Preventive Control

Natural enemies

Predators

1. Ground beetle
2. Spider

Management and cultural practices

1. Practice crop rotation or grow different crops in one cropping season. Where carrots, parsnips, celery or parsley are grown in short rotation close to earlier crops, population levels of carrot root flies (CRF) may become high. New plantings should be grown away from earlier crops (CABI, 2001). CRF are weak fliers. They will not infest fields from long distances (Muehleisen; et. al., 2003: p. 3). Crop rotation prevents their population build-up.
2. Onion and garlic are commonly used as companion crops and barrier crops to confuse the carrot fly by masking the scent of carrots with onion/garlic smells. Inter-planting onions and carrots - four rows of onions to one of carrots is sometimes recommended (HDRA, 2003).
3. Intercropping Medic (Medicago litoralis) to carrots deters CRF. Medic interferes with the host-plant finding and oviposition behavior of CRF (Miles, 1996).
4. Remove infested plants.
5. Clean areas of weeds around fields to minimize the risk of infestation. Adult female flies shelter on this habitat after laying eggs on the carrot field.
6. Plant carrot varieties that are resistant to carrot root fly. Ask for assistance from the local agriculturist office for the commercial names of the cultivars in your locality.