Saturday, June 5, 2010

Bad Cabbage Maggot

Well that's it for my broccoli, cauliflower and Brussel sprouts, all have been invaded by the evil cabbage maggot. The wet spring did not help as they thrive in damp soil and my decision not to use a row cover also did not help. Row covers work well but...they are a pain. They are hard to put down when it's windy and it's almost always windy in Powell River and with all the wet weather I just didn't feel like dealing with it all. In addition it's hard to deal with the weeds because I have to lift the cover, hopefully on a calm day, do the weeding and then put it down again....not my idea of fun. So this is likely the last time I'll try my hand growing these types of veggies.

In this picture you will notice the root hairs as well as the roots have been munched, the right hand plant, which is hard to see, basically has no more roots.


The poor vegetable slowly wilts and dies with little hope of survival.




I wonder what other problems I'll encounter this summer as a result of a cold and wet spring....

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not good.

Linda said...

oh what a loss. I better keep an eye out on all my cabbage.

One time we had a bumper crop of broccoli, big beautiful plants. Went to cook them and hundrends of tiny worms came floating out. Last time on broccoli. : (

tc linda

Powell River Books said...

I've had several plants just wilt and die. I assumed it was too much water from all the rain. Maybe it is something else. Two plantings of cucumber plants have gone, two lettuce from sets (previously doing well), my acorn squash, dill and basil (twice) from sets. Other plants nearby seem to be doing OK though. I guess there is time to try again. - Margy