What Ate this Carrot ???

[sixdogs]

The extension agent used to be a great idea but around here no one is ever in the office and the phone goes to recording 100% of the time. You leave your item in a bag or whatever and it is forwarded to a university after you have included your check for $20. A month later a guy calls with an summation and says a full report will be mailed but it never arrives. That's been my experience.

 

[DFB]

My UVM Extension Agent always responds to me within 24hrs...and most often the same day I make email contact.

 

[arrow]

I don't know either but wouldn't a vole eat the outer edges as well and not just stop at that thin outer edge? Seems more like a grub type thing would do that?

No. They eat just the fleshy insides. I've had this exact same thing happen to my beets and sweet potatoes. We've got voles and moles and they hide under the mulch. It's frustrating to see what looks like this perfectly formed beet poking through the soil only to discover the thing has no insides. Tiny little things with big teeth and apparently they bring friends and relatives over.

 

[jimmysisson]

I was wavering after I proposed a vole earlier. Then my wife dug up this sweet potato. Voles are a constant menace here. Ive heard many ideas for deterrence or trapping but they are wily darn things.



Nice big tater, too.

 

[Gordon Gould]

I see you have some nice teeth marks on those taters Jimmy.

Well, early last Monday morning I emailed our VT Extension Service and as of yet I have not received a response. When or if I do I will post it here.

At this point our best guess from the reading we have done is that we are seeing water core rot. And the affected carrots were the few survivors from the first planting. The others in the first planting did not make it because of the severely wet spring. The good carrots were from the second planting which was successful. In my mind this is the only way to explain why 3 or 4 carrots were bad and the rest perfect. The second planting took place 3 1/2 weeks after the first when conditions were much dryer. This is just a guess on our part. Because there are no teeth marks and the way they are hollowed out so perfectly we don't think it is the work of voles.

gg

 

[DFB]

I see you have some nice teeth marks on those taters Jimmy.

Well, early last Monday morning I emailed our VT Extension Service and as of yet I have not received a response. When or if I do I will post it here.

At this point our best guess from the reading we have done is that we are seeing water core rot. And the affected carrots were the few survivors from the first planting. The others in the first planting did not make it because of the severely wet spring. The good carrots were from the second planting which was successful. In my mind this is the only way to explain why 3 or 4 carrots were bad and the rest perfect. The second planting took place 3 1/2 weeks after the first when conditions were much dryer. This is just a guess on our part. Because there are no teeth marks and the way they are hollowed out so perfectly we don't think it is the work of voles.

gg

Well I will be interested in what response you get. And I hope you do get one. I am curious was it UVM extension services you emailed?

I just shot my extension agent connection an email (8:01pm EST) at his official mail address not expecting a response at least until tomorrow morning and he just shot me back a reply 21 min later! :thumbsup:


Actually he is also quite astonished also with your photos

Off the top of his head he thinks it may be a combination of factors.

Guess he's covering all the bases hey


To quote the response...

"Wow that is weird! My guess is that something did 'feed' on the carrot as suggsted, and bacterial soft rot followed. I don't know what it might have been. Was this a single event or a lot of carrots?"

I forwarded some other of your other details so maybe some more info may come forth.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Thanks DEB. I appreciate your help. To be fair I did not know who to send the query to in the UVM Ex Ser so I went onto their site and picked a person involved in vegetable problems. I said I was looking for an informed opinion on what was going on with the carrots in the two photos. I assumed the proper person would get the query and answer me if the person I sent it to was the wrong one.
Let me know what you get back. Seems like your agent is more responsive than the way I tried it.

Edit: I did not use our local office because they are all nutritional and human service types now. That surprised me a little.

gg

 

[fatchance]

That's rot for sure. What did the other carrots in the bed look like? How long were they in the ground?

 

[smstonypoint]

Some (many?) of the land grants operate plant problem clinics. Checking UVM, they have a Plant Diagnostic Clinic at Plant Diagnostic Clinic : University of Vermont. It couldn't hurt to send them an e-mail with photos.

Steve

 

[Weaselfoot]

I'll bet it's the Swift Moth caterpillar as suggested by smstonypoint. Wikipedia says that the eggs are broadcast by the female in flight so it was fortunate that most of the harvest was untouched. About the caterpillars it says: "Most feed underground on fine roots, at least in early instars and some then feed internally in tunnels in the stem or trunk of their host plants". These moths are found everywhere except Antarctica. Interesting case; please keep us informed! Thanks.