Carrot Pollination Time!
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
Preparing the Carrot Tent for the 2018 crop
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
Looking for Signs of Queen Anne’s Lace
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
Fly Breeding and Carrot Seed Project Progress
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
Preparing and Planting Carrot Stecklings for Seed Production
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
Carrot Seed Project – Breeding Flies
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