The carrots are now in full bloom! They were in fairly full bloom on July 7 before I (Chris) went away for two weeks and when I returned they were really in full bloom! On July 7 the fly pollinator population was still low so I spent a few days Read more…
This year we have taken a bit of a different approach with setting up the isolation tent for the Carrot Seed Project by erecting the tent as late as possible before flowering. This is done in the hope that the carrot stalks will be strengthened by having more wind exposure Read more…
For the 2017 carrot research project we planted two crops at UBC Farm – one plot inside the mesh enclosure and a “control” plot on the outside of the enclosure. There is not much of a presence of Queen Anne’s lace at UBC Farm and during the time of carrot Read more…
Yesterday I got my first set carrot stecklings planted at UBC Farm. I will plant two varieties there this year, side by side, one inside an enclosure and one outside. This is a great way to use enclosures to expand seed production capabilities. I will have to do some Queen Read more…
As we harvest carrots from the BC Seed Trials we are still processing carrot seed from UBC Farm and the Sharing Farm. Although harvested over a month ago, the seed still needs to be processed to ready it for sale and planting. The seed dried down in the seed greenhouse Read more…
It has been a great season for carrot seed production so far and I was happy to start harvesting seed this week. Carrot seed matures over a period of time so I will watch for dry, mature umbels several times a week and harvest them as they are ready. This Read more…
It was a real treat to check in on the carrots today, kind of. There so many flies in the enclosure it was overwhelming. So, of course, I took a video! Today also gave me the chance to tie up the carrots as they are getting more and more top Read more…
To plan for having an adequate number of fly pollinators at all times during the carrot flowering period you can map out the lifecycle of the fly to create a schedule and breeding plan. This could look something like the following based on a typical fly lifecycle: Fly Breeding Schedule. Read more…
This year, one of my goals in the carrot seed project is to breed our own flies to avoid ordering in pupae. There are a few reasons for this: The current source of blue bottle fly pupae we have is from a US source. There are no local or Canadian Read more…
One of the goals of the 2017 Carrot Seed Project is to breed out own flies instead of buying pupae. Here is a short video showing the creation of my fly generator! Here is the test run I made last year to get me started:
Last week we got our isolation tent setup and our carrot stecklings planted at UBC Farm. This is a multi-step process which we documented much of. This is the first year doing the carrot seed project at UBC Farm. The carrot stecklings we are planting are Nash’s Nantes – bred Read more…
One of my favourite projects is our carrot seed project. This project involves growing carrots to seed in an isolation tent to prevent cross-pollination with a common weed – Queen Anne’s lace. I have blogged frequently about this project in the past. Carrots require insects for cross pollination and these Read more…
As we near the end of the growing season we approach the beginning of the seed cleaning season! The Richmond Sharing Farm, and head farmer Kristjan Johannson participated in the carrot seed project this year. This project is exploring carrot seed production in isolation tents to present pollination with the Read more…
This season we have spent a lot of time talking about pollinators for the carrots. The basic questions about pollinators seem to be as follows: What insect to use as a pollinator? Where/how to purchase the pollinators? How do you maintain your pollinator population? Can you breed your own pollinator Read more…
On Saturday I got out to visit Kristjan at Sharing Farm to put up their carrot isolation structure and check in on the crop. The carrots are growing well there. But there are some things of note: The control plot has been ravaged by evil rabbits and is down to 3 Read more…
So I have been doing a bit of research on fly breeding and am looking for a simple method to attract flies and encourage them to lay eggs. Here’s a quick video I made as I start down this road! This recording is about a week old so I am Read more…
As we are growing carrots in an isolated environment we will need to introduce insect pollinators. It is likely our enclosures are too small for bees so an alternative is the Blue Bottle Fly (Calliphora vomitoria) – I’ll let you work out the Latin! We can purchase fly larvae through Read more…
Last week we picked up our carrot isolation tents and we are ready to set them up this week. So I headed out to Pitchfork Farm with my son to give it a try! The tents are 10′ x 20′ with 6 x 8′ posts. The structure was relatively easy Read more…