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Organic Gardening

Cabbage/Broccoli Maggots in soil - Now what???

18 years ago

I have harvested all of my brocolli and bok choy which was mighty tasty but the roots had maggots and the plants were very weak.

I had hoped to transplant leeks into this bed but I haven't found any information on how to make certain the soil is healthy once again. I have read the reasons why one might have this pest (these were store bought babies and I suspect the maggots were a free prize with purchase) but I have never experienced it before.

Please, can anyone guide me on how to start fresh organically?

Thank-you in anticipation of your advice!

Jann

(I will post this in the Vegetable forum as well)

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Comments (3)

squeeze
18 years ago
hard to defeat the cabbage maggot, but if you look carefully for the distinctive pupa in the soil in that area, you might be able to eliminate a lot of'em - then if you plant cole crops again, put the collar around the plants that link explains - I don't think they'll affect leeks, at least I've never had a problem w/ leeks, and I grow lots of'em every year - also a floating row cover is helpful w/ that pesky white cabbage moth which is everywhere up here

Bill
Kimmsr
18 years ago
Leeks won't be affected by the cabbage maggot, either the larva or the fly (Ma cabbage maggot is a fly not the wee white moth the produces a different cabbage pest) so plant away. The Leeks may even help contol the cabbage maggot although you could get onion maggots. You could get beneficial nematodes to apply to the soil to control those maggots.
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Sigh... root maggots. I cannot grow a decent radish because of these things. I planted 7 cauliflowers this year and only two will make it to fruition. The others I noticed wilting on cool days when the sun came out. Tugging on these plants would pull them right out of the ground revealing brown, stubby roots. I may try the tulle approach. Oddly enough, my collards and kale do not seem effected. and the brussels sprouts only mildly. Another approach is to place plastic disks around the plant stem to prevent the fly/larvae from getting to the roots. Never tried it so I don't know if it works.
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The best time to control these is before they infest the rotos, once in the roots they are very difficult to do anything about. These are the larva of a small fly that lays its eggs in the soil near the plants roots and when the larva hatch they invade those roots. Floating row covers will help keep the adult flies from the plants as will some kind of impervious barrier (some sources say a roofing shingle) around the plant as a collar. Some control of the larva might be obtained with parasitic nematodes. But if these larva have invaded the plants roots there is not much you can do except destroy the plants.
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you can solarize the bed. put down diamacius earth. then use row covers.
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Mats can deter them but sometimes nothing can stop these bastards. After you put the mats down add diatomaceous earth around the stems as needed. Yellow sticky traps don't hurt either to catch as many flies as possible. Also you can time your transplanting at specific times to avoid the flies although unless you are a mathematician it's really hard to figure it out and I am not a mathemetician
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pbjamm
Original Author
18 years ago
Thank-you Bill, for the informative link and your neighbouly advice. I do love my leeks!
And thank-you Kimmsr for your encouraging words - I do like the idea of beneficial nematodes!
Sincerely,
Jann

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