Organic Gardening: Carrot Flies

I always thought I had a brown thumb, but have come to realize I just never took the time to learn about whatever it was I was trying to grow. I ordered a nice selection of GMO free seeds which include vegetables, and herbs from Mary's Heirloom Seeds, she is having a sale by the way.

Photo credit

Well, eager from some GMO free veggies, I planted the atomic red carrots I purchased. Everything was going fine until I noticed some small insects flying around them. Research lead me to discover the carrot fly which lays their eggs near the plant, larvae hatches and the maggots feast on the carrot root. You can see from the image on the right the damage this tiny pest can do.

So, how to avoid this little pest without using chemicals became my next goal. The most suggested method to avoid these pests is companion planting with onions. Because the carrot fly uses its sense of smell to detect the carrots, the onions will mask the smell. It also turns out that the carrots help the onions to avoid onion flies.

When planting, plant a row of onions,  then carrots, and then onions. Consider using two types of onions, I have red onions, and think I will also plant some green onions which I love to cook with.

I found this great site for companion planting, click on the letter of the herb or vegetable, and just read the simple yet concise information. I also started an organic gardening board on Pintrest some may be interested in.




This blog shared at Wildcrafting Wednesday, and here.