Cabbage fly: to whom the tops and to whom the roots

Content:

Kinds
Biology
Harm
Signs of defeat
Prevention and protection
Destruction

Cabbage fly is a fairly predictable insect. If you had the experience of parasitizing it on cruciferous plants in your garden, then with the observance of preventive measures, you can easily prevent its appearance and development.

Before you start talking about this insect in more detail, let me introduce you a photo of the cabbage fly in all its glory.

Spring cabbage fly

Kinds

There are two types of cabbage flies - spring and summer. They are very similar, only the summer one is slightly larger, reaches 7.5 millimeters in length, while the spring fly is limited to a maximum of six millimeters.
Both types of pests belong to the family of flower flies, they are called so because their departure coincides with the flowering of many trees, in particular cherries. In the first picture, the spring variety was presented, and now we present to you its summer relative.

Biology

Both species belong to the family of flower flies, so named because their departure time coincides with the beginning of flowering of most of our trees, in particular cherries. They look like our house flies, only a little smaller. Some authors consider flies to be one species, others classify them as different, but the harmfulness of insects from this does not decrease, and from the point of view of a gardener, their classification is not important.

There is an opinion! It is suggested that the summer fly is simply a descendant of the spring one, but given that their activity occurs at the same time, it is worth saying that these are two similar species.

In favor of the assertion that we are dealing with various insects, the fact that the appearance of a summer fly, which does not affect the planting of early cabbage, is harmful to the planting of late seedlings, but the difference between the planting of seedlings is small, and the generation cycle of the cabbage fly will not be completed .

Food

As a pest, the cabbage fly manifests itself in the stage of a larva, a sort of cabbage maggot, while an adult insect eats nectar of flowers, being a pollinator of cruciferous plants, that is, in a sense, a useful insect.

Reproduction and development

Departure of flies, as mentioned above, begins during the flowering of bird cherry and cherry, the summer variety flies a week or two later than the spring one. Two days after the start of summer, insects mate.

In a week or two after mating, the females lay their eggs on the soil under the plantations of cruciferous crops; in the years of mass lesions, the female is able to lay up to three hundred (!) Eggs. After 5-10 days, a larva appears and begins its harmful existence.

The larva of the cabbage fly penetrates under the shell of the root of the cabbage plant and either remains under the outer shell of crops with a simple root, or bites into the root of the corresponding plants:

radishes;
turnips;
rutabaga;
turnip;
radish;
daikon.

The larva develops within three to four weeks, depending on temperature conditions, then leaves the plant and pupates in the soil. Pupa develops 15-20 days before the release of an adult insect. The second generation papua leaves in the winter, wintering in the soil at a depth of 15-20 centimeters.

Reference! The papuary, or pupa, is the stage of development of the insect with the complete transformation of the larva into an imago. At this stage, a complete restructuring of the insect organism occurs.

Harm

By its existence, the larva causes undoubted harm to cruciferous crops. Moreover, at first, the harmfulness does not manifest itself in any way, because we do not see how the larvae penetrate the root system of the plant, unlike the same leaf-eating caterpillars cabbage butterflies or cabbage moth.

Signs of defeat

Over time, the life and development of the larva, an increasing part of the root system becomes susceptible to spoilage. The plant also begins to respond to this. At first, outwardly this manifests itself as a wilting plant, which can be taken as a lack of soil moisture.

In fact, moisture is not enough for the plant due to damage to the vessels through which it was delivered from the root. Therefore, if you see that, despite watering, your cabbage plant withers and is stunted, check for infection with cabbage fly larvae.

The second external factor signaling the possible appearance of the pest is a bluish-lead shade of the leaves of the cabbage plant. In this case, it is also necessary to take urgent methods of combating cabbage fly.

Prevention and protection

Based on the foregoing, we can conclude that the appearance of the pest is easier to prevent than then fight the cabbage fly. In this case, three main types of protection against this insect are used:

preventive actions;
scare;
staging.

Consider the various options for both methods of plant protection.

Prevention

In order that cabbage flies do not even think of visiting your garden, you need not give them a chance, leaving attractive plant remains and cruciferous weeds. To do this, you need:

be sure to remove from the site the remains of cabbage leaves, radish tops and other root crops;
not to allow cruciferous weeds to develop: colza, overbrig, and others;
remove cruciferous plants that have gone to the arrow so as not to attract adult flies;
Be careful when planting seedlings, especially purchased, so as not to bring the larvae with it into the soil.

Scare

Natural substances with a strong odor will help scare away the cabbage fly. Among them are such folk remedies as:

mustard;
tobacco;
naphthalene;
bitter pepper;
dandelion;
sagebrush;
garlic.

The combined planting of crops with strongly smelling plants, such as parsley, carrots, coriander, sage, also helps in preventing pests. However, celery is the most effective against cabbage flies and some other pests of cruciferous crops.

Advice! Plant 3-4 celery plants on a cabbage bed, and many pests will bypass it.

A good effect in scaring away many pests is brought by the border plantings of some flower plants. Most often, calendula and marigolds are used as such.

Another very effective means of scaring off a fly is a leaf of a noble laurel. Moreover, you can use the bay leaf from cabbage flies both in dry form and in infusions.

Advice! Spare measures are carried out during the first two to three days after transplanting seedlings or before seedling.

Screening

The second type of struggle with the cabbage fly is staging. There are several ways to protect cabbage seedlings and adult plants.

To set the screen, you can pull a net that does not allow flies over the bed with cabbage. You need to do this from the moment of cherry blossom to the end of lilac flowering.
Dusting the soil with wood ash will prevent flies from laying eggs in the soil.
Using coarse mulch, such as shredder paper, wood chips or sawdust.
Install locking covers directly under the cabbage plants. They can be made of thick paper, cardboard or plastic.
When planting, dip the roots of the seedlings in a clay mash, which will not allow the larvae to get to the delicate roots.

Destruction

In case of penetration of the pest to the site, radical measures must be applied. Heavily damaged plants must be removed from the site, and the soil around the remaining plants should be treated with some kind of insecticide.

For this, drugs such as: