Carrot fly - how to remove from the site?

A carrot fly is one of the most dangerous pests of root carrots and also umbrella crops, Fennel, dill, parsnip, parsley, daikon and celery. Often the question arises: how to deal with a carrot fly? Insect larvae are gluttonous and can fairly spoil the vegetables, which in damaged form are not suitable for storage and lose their taste qualities. Completely get rid of the carrot fly on the site will not work, but you can significantly reduce its population. The main measures of struggle are the regular processing and implementation of preventive actions. Compliance with the rules of crop rotation is hampered by intensive pest breeding in the garden.

Signs of the appearance of a carrot fly

Visually observing a fly is difficult because of its small size. The individual reaches a length of up to 4.5 mm and has a black glossy color. The flowering period of mountain ash, lilac and apple trees signals that the soil is sufficiently heated at a depth of 10 cm, and the carrot fly begins to escape out after wintering. The active phase of egg laying on the culture takes place on the 25th-30th day after emergence of carrots. Tentatively this is the end of May.

The insect is quite prolific and continues for years throughout the growing season, succeeds in breeding several generations of offspring for the season. Therefore, fighting a carrot fly takes a long time. This is the difficulty - it is not so easy to get rid of. Sometimes the larvae that do not have time to gain weight remain in the root crops and continue their activity during winter storage.

Affected plants have a reddish-violet shade of leaves, which subsequently turn yellow and die. Roots are covered with hilly formations and outgrowths, inside of them are the passages from the larvae. The carrots taste bitter and more rigid in structure.

A visual representation of the number of pests can be obtained using self-made traps. A conventional plastic bottle cuts one third of the upper part, which is turned upside down with a neck and inserted into the remaining lower container. At the bottom of the tank pour fermented bread kvass. The fly attracts the smell, and it falls into a trap.

Fly activity

The carrot prefers shady places with high humidity. The abundance of rains contributes to an increase in the insect population. In the evening and in the morning, when there is no heat, the fly is most active.

Females lay a lot of eggs near the root neck of cultures, and with good watering and warm weather eggs develop well. The larvae appear one week after the masonry. They colonize the fruit, where for the next three weeks they live and gain weight.

Then they go out into the ground and pupate, waiting in this state for the next season. In the spring after heating the soil, the cycle is repeated. The number of carrot flies can drop sharply during periods of arid spring months. In dry weather, up to 50% of deferred eggs die.

Preventive methods for controlling carrot flies

Preventive methods are understood as actions aimed at creating conditions that hamper the appearance of a carrot fly on the site. These include the following measures.

• Respect for crop rotation. Change of places of sowing of cultures promotes decrease in a population of pests. It should be remembered that in the same place, it is not necessary to plant plants belonging to the same family for several consecutive years.
• Removal of weeds from the umbellate family. Such weeds as clover and dandelion are additional nutrition for adult flies.
• Early terms of sowing carrots. This allows you to get rid of excessive infection of the fruit.
• Arrangement of ridges on sun-ventilated areas. The fly does not like dry places, and eggs are more difficult to ripen in such areas.
• Periodical weeding and loosening of rows and rows, in addition to improving gas exchange in the soil, leads to the destruction and destruction of clutches.
• Decimation and removal of damaged and injured plants. Thus, pests are destroyed in the stage of the larvae.
• Removal of plant residues from the vegetable garden and keeping the plot clean. Smells of fermentation, dampness and decay attract not only a carrot fly, but many other pests.
• Laying peat mulch on the ridges. The carrot fly does not like the content of peat in the soil.

Folk ways to combat the carrot fly

There are many methods for getting rid of a carrot fly on beds.

• Disembarking of garlic and onion rims near or around the carrot. You can also alternate ridges. The sharp specific smell of these plants does not tolerate pests and does not settle near such sites.
• Everyone knows the marigolds with their strong smell attract some insects - enemies for a carrot fly. In addition, they can be an original decorate the garden plot.
• Watering of carrot crops with onion infusion. For this, the onion husks are brewed with boiling water in a proportion of one to two. When the liquid has cooled down, water the rows, then immediately place the husks between the rows.
• Infusion of red or black pepper. A tablespoon of ground pepper is bred in a bucket and abundantly irrigated by ridges.
• A mixture of dry sand and tobacco dust( one tablespoon of dust per liter of sand) sprinkle the soil.
• You can shelter crops with agrofiber - this is a fairly effective fight against a carrot fly. The secret is to simultaneously shed the area where the carrots are planted, and immediately lay agglomerates until the flies flew to the sides.

Chemical methods of fighting

Chemical methods allow you to quickly get rid of harmful insects, but you must adhere to certain processing rules and remember the safety( use of personal protective equipment), working with chemicals.

There is a large number of insecticides, the application of which must be in strict accordance with the instructions. It is important to remember that in the hot, dry weather at high ambient temperatures, the effectiveness of chemicals is reduced.

In the mornings with abundant dew it is necessary to wait until the plants dry out, otherwise the concentration of the drug will decrease and not get a 100% protection effect. This also applies to foggy days. In order not to be afraid of poisoning with chemicals, it is important to follow the recommendations on the frequency and timing of treatments.

Biological protection

This is the most acceptable method of fighting and an excellent alternative to chemistry. Biological preparations are safe for health.

The most effective drug is "Aktofit".

• In five liters of water, dilute 10 ml of the biopreparation.
• Spray the beds at a rate of 5 liters per hundred surfaces.
• Adhesives should be added to the solution.

It is important to know that it is better not to use a sprayer for biopreparations, in which there was chemistry, - the efficiency drops significantly.

Council

To get rid of a carrot fly, biopreparations should be used more often than chemistry.

Combining preventive methods and the use of protective equipment, you can get a good harvest. In this case, the system is very important.