Cabbage Maggot

[Part_No]

Hello group I am very new to gardening and live in UK. My problem is that grew xprox. 50 cabbages and 50 cauliflowers and I have lost them ALL to Cabbage Maggot. I have had to take this on the chin (sob), but next year I wll try again. Anyone know what I can do to prevent this infestation, or if the problem re-occurs what to do? I have enjoyed my first attempt at growing vegetables, but this knocked me sideways some.

Thanks Part_No

[Jim Kingdon]

Ouch. But identifying the pest is one of the hardest parts, so you are ahead of the game.

A google search for cabbage maggot shows

(and a lot of other fact sheets, probably similar). Advice there includes removing remnants of the dead plants this fall, possibly tilling the soil this fall (although there can be downsides to that too), and a collar around the stem of any host plants you try to grow next year.

If you plant any brassicas next year (cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, brussel sprout, etc), and in fact any of the hosts for this insect (radishes, rutabagas, turnips are listed above), I wouldn't put them in the same soil as the ones which got munched. If you can bear to avoid all those crops for a year and grow something else, I might try that.

I would also plant a larger variety of plants. This helps with pests (rotating from bed to bed each year can throw them off, and if nothing else you'll probably find *something* you grow is less susceptible). Also, if all of your cabbage and cauliflower plants *had* produced, all at the same time, you probably would have gotten mighty sick of eating those things. Think in terms of maybe half a dozen to a dozen crops (making it *too* large, especially at first, means you have more to learn about each one).