CABBAGE ROOT MAGGOT

HYLEMYA BRASSICAE (BBOUCHE)

Description:

Adult: A small fly 1/4" long, dark grey with black stripes on thorax and black bristles. It emerges from the soil in April.

egg: White, finely ridged eggs laid at the base of stems and on adjacent soil. The eggs hatch in 3 - 7 days.

larva: Small, yellowish-white legless maggot, blunt at rear and grows up to 1/3' long. These enter soil to feast on roots and stems just under the surface, riddling them with brown tunnels.

pupa: After 3 weeks, maggots form brown puparium from its larval skin producing another fly in 12 - 18 days. Winter is spent in puparium 1 - 5" deep in the soils -

There are 2 to 3 generations / year Although the number of generations may vary with locality.

Cabbage maggots attack cabbage, cauliflower, radish, turnip and related crops by making slimy tunnels just under the bark of main stems or larger roots of the plants. The injury is almost entirely underground although the maggots sometimes work up into the stems above the ground. The most severe injury occurs during early spring when the weather is cool and the soil moist Evidences of maggot feeding (1) discolouration of foliage (2) wilting of plant during heat of day.

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