Carrot Rust Fly (Carrot Maggot)

This small, shiny, black fly with yellowish legs and yellow-brown head, lays eggs in soil near plants. Yellowish-white, legless maggots feed on roots of carrots, parsnips and celery, leaving rust-coloured tunnels. Young plants may be killed. Older plants may be stunted and the roots deformed.

Monitoring

See “Monitoring”, (Carrots section of this guide).

Control

The suggested spray schedule in Table 2 need only be followed if the field is not monitored for carrot rust flies. Monitoring can eliminate or substantially reduce the number of sprays per season. Monitoring helps ensure sprays are applied exactly when needed.

“Drench” means to spray the insecticide in at least 1000 L/ha (400 L/acre) of water on the soil 10 cm on each side of the plants in the row.