Do you have loose soil in your garden and depth to plant carrots? What are you waiting for? There is no point in comparing a carrot from the supermarket to one from your own harvest as they are much sweeter and crunchier. Today we are going to learn about 6 pests that can affect carrots and how to combat them.
Carrots are easy to grow, all they need is loose soil without stones, nutrients and plenty of water as we taught you in the article on how to plant carrots.
Contents
cutworm
Also known as lizards, these are caterpillars that can get quite large as they are very greedy and during the day they stay buried in the ground until nighttime making it difficult to see which pest is eating the carrots . They can be of different colors like green, brown, gray and when disturbed they curl up in a C shape. They are usually polyphagous caterpillars which means they feed on any what culture.
In addition, they usually feed at the base of the plant, cutting it and therefore dying. These caterpillars leave huge black excrement and if they are small we can run our hand through the carrot leaves to see if they fall to the ground.
If you have a major pest, there are other methods of applying the bacillus to affect this type of caterpillar, although we can also apply it to the leaves by spraying. If it is difficult for you to catch the bacillus, then you only have the option of going out at night with a flashlight in search of it.
aphids
Aphids reproduce quickly and without realizing it there is already a large infestation. The biggest problem is when it comes to young plants because they are weaker against attacks. The aphid not only feeds, but also transmits diseases. To try to combat it, one can use a jet of water under pressure, but if the problem persists, it is better to apply neem oil by spray or potassium soap.
Both products can also be applied at the same time for greater effectiveness. If you have aphids underground it is because ants are taking them to the roots, keeping them away will stop this problem.
carrot fly
It is a fly that lays eggs on carrots and whose larvae are very harmful to the crop because they create interior galleries where nothing more can be done than to pull up the carrots to prevent them from spread because they can affect other crops. The main symptom is that they leave rust-colored galleries on carrots. It also affects celery, parsnips and parsley.
This pest usually affects the onset of spring and autumn, causing damage not only to young carrot crops, but also when they are already well developed. The best way to tell if there are carrot flies in the crop is to use yellow colored traps. We’re going to put them near the ground and carrots and if we see stuck flies like the ones in the bottom photo, we have the plague.
If the pest is already present in the crop, it is best to apply neem oil by spraying because this organic product not only acts by contact but is also absorbed by the plant, also reaching the underground part of the carrot. Another long-term option is to rotate crops to prevent the pest from affecting the same area over and over again.
carrot weevil
Weevils or also known as weevils, are beetles that have an elongated mouth that looks like a beak. Carrot weevil feeds on carrot leaves while its larva feeds on the root itself. The weevil is complicated to fight in an ecological way, the only thing that can be done is to observe the carrot leaves in search of them, capture them and throw them to the hens or kill them.
The weevil’s defense mechanism is to play dead and fall to the ground. To avoid losing sight of it, we must put one hand below and with the other try to catch it, so if it falls we can capture it with the other hand.
It also affects other crops such as celery and parsley, so crop rotation is also important with this pest since the larvae overwinter underground.
We can make a trap with a glass jar inside which we put a piece of carrot and bury it at ground level, on top we will place a tile or something to cover it in case of rain. It can drop not only weevils (bottom image) and larvae (they look like blind chickens) but other beneficial animals that we don’t want to die. We will review it periodically and in a tank we can separate the good animals from the bad ones.
wireworm
It is one of the worst pests you can have because the larvae of this beetle can live in the ground for up to 5 years and affect many crops. The adult is a flattened and elongated beetle while its larva looks like an elongated orange worm. The wireworm burrows into the stems and roots of plants, eating them from the inside. Crop rotation is essential even if it is not very effective, the land should be left fallow for a few years. On the other hand, we also have the ecological remedy known as solarization or biosolarization, but it is an expensive process and requires a lot of sun and heat.
Another small-scale method is to use carrots by planting them in the ground and pulling them up a few days later. We put a container with water and soap, dropping the larvae to drown, and we bury the carrots again, until we no longer have problems with the plague.
The plank trap consists of placing planks between the rows of plants so that possible pests such as wireworms, snails or slugs can hide at night. From time to time we will check them to see if there is anything underneath, with gloves we capture them and put the hens or in a container with soapy water.
Macaón or Swallowtail Butterfly
This is a very beautiful caterpillar and butterfly usually found in the garden on carrot, celery, parsley, rue and other plants of the family. They are an excellent pollinator for the garden and if you are embarrassed to kill them, there is always the possibility of moving them to another site. You can also use the bacillus as a preventative if you start to see many moths perching on the leaves and not the flowers, as this means they are laying eggs.
Preventive remedies
- Association of cultures: Onion, leeks, parsley, rosemary, nasturtiums, chives. These are crops that can be planted near carrots as they will act as pest attractants or repellents. Pleasant like parsley and repellent like onion, leek, chives or nasturtium.
- Micro-tunnel: It consists of placing a micro tunnel with mesh to protect a certain crop that we want to avoid being affected by pests.
- Hedge of Beneficial Plants: We know that having flowering and aromatic plants is good for attracting predators to the garden.
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