Various insects often spoil the mood of summer residents. The carrot fly is no exception. This is a very dangerous pest that can ruin almost the entire carrot crop. How to treat plants in a summer cottage against such misfortunes? This is not very difficult, but certain rules must be followed so that the grown carrots are not destroyed.
What is a carrot pest?
The larvae are a threat to root vegetables; they are the ones who eat the juicy fruits from the inside; subsequently, the damaged vegetable begins to rot.
The size of the insect is small: from five millimeters. But the larvae are voracious. Early spring is the insect's breeding season. The adult lays eggs in carrot stems. The emerging larvae devour the roots. At the moment of pupation, they leave the damaged fruits.
In summer, new insects appear. They pupate in the fall and hibernate in the ground for the winter.
Fighting methods
There are several ways to save your summer cottage from a terrible scourge:
- Application of insecticides.
- Correct agricultural technology.
- Treatment of affected beds with ammonia.
The first method is the most effective. But root vegetables treated with pesticides are harmful to health and the environment. We all love environmentally friendly products, so eating carrots treated with pesticides is not only unpleasant, but far from safe. If there are carrots with larvae on the site, then no matter how sorry the plants are, it is better to destroy them.
Using agricultural technology to prevent the occurrence of diseases and pests
To avoid excruciating pain over a ruined harvest, you need to choose the right predecessors correctly. Knowing that carrot pest larvae overwinter in the soil, you need to alternate sowing locations. It is not advisable to make beds with carrots in the same places. The best predecessor is onion.
It can also be used for protection against carrot flies, planted next door. This proximity solves two problems at once: onion fly does not like carrots, and carrots do not like onions. These vegetable crops will protect each other.
The absence of excess moisture will also help during cultivation, since the fly is very damp.This must also be taken into account when planting: low areas where moisture usually accumulates must be avoided.
Processing with environmentally friendly means
The most widely recognized folk method is processing carrots with ammonia. All means are good for pest control. In other words: we fight as best we can.
Ammonia is more familiar to everyone as a medical drug. But not everyone knows that it can be used in a summer cottage. In recent years, this use has become popular due to its high efficiency. The beneficial effect of use is due to the content of nitrogen compounds in it. This is what plants need.
Carrot fly, how to fight it with ammonia? Good concentration makes it possible to eliminate unpleasant moments. This is a very effective method as the smell can repel flies.
The spraying solution is prepared as follows: for 10 liters of water you need to take 2 ml of ammonia. The prepared mixture should be watered on the tops. The beds should be treated once every 2 weeks, during which time the smell will not have time to dissipate.
In addition to killing these insects, this composition can be used to combat garden ants and aphids, as well as to spray cabbage against caterpillars, slugs, snails and various fleas. It also saturates it with nitrogen and other trace elements. To process cabbage, you need to dissolve 80 ml of ammonia in 10 liters of water.
You can spray the plants with the resulting composition once every few days. Against slugs, watering from a watering can onto the head of cabbage is necessary.
How to spray and water
It should be remembered that ammonia is poison, and safety precautions must be observed.It is volatile, and it is best to spray the plant with a solution based on ammonia using a watering can with visible streams according to the following rules: at sunset after you have completed watering, or, when the weather is cloudy, from early morning when dawn comes.
You must work in rubber gloves and protective clothing.
What to use besides ammonia to get rid of the fly?
For protection they fight with the following folk remedies:
- Wood ash or ground black pepper. These components scattered between the rows repel insects.
- Orange peels also have a specific smell. A tincture of them is a good protection.
Positive and negative effects of using ammonia
Ammonia is a universal fertilizer for garden crops, and its benefits are undoubted. Unlike other compounds containing nitrogen, it is not so harmful to people, pets and plants. It is not only a fertilizer, but also a means to combat harmful insects.
It is worth focusing on the negative aspects. The main disadvantage will be the fact that if there is excess, problems will arise with stunted crop growth. Therefore, it can be used no more than once a week. When using ammonia for spraying, you need to make a solution of very low concentration; over time, it needs to be gradually increased. Otherwise, you may get a negative result from the application; root crops and other garden crops may get burned or die.
