Caggage Root Fly

[Artisan]

Right, hands up whose got cabbage root fly then. ‘Cause I know I have! Now I might have proved that the added expense of adding Cabbage Root Fly collars is worth the investment. Being new to vegetable growing I am doing everything by the book. Well books, internet, word of mouth and this forum actually. Back to the collars. I planted six cauliflower plants and added the collars. Now for some unknown reason I left one of the seedlings without a collar. I would say that I was conducting a vegetable growing experiment by leaving one plant without a collar to see if the fly would attack this one cauliflower but I can’t, I just forgot. Well when I walked out this morning to do my daily inspection and there it was. One plant keeled over laying on the ground looking very sorry for itself. A Ha I said this could be the little critters I’ve read about and sure enough they were. I pulled up the plant and there in the roots were the little Bu, sorry, maggots. Now rather than collecting the little maggots to go fishing for little fish I disposed of the plant and the maggots at the local tip, I just happened to be going. I’m now paranoid and on the look-out for more symptoms of the dreaded fly in my other beds where I have brassicas.


Can anyone tell me if there is anything that can be done to get rid of the flies and maggots once you have them? Or should I just give up and go back to buying them at Tesco’s!

[Zelenina]

Since the adults are actual flies they can fly anywhere they get the smell of something cabbagey. So I don't think there is really any place free of them, nor any getting rid of them. The maggots don't stay in the soil but emerge and turn into more flies which fly off looking for more cabbagey roots to infest with their eggs. So all you can do is keep on taking protective measures with the collars as you did with all the others. Not sure what to do about radishes though. Seems like too much trouble putting a mini collar around each one.

[Penellype]

I grow all of my brassicas under fine insect mesh. This keeps out the butterflies, cabbage root flies, cats, pigeons and most of the cabbage moth (although moths are good at crawling under nets). It doesn't keep out aphids, slugs, snails or flea beetle, but you can't have everything. However, netting when you already have a problem with root fly won't help. Grow your brassicas in a different bed next year as most of these fly-type pests pupate in the soil.

The only time I tried cabbage collars I put them round young seedlings (about 4 inches high). It became rather windy later that day and the seedlings were promptly decapitated by the collars and I lost most of them. Not exactly what I had planned!

[Snadger]

You can also wrap silver foil around the bottom of the stem so the little blighters bat there heads off it!

For some reason they are particularily fond of cauliflowers!

[Potstubsdustbins]

Like you one season I forgot and lost all my calabrese, fortunately it was only a couple of 1 metre square beds so I was able to sift it and get rid of them before the next season. Needless to say it is now part of a set routine to put collars on all brassica.

[Penellype]

I've only really had them in turnips (which they completely ruin) but as I know they are around I don't take any chances.

[Mr Bones]

We make collars out of pieces of rhubarb leaf, held down on the edges with soil/mulch.

[WPG]

I've just lost three of my winter PSB plants to the root fly. They were very well established leafy plants with thick stems, but at some stage I must've left them without collars.

Ugh, I can't stand pulling up the plants and seeing the maggots