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How to control onion maggots? Understanding the occurrence characteristics is key

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I. Damage symptoms Onion maggot larvae bore into and feed on garlic bulbs, causing the bulbs to rot, and the above-ground leaves to turn yellow, wilt, and even die. Pulling out affected plants reveals maggot pupae; the damaged garlic skin shows yellowish-brown rot, the garlic heads are bored into holes by the larvae and become incomplete, with the cloves exposed and split open, accompanied by a foul odor. Affected plants are easily pulled out and break off. II. Occurrence characteristics Onion maggots can cause damage before winter, pupate and overwinter after winter sets in, and begin to emerge as adults from the pupae in March of the following year. Adults lay eggs around the garlic roots

I. Damage symptoms Onion maggot larvae bore into and feed on garlic bulbs, causing the bulbs to rot, and the above-ground leaves to turn yellow, wilt, and even die. Pulling out affected plants reveals maggot pupae; the damaged garlic skin shows yellowish-brown rot, the garlic heads are bored into holes by the larvae and become incomplete, with the cloves exposed and split open, accompanied by a foul odor. Affected plants are easily pulled out and break off.

II. Occurrence characteristics Onion maggots can cause damage before winter, pupate and overwinter after winter sets in, and begin to emerge as adults from the pupae in March of the following year. Adults lay eggs in soil cracks or under clods around the garlic roots, or even inside leaf sheaths. The eggs hatch into larvae after 5-7 days, and the larvae can crawl toward the garlic to bore and feed. The rotten-mother period of garlic is the peak period for onion maggot egg-laying and hatching.

III. Control measures Based on this year's weather and the occurrence characteristics of onion maggots, the following effective control measures should be taken. (1) Artificial trapping and killing of adults. A trapping liquid can be made with brown sugar, vinegar, and water in a ratio of 1:1:2.5, mixed evenly with sawdust and trichlorfon, and placed in trapping basins to trap and kill adults in contiguous garlic fields. Killing adults before they lay eggs can achieve twice the result with half the effort. (2) Repelling and killing adults. During the adult egg-laying period, spray with 1.8% abamectin emulsion at 1000 times dilution to kill adults and eggs, spraying once every 7 days for 2 consecutive sprays, to reduce the adult egg-laying population and lessen the damage. (3) Applying nitrogen-sulfur fertilizer. Combined with watering, apply nitrogen-sulfur fertilizer, which has a certain repelling and killing effect on onion maggots, to reduce the degree of damage. (4) Chemical control. When diseased plants damaged by onion maggots are found in the field, phoxim plus abamectin or chlorpyrifos, etc. can be applied with irrigation water or used for root drenching before rain. For severely affected plots, drench again after 10-15 days.

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