Tiny white maggots/grubs

[Birdie Wife]

I had a problem last year with some of my onions and garlic - I'm not sure if it's to do with pests in the soil or whether it was to do with having to transplant at the end of January when the ground was frosty but several of the bulbs were rotten and covered with tiny (c. 1mm) white maggots. Firstly, any ideas what they are? Secondly, can anyone tell me if this is probably to do with the plants rotting first in the poor conditions and then succumbing to magoots, or whether the maggots attacked the live bulbs and made them rotten?

[Snadger]

I had a problem last year with some of my onions and garlic - I'm not sure if it's to do with pests in the soil or whether it was to do with having to transplant at the end of January when the ground was frosty but several of the bulbs were rotten and covered with tiny (c. 1mm) white maggots. Firstly, any ideas what they are? Secondly, can anyone tell me if this is probably to do with the plants rotting first in the poor conditions and then succumbing to magoots, or whether the maggots attacked the live bulbs and made them rotten?

Sounds like onion fly to me! Try this link and have a look at the piccies!

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?im...%3Den%26sa%3DG

[vicki lorraine]

Thanks for the link snadger. This is my first year growing onions and have never seen onion fly. Now i know what to look for.

[Birdie Wife]

Ick! Thanks Snadger, that looks like the beast. Although I don't think I've seen the grown larvae yet but I'll keep an eye out this year. Is there anything I can do about them or is it just a case of keeping the crop rotation going?

[Snadger]

Ick! Thanks Snadger, that looks like the beast. Although I don't think I've seen the grown larvae yet but I'll keep an eye out this year. Is there anything I can do about them or is it just a case of keeping the crop rotation going?

I think they are attracted by the smell, thats why it is recommended to grow carrots with onions as each smell disguises the other and hopefully confuses the respective flies!
Make sure you burn any infected plants to stop the next generation hatching!

[rustylady]

When you say transplanting I have to ask from where. If you were transplanting seedlings from compost in cells or pots the little maggots could be the larva of compost gnats or scariad flies. The flies are tiny and hover over the surface of pots, but the larvae eat the roots of the seedlings.

[Birdie Wife]

Transplanted from one raised bed to another, 30 miles away, when I moved house! Didn't know scariad fly larvae eat roots (thanks for the tip, will have to watch out for them), but these maggots were on the bulbs, not the roots.