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Paradise Mountain, New York

The last few days have been not good here. I'm down to just two plants in my patch. I was hoping to have a great year growing eight plants.I've never had a problem with corn maggots. Maybe it's because of the corn field next to my patch and the farmer spreading a lot of fresh manure a few weeks ago. But i've also learned on a few web site, if you have a lot of organic matter in your soil, the corn maggots will live on organic matter in your soil... I hope and pray to god my last two plants don't get hit......

5/11/2009 11:59:08 AM

Picton,ON ([email protected])

Is it seed corn maggot or cut worm?

Seed corn Maggot may attack the roots of your plant, where by cut worm will cut the plant off at the surface.

A drench application of a pyrethroid insecticide may help.

5/11/2009 4:01:59 PM

Utah ([email protected])

I had cut worms a few years back. It's a sick feeling to walk out and see your plants cut at the ground. Sorry to hear you got hit Brat.

I lightly dust the base of my plants with Sevin. That is the only time I use it. Then I make a ring around the base with snail killer. They have gotten my plants before as well.

Good luck on the last two plants!!!

5/11/2009 4:29:09 PM

Trumbull, CT 06611, USA

This is my second year in a row battling the maggots. Last year I was completely wiped out. This year I added soil heating cables which seem to help - so far. The maggots love cool wet soil, so I figured if I warmed up the soil 2 weeks before the seedlings went out I should be ok.

I cringe every time I check the hoops. So far, I had only one plant go down (985 Werner) this year and it was in a spot that did not have cables.

If you have flies in the hoops, then the maggots are in there. These flies are smaller than the normal fly you would see in your house. I did a bunch of research on these things. The window is quite small for them to be able to eat your plant. It is like 2 to 3 weeks before they hatch. I also noticed that the warmer the soil, the faster they hatched.

I added manure last year and nothing this year.

5/11/2009 4:33:54 PM

Paradise Mountain, New York

When I saw the plants looking very sick, I pulled on the stem very slowly. The stem in the dirt was covered with little creamy color worms about 1/4 long. By looking up corn maggots, they look just like them..

5/11/2009 9:36:41 PM

Indiana

Does everyone having this problem use Merit or the equivalent? Systemic insecticides should eliminate this problem.

Call me lucky, but I have never had this problem on well over 1000 plants.

5/11/2009 11:58:04 PM

[email protected]

Brian, Got your email but I'll respond here for others to also hear.

Merit doesn't act quickly enough for CSM.

They don't "like" cold soil but need to eat & when they damage our cucurbits it's only to keep from starving. Their desired meal (corn) isn't ready.

Too fresh manure often has CSM eggs so that's a potential cause.

Here is the Monday morning quarterback's take:

Skip the manure....use aged maple leaves instead.
Soil heating cables should help a little but only to improve plant vigor.
Clear plastic (1-2.5 mil) should help.
I believe Diazinon used to be labled if you can find it.

5/12/2009 1:02:35 AM

Jericho Vermont

I treat my seedlings indoors with merit before I put them into the patch. This year I used a 1/8th tsp in a gallon of water and drenched the seedlings 3 days before they were to be planted outside. So far so good, but I may just be lucky so far. I also watered in the same amount (1/8 tsp per gallon) when I planted the seedlings in the garden. I have seen no ill effect with this concentration on my seedlings and it has been successful to date. I will update this if a problem occurs.

5/12/2009 6:21:46 AM

Deer Park WA

We cut a 2" ring out of a milk jug and place it around the seedling and push it down into the soil about 1-1/2" this seems to keep the cut worms off.

5/12/2009 10:54:42 AM

Tinykinville

Where do you get merit and warrior T?

5/13/2009 3:59:53 AM

Eugene, OR

After losing some plants to corn seed maggots in 2005, I too now apply Merit while the plants are still in the pot indoors and also apply Merit to the patch before planting time. To treat the seedlings, I add 1 tsp. of Merit 75WP to a gallon of water, which is enough Merit to cover 250 sq. ft. As luck would have it, there are just about 250 tablespoons per gallon. I have roughly 1 square foot of soil per pot so I just water in one tablespoon of the mixture to give the plant the proper dose and use the remainder in the patch. I haven't seen a maggot since. Nasty little buggers...

5/14/2009 1:44:33 AM

my 2 cents:
any info from the University information sites returns the mention of accumulating 1,000 degree days b4 the threat is over (the 21 day deal). The correlation we need to look at here is degree day activity and soil warming. imo,,,getting hoops setup early, using cables to warm the soil is the key to limiting the part of the csm's life cycle where they actually feed on material in that soil.

The flies hatching in the hoops indicate we are pushing that 21 day window, to me that means there is little time for the maggot phase to do damage. Ray has a plant with out cables,,it's getting chewed,,those with cables are not, are you following the thinking here?

My 4th year at this crazy hobby and living in an area where I have to use cables and heaters in the hoops, I have yet to loose a plant to these pests.

Get those hoops out early, try cables if you experience problems with the csm, and don't guess the soil temps, use a probe thermometer to make sure the soil is above 65° b4 setting the plants out is my advice.

One other approach is the use of DIATOMACEOUS EARTH in the planting hole and dusted around the stem of the seedlings. I'll let you research why this may be a cure to the problem.

The drawback I see with systemic insecticides on seedlings is that it requires "munching" to kill the pest, when small the plants won't tolerate that.

5/14/2009 6:17:58 AM

Mastic Beach, New York

i just got hit by them..first time ever

5/14/2009 6:09:43 PM

Owensboro, Ky.

Thanks, Unka!!! Peace, Wayne

5/15/2009 12:00:11 AM

Joliet, IL

i have always wondered what those smaller flies in my hoop houses were. and there has always been lots of them with no damage to my plants over the past 8 seasons. i never knew what the were or why they were there and never worried about them. i always put my greenhouses up and seal them shut for 2 weeks prior to planting to heat up the soil. and then i use spaceheaters to keep my night time temps at about 60 after transplant. i got worried this year with all the posts on csm and i have had at least 50 to 100 of the flies in each of my greenhouses. but it must be the heat factor cuz the maggots never have mess with the plants before hatching. i will actually set up my hoops 3 weeks early next year to start heating soil to ensure that 21 day cycle is close to complete at transplant. nice work dan.

5/16/2009 8:53:01 AM

Honesdale, Pennsylvania

I have lost my 1385 Jutras and now my 1566 Radonis to these maggots for the first time ever. My main patch only holds 2 plants! I added no manure this year but do have a high OGM reading. I now hate maggots more than I ever did.

5/16/2009 1:35:08 PM