Onion Maggot: Delia antiqua (Anthomyiidae: Diptera)

Damaging stage: maggot

Damage symptoms:

• wilted and yellowed foliage, followed by collapsed
• Leaves can become rotten, and plants may
• Onion plants are most vulnerable during the seedling stage, and larval feeding may kill
• Poor plant stands may indicate an onion maggot problem.

Identification

• Egg: elongate, white eggs near the base of the plant, in cracks in the
• Larva: white maggot inside the leaf and crawl up, enter the leaf sheath and reach the
• Pupa:in soil, bulb
• Adult: slender, greyish, large-winged.

Management

• Grow Allium fistulosum as it is more tolerant than cepa.
• Apply 10 kg of carbaryl 4G or phorate to the soil followed by light
• Spray methy demeton 25 EC or dimethaote 30 EC 0 L in 500 – 750 L of water per ha.