Why do carrots curl and how to process them?

Healthy carrot tops are bright green and have straight leaves. If they begin to curl, this indicates that the plant is being attacked by pests. To save your harvest, you need to know how to deal with each of them.

Noticing that the carrot leaves are curling, you must immediately begin to solve this problem. If you do not take the necessary measures in a timely manner, in the future you will have to face unpleasant consequences:

• the roots will be small and pale;
• productivity will drop significantly;
• the plants will be less tasty than usual.

In order to prevent this from happening, it is necessary to notice the problem in time and begin to fight against the pests that attacked the crop.

Carrot aphids are one of the main enemies of this popular root vegetable. She settles on the tops of the plant and leaves her eggs there. It is not difficult to notice the appearance of aphids. This is evidenced by the following signs:

• sticky wet traces appear on the tops;
• leaves begin to turn yellow and curl;
• a large number of ants appear in the garden, which are the main carriers of aphids.

There are many ways to fight carrot aphids. In some cases, this problem can be dealt with by simply washing off small insects with water. But this method only works if their number is not very large.

If the site has been badly damaged by such pests, it is worth using proven chemicals for treatment. "Iskra", "Aktara", "Confidor" or "Fitoverm" will help to get rid of aphids. A mask and gloves must be worn before using all of these drugs. This will protect yourself.

Many gardeners prefer to use proven folk remedies to destroy small pests that will not harm human health and the environment. There are several popular recipes that gardeners will find useful in the fight against aphids.

• Soap solution. Soap is very often added to formulations used to combat various types of aphids. To get rid of pests attacking carrots, you need to take a piece of tar soap and grate it on a coarse grater. The shavings must be filled with water in a volume of 10 liters. After it dissolves in the liquid, the solution will be usable.

• Infusion on wood ash. To prepare it, you need to take 300 grams of ash. Pour 1 liter of water over the dry product. The mixture must be boiled for a few minutes. After it has cooled slightly, add 1-2 tablespoons of liquid soap to it. After that, the infusion must be left in a warm place for a couple of hours.

• Garlic infusion. To prepare a solution from pests, the head of garlic must be chopped or grated. The resulting gruel must be poured with cool water. 200 grams of product takes 1 liter of water. When the product is infused a little, it can be used to process carrot beds.

• Herbal infusions. You can also use chamomile or celandine to combat small pests. Chamomile flowers are sold at the pharmacy. To process the beds, you need to pour 1 kg of dried inflorescences with boiling water and insist everything for the whole night.The next morning, the product can be used to treat plants. An infusion of celandine is also prepared during the day. Three kilograms of the leaves of this plant are crushed and added to a bucket of water. After the product is infused, it can be used to spray curly foliage.

• Tobacco. A glass of crushed tobacco leaves should be brewed in 5 liters of water and boiled a little. The resulting broth must be infused for a day. After this period of time, it must be filtered and used for spraying young plants. It is worth remembering that the harvest after such processing should be harvested no earlier than 10-14 days. You can also use dried and pulverized tobacco. It can be used for dusting plants in pure form or mixed with wood ash.

• Citrus infusion. It helps well in the fight against aphids and citrus infusion. For its preparation, 300 grams of dried peel of lemons, oranges or tangerines must be poured with 1 liter of water. The product must be infused for 24 hours, and then boiled for 10-12 minutes and filtered. The cooled citrus broth must be diluted in a bucket of water. For greater efficiency, add a tablespoon of any liquid soap there. Such a solution copes well even with a large number of pests.

• Essential oils. To combat carrot aphids, you can use lavender, thyme, and cedar oils. A solution based on aroma oils is very simple to prepare. Dissolve 10 drops of any oil in half a glass of fresh cream. After that, they are bred in 2 glasses of warm water. You can use the resulting product for spraying immediately. The result will be noticeable within 3-4 days.

In order to prevent the appearance of carrot aphids in your area, plants with a pungent odor are planted next to the carrots, which scares away insects. You can plant onions, garlic, parsley next to the beds. After harvesting carrots, the soil should always be cleaned of tops and weeds and carefully dug up.

Another dangerous enemy of root crops is the carrot fly. The peak of attacks of these insects is in the middle of summer. It is the curliness of the leaves that is the main sign of the appearance of these pests in the garden. This is also evidenced by unpleasant reddish-purple spots on the leaves.

There are many ways to combat carrot flies.

To cope with the infestation of the fly in a short time, it is worth using effective chemicals.

• Actellik. This is a fairly popular product that is excellent in the fight against various leaf-eating insects. It works quickly and reliably.
• "Calypso". The product only kills pests. It is absolutely safe for bees.
• Aktara. This remedy is good because the effect of its use lasts a long time. After using it, midges disappear from the garden almost immediately.

You have to be very careful with all these drugs. You need to use them only after the roots are fully formed. Spraying the tops with any of these means is worth no more than two times for the entire season. Chemically treated fruits should not be eaten for 21 days.

The most popular time-tested remedy is onion peel infusion. To prepare it, a third of a bucket of onion husks is poured with boiling water. You need to infuse the product for several hours. When it has cooled down completely, you can use it to spray your carrots. The onion skins remaining in the bucket must be spread out between the rows. So the persistent smell of onions will deter pests even more.

Also, for the treatment of carrot beds, infusions of marigolds, garlic and tomato tops are used. They are also able to scare off pests with their persistent unpleasant scent.

Help to save the harvest and timely preventive measures.

• Plant carrots in open and well-ventilated areas. If possible, the beds should be located on a hill. It is not recommended to sow carrots in an area that was attacked by pests last year.
• In the aisles, you can plant flowers with a pungent smell, for example: calendula or marigolds. Tomatoes, garlic and onions can also be grown next to carrot beds.
• If necessary, carrots should be thinned out after planting. Plants should be 2–5 centimeters apart.
• Wild dandelions and clovers should be removed regularly. This is where carrot flies can lay their eggs. In addition, these plants serve as an additional source of nutrition for adult insects.
• The row spacing must be loosened from time to time. This must be done carefully so as not to hurt the carrots themselves in the process. Before loosening the beds, you need to water abundantly.
• Some gardeners mulch their crops with peat chips to protect carrots from flies. Tomato leaves and tops can also be used as mulch.

Carrot honeydew is a small greenish insect. It is dangerous not only for carrots, but also for celery, parsnips, as well as parsley and dill. A plant damaged by a leaf beetle can be recognized precisely by the curliness of the foliage. During this period of time, carrots stop growing, their petioles are shortened.

There are different methods of dealing with the pest in question. Some gardeners use chemicals such as Actellik or Inta-Vir for this. They are applied twice a season. Timely processing is great for protecting crops from harmful insects.

Those who do not want to use "chemistry" in their garden can pay attention to folk recipes.

• Boric acid solution. This product is highly effective and allows you to quickly destroy pests. For its preparation, 1 teaspoon of boric acid must be mixed with 2 tablespoons of soda and the same amount of potassium permanganate. The mixture must be dissolved in a liter of whey. After that you need to add a couple of drops of iodine there. Before use, the resulting liquid must be dissolved in a bucket of warm water.

• Herbal infusion. You can cook it from horse sorrel or celandine. Green garlic is also suitable for processing carrots. Plants must be picked, chopped and put into a bucket. After that, they need to be poured with boiling water and left in a dark place for two weeks. After this time, the product must be diluted in clean water in a ratio of 1 to 5. The infusion can be used immediately for treating carrot beds. Plants can be watered or sprayed with a spray bottle.

You can also use an infusion of orange peels to combat the leaf beetle. Plants are sprayed with them as a prophylaxis. This should be done immediately after the first shoots appear. It is possible to avoid the attack of these unpleasant insects by increasing the plant's resistance to diseases. To do this, the carrots must be regularly watered and fertilized, and the soil in the beds must be loosened. It is also worth getting rid of all the weeds in the garden.

Timely treatment of carrots from pests attacking it allows you to grow a high-quality crop. Therefore, you should not ignore the signs of the disease, even if they seem very insignificant.

What to do if the carrots start to curl, you will learn in the next video.