Something's been eating my Carrots and Beetroot!

I have dug up the beetroot and carrots for winter storage this week. In both cases I was disappointed.

Beetroot

When I lifted the beetroot for winter storage I found that all the decent sized roots had been eaten. Not by an insect, but by something much larger with teeth. No one else seems to have the problem, just me! I thought at first it was rabbits, but looking at some of the half-eaten roots more closely, I think the heads which owned the teeth had to be much narrower than a rabbit.

What's eating my beetroot? 

So rats then! Autumn is the time of year when the rats leave the fields and have to look elsewhere for their food. And of course there are many hens around at the allotments, and where there are hens, there are rats.

Most of the large roots were destroyed, leaving only a few golf-ball sized roots. Fortunately I still have a couple of jars of last season’s pickled beetroot left, so I can manage with the pickles, but I have very few now to store for winter use.

Next year I suppose I have to use rat bait – not a prospect I relish.

Carrots

When I lifted my carrots I found that many of them had been affected by carrot fly. Only about a third of the crop were in a good enough condition for storage. With the rest I cut out the blackened holey (unholy!) bits and threw them in the bottom of the fridge until I have time to process them.

Carrot soup anyone?

Carrot fly damage.

I grew the roots under mesh (enviromesh) weighed down with bricks, but clearly I haven’t been vigilant enough to ensure no way in.

I do practise rotation, so this year’s carrots are grown somewhere else than last year’s. At least that means that when the overwintering grubs hatch out in the soil they have to go somewhere else to look for their food, rather than finding breakfast in bed ready and waiting. The problem is that on an allotment the flies don’t have that far to look. This year’s bed is inevitably only a few yards away from last year’s.

So what to do?

(a)  Variety            Maybe grow varieties that are resistant to the fly. I looked on the net to find out which variety was best and came across this entry for the carrot flyaway:

The result of over 15 years breeding, this is we believe the closest to being a completely carrot fly resistant variety. In recent trials it came out top when grown against over 20 other 'resistant' varieties. Its resistance lies in it having low levels of chlorogenic acid, a chemical which the larvae of the carrot fly needs for survival. This means that it appears to be unattractive to the fly and even if your crop is attacked to some degree the larvae will soon die after doing relatively little damage.

Of course this is a totally biased account from someone who wants to sell me seeds, rather than an unbiased account from a consumer. Nevertheless, it looks promising.

(b) Cover   If I cover more diligently making sure there are no gaps, the fly should not be able to get in. Of course, when while the mesh is temporarily removed to harvest/thin/weed, the carrots are vulnerable. 

(c) Avoid crushing foliage  If I grow a “bunching” carrot, then I won’t have to thin and will be able to lift several carrots at a time without crushing the foliage  and releasing the scent.   When I harvest I must carefully lift from below rather than pull from above. If the fly can’t smell it, it won’t find it.

(d) Interplanting with onions  Traditionally rows of onions were sown between rows of carrots and the scent of one was meant to confuse the fly of the other. However recent research suggests this to be of minimal effectiveness.

(e) Harvesting at the right time  Apparently the scent doesn't carry when it is raining.  Also, I have read that the flies only fly during the daylight hours.  So maybe I should harvest when it's raining? Or at dusk? Or, even better, at night in the rain?

I can't see that happening somehow!