Each and every spring we get reports of poor seed emergence, seedling and transplant damage in early planted crops of all sorts. Most recently in untreated sweet corn, home gardens and transplanted onions. Lucky for us, we got to dive right into this pest and see them in action, but not so lucky for the growers who weren’t expecting it! While we don’t have a lot to offer in terms of a rescue for these crops affected this year, we hope to help you plan for this in the future and understand what the threat looks like for the remainder of the season. There are two different species to blame: the Onion Maggot (Delia antiqua) and the Seed Corn Maggot (Delia platura). There is a third species that attacks brassica crops referred to as the Cabbage Root Fly (Delia radicum). All three are nearly identical to the naked eye but[Read More…]
