rather more of a first line of defense.   It is also generally understood that carrot flies are “low fliers” that will not fly above a certain level from the ground. Some people plant their carrots in tall edged containers that are elevated up off the ground to thwart the low flying carrot fly.   Personally, I grow too many carrots each year for that to be a practical potential solution.   The most practical and proven effective method to manage this pest is to 1) avoid build up of the pests in the environment by using good crop rotation practices (never planting carrots in the same place in consecutive years); and 2) covering the crop with a protective barrier materials from May through the end of August when the carrot fly is generally active.                             

Usually one of the first things you may notice that indicate you have a carrot fly infestation is that some of the carrot tops become yellowed or discolored.  

By the time you notice foliage changes on the plants though, some damage has already been done to the root.                      

Since I knew I had a carrot fly infestation problem and it would only get worse the longer the roots were allowed to remain in the ground, I chose to pull all of the two main carrot beds this evening, leaving the few odds and ends I have planted in various other beds as well as the recently planted fall carrot patch that is just emerging.   I pulled quite a nice bunch of carrots… or at least they would have been nice if they were free of the carrot fly damage.   

As you can see, there is quite a bit of damage done to most of the roots.   However, there is no need to completely waste a crop with damage like this, as it is quite possible to salvage useful portions with careful trimming.   I was able to trim this mess up to provide 1.25 lbs of perfectly nice chunks of carrots that I will further slice up and cook for tomorrow night’s dinner.      

The final task I completed this evening was to cover the newly emerging bed of fall carrots with reemay.    Hopefully I got the cover on them before the carrot flies could smell the tiny new emerging plants.                    

Next year’s carrot patch will start off with covers right from the first planting up and hopefully I will get back to growing beautiful carrots once again.              

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener