Field library

Onion Maggot

A small grey fly lays its eggs in the soil at the base of the garlic plant. The white legless maggots that hatch bore into the roots, the neck and the bulb. The leaves turn yellow and wilt, young plants die outright, and a tunnelled bulb rots in the store.

How to scout

Where one plant is yellow and wilting on its own, dig it up with the soil around it and split the bulb open to look for small white maggots and their tunnels.