Control Cabbage Maggots With Organic Methods

Gardening is a lovely hobby. It can be very relaxing to spend an hour or two helping your plants grow. And nothing is more frustrating than to have pests damage or kill your plants. Cabbage maggots can infest your garden before you know it. Here are some tips to help you control the pest cabbage maggots in your home garden.

The adult cabbage maggot is a nondescript gray fly. It is one quarter of an inch long and has long legs. But you will see the larvae much more often. It has a white tapering body and will burrow into the roots of plants, where it will cause serious damage. These pests are found throughout North Amarica.

Adult flies will begin emerging in later March in warmer regions. The eggs will be deposited in the soil beside the plant roots. After they hatch, the larvae will feed on the fine roots. They will then tunnel into the taproots and feed for three or four more weeks. After this, they will pupate and the adults will emerge in two to three weeks. It is possible for the cabbage maggot to produce two to four generations per year. This will depend on how early the warm weather starts in your area. These pests will attack all the plants in the cabbage family.

The plants that are infested with cabbage maggots will wilt in the midday heat during the early stages of infestation. If the plants are young, they will probably die. This can be caused by the maggot feeding or diseased and rotting roots. If the plant is older, it may survive. But it will produce a small crop. If the plant is a root crop, such as turnips or radishes, they can be completely ruined. Cool weather is when the maggots do the most damage. If the weather is hot and dry, the eggs may never hatch.

It is possible to avoid the most damage by planting radishes very early. You can also cover seedlings and small plants with floating row covers. Be sure to bury the edges under the soil. It also helps to set out transplants through slits in six inch squares of tar paper. This will prevent the flies from laying eggs near the stems. Or you can wrap stems with paper one to two inches, both above and below the soil line. Do this before planting.

As soon as you harvest a plant that is in the cabbage family, be sure to burn or destroy the roots. A mound of wood ashes, hot pepper or ginger powder around your plant stem will also repel egg-laying flies.

It is also possible to recruit some allies in your fight against cabbage maggots. Rove beetles will prey in the eggs and young larvae. The grubs will also parasitize the pupae of the cabbage maggot. Another enemy of this pest is the ground beetle. They will feed on the cabbage maggots. You can easily attract these beneficial beetles by keeping lots of organic matter in your soil.

Controlling pests is an important part of gardening. And knowing exactly what can be done is the first step toward keeping your garden pests under control. Hopefully, this information will help you keep cabbage maggots out of your home garden.