What's wrong with my carrots??

Paducah, KY

Hi all,

I haven't been around these parts in awhile, but I'm back, and I have a question.

I'm in Western Kentucky (for reference). I planted several rows of carrots (Oxheart, Dragon, Thumbelina, and Imperator) around the first of April. They've been doing really well--the foliage looks great! Then, it rained. It rained for about a week, then we had three or four days of sun, and then it rained for roughly another week. Shortly after the last bout of rain (and we're getting a few more days of rain starting tonight!!), I noticed that some leaves on one of my oxheart carrots had turned whitish on the edges and were crispy. This seemed to "spread" to several other carrot plants. It seems to have stopped/slowed. I removed the leaves that were affected the worse and sprayed with an organic fungicide. Could this be leaf blight, or are the leaves just "burned" from being so wet and then having sunlight suddenly thrust upon them? Do I need to go ahead and remove the affected plants?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!!

Thumbnail by Moonpye
Charlotte, NC(Zone 7b)

Well, nobody else tackled this one, so here's my guess.

Perhaps it's spider mites - they suck the life out of everything! If you have a jewler's loupe or magnifying glass you will be able to see them. I have a loupe, but I don't remember whether it's a 10x or a 20x. If they are spider mites, Neem Oil should kill them - however if you have Cyclamen Mites (aka strawberry mites) or Broad Mites only a miticide specifically formulated for them will kill them.

Paducah, KY

I DID see some spider mites on my tomatoes this morning--along with thrips, aphids, AND flea beetles. I've never had so many pest problems before! Since I removed the affected foliage and sprayed with neem, everything seems to be alright, so perhaps it was red spider mite. UGH.

Charlotte, NC(Zone 7b)

Neem is a great thing to have on hand as it kills the pests you mentioned. Unfortunately, it gives me headaches! I use something call PYLON which is a mixture of Pyrethrum and Canola Oil.

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