It takes some work and patience to grow a perfect crop of straight, beautifully orange, smooth skinned, crisp and delicious carrots.
The soil needs to be crumbly and deep, they need water and fertilizer, and there are a variety of insects that might insist on having the first munch – not the least of which is Psila rosae.
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Also known as the carrot rust fly, the maggots of this tiny fly are no joke. Thanks to their small size and well-hidden feeding, their damage can be an unpleasant surprise at harvest time if you aren’t keeping a close watch on your plants.
How can you deal with these hungry maggots?
Everything you need to know about them is laid out for you below!
Here’s what we’ll cover:
What Are Carrot Rust Flies?Also known as the carrot root fly, the larvae of the this pest loves – you guessed it – those sweet, crisp, orange garden staples.
They will also attack celery, celeriac, parsley, parsnips, and other Apiaceae (aka Umbelliferae) plant family members, chewing on the roots.
Symptoms of an infestation include yellowing and dying leaves and plant dieback, wilting, stunting, bulbous and forked roots, and root tunnels.
Older plants may be able to take some feeding, and will only show some root scarring, but these pests can kill younger plants.
The tunnels they mine turn rust red in color from the frass left behind by the immature pests, and these double as an excellent entry point for pathogens.
IdentificationThe adults are small, six-millimeter-long shiny flies with a dark-colored abdomen and thorax, clear wings, and an orange-tinted head. They are weak
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