Sunday, September 5, 2010

Carrots in Soil-Less Mix seem to be Fly-less as well


It is finally harvest time in my mini-garden beside the house. Last week I reported on the grand harvest of 15 blue potatoes from a single pot and this week I started pulling carrots out of my 3' x 3' mini-garden.

Because this was just an experiment and not a big "carrot growing operation" I was surprised how clean the carrots came out and it was a minute before I noticed the roots were rust-fly free. Then I remembered Joan telling me the carrots she was testing in her pots beside the ones growing in the ground were also fly free while the ground-grown carrots were riddled with the tiny maggots (or worms) so common with this insect.

We all know carrots do better in light soils but is it possible you can grow rust-fly free carrots more than one year in the same soil mix? I will definitely leave the soil in tact in this wooden box just to trial this idea next year. This is a nagging and irritating pest of carrots so it is great to know there may be a simple solution.

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