A perennial Juneau garden pest is back.
Root maggot larvae are just waiting for this month’s warm weather before worming their way into Juneau gardeners’ vegetables.
Master Gardener Ed Buyarski said the larvae attack the roots of cabbage, radish, kale, rutabaga, cauliflower, broccoli and turnips.
In warm weather, their leaves wilt because their damaged roots cannot pull up enough moisture. Root maggot larvae burrow into the roots and leave tell-tale holes and tracks.
Buyarski said the best way to ward off root maggots is encircling your vegetables with Remay or another landscaping fabric with slits cut to allow a transplant or seedling to grow through while also preventing flies from laying eggs at the base of the plant. Buyarski also is experimenting with human hair clippings.
The UAF Cooperative Extension Service has a flier on root maggot which you can read here.
