Cabbage and Turnip Maggots

the common name for two species of insects of the family Muscidae: cabbage maggots (Hylemyia brassicae) and turnip maggots (H. floralis), the most dangerous pests to cabbage and other crucifers.

The cabbage maggot is 6–6.5 mm long. The male is ash gray with three stripes on his pronotum and a black lengthwise stripe on his abdomen; the female is larger than the male, with a wider abdomen. The cabbage maggot is found in Europe, Asia, and North America; in the USSR it lives almost everywhere and is most harmful in the nonchernozem zone and farther north. There are one to four generations a year. The chrysalides hibernate in puparia in the ground; the maggots come out in the spring. The eggs are laid on the root collar of plants or on the ground close to them. The larvae feed on the surface of roots or implant themselves in the roots, root collar, and lower stalks.

The turnip maggot is somewhat larger than the cabbage maggot and has yellowish wings. It is widespread in Europe and Asia; in the USSR it is found in the nonchernozem zone, primarily on peat soils, in the north, and in the Asian part. There is one generation a year. The chrysalides hibernate in puparia in the ground, and the maggots come out in late June and early July. The eggs are laid in large groups under clumps of dirt near cabbage stalks. The larvae harm the roots and stumps.

Plants harmed by the cabbage and turnip maggot do not grow tall and either reduce the harvest or die. Preventive measures include deep autumn plowing, raising the sprouts in nutrient pots with the addition of insecticides, early transplanting of healthy, strong seedlings, early spring feeding of plants with subsequent hilling up, and treating crops with insecticides.