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I had always assumed it was slugs eating my radishes ... today I peered a little closer, and it is in fact a little white maggot eating them. Damage seems to be worse in those radishes tucked down in the soil ~ the radishes that are poking out of the soil are largely unaffected.
These are the larvae of a tiny fly that burrows into the radish, leaving slimy brown tunnels as they feed. http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/vegprob...t_maggots3.jpg
Once radish maggots infest your crop, there’s nothing you can do except pull the radishes. Careful if you put on the compost because the maggots will hatch to ruin the next crop (I am putting my infected radishes into salty water to kill the maggots before composting)
Prevention: The fly is most active during cool, wet weather (just like we've had this spring). When you sow radish seeds, cover with a floating fleece or net curtain, to keep the adult flies from laying eggs on the leaves.
Rotating crops also helps discourage this pest (maggots may be hibernating in the soil where you last grew radishes).
These are the larvae of a tiny fly that burrows into the radish, leaving slimy brown tunnels as they feed. http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/vegprob...t_maggots3.jpg
Once radish maggots infest your crop, there’s nothing you can do except pull the radishes. Careful if you put on the compost because the maggots will hatch to ruin the next crop (I am putting my infected radishes into salty water to kill the maggots before composting)
Prevention: The fly is most active during cool, wet weather (just like we've had this spring). When you sow radish seeds, cover with a floating fleece or net curtain, to keep the adult flies from laying eggs on the leaves.
Rotating crops also helps discourage this pest (maggots may be hibernating in the soil where you last grew radishes).
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