Probably carrot rust fly, I agree yuk. They won't bother garlic - only carrots and Queen Anne's Lace.

I see pictures of rust fly maggot damage and my carrots only had the tunnels in the top quarter or third, never lower. The leaves also were eaten and pale. Does that still sound like carrot rust fly?
I'm in southern Maine.

All my carrots were cracked with brown wormy looking holes on the inside. A few white worms were seen on the inside as well. My parsnips and beets right next to the carrots seem to be fine. What's happening? I want to plant garlic in the same spot. Any problem with that? Do I need to do something with the soil before planting carrots next spring?

Is it safe to put worn infested carrots in my compost?

dsurg:

Probably safe, but probably NOT wise. The general rule is to NOT compost diseased or infected organic matter. Just more to worry about the bad "stuff" surviving and propagating.

Even when hot composting, some weed seeds and the like DO survive. I find it's best to try to keep the populations of the non-beneficials as low as I can.

Kevin

Nuke those wormy carrots in the microwave before tossing them into the compost pile.

Hmmm, I had a similar problem this year with my carrots too. My carrots did not turn black, but they grew fat instead of long, and split. There some kind of worm that I could not find, made their holes. To top it off I had several forked carrots (root knot nematoes?)

I can't imagine garlic bulbs being affected. They are highly regarded as good companion plants as pest deterents.