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onion pests

When lifting my onions yesterday, I found one with slightly soft root area with minute insects inside.  They were shiny, chestnut brown about 4mm long & 1mm wide, quite fast moving.  Can anyone tell me what they are & what I should do with the rest of the crop which is now drying.

Posts

  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618

    They sound like the maggots of onion root fly. They will not store if they are infected. Check the root area of all that you lift. If they are firm and dry off then they are fine. Dispose of any infected bulbs by burning or disposing of in the council bin. Do not put on your compost heap.

  • BLTBLT Posts: 525

    Yep shame that.. I used the last of my home grown onions todaysadly not a huge crop...

    Last edited: 17 August 2016 23:59:14

  • Thanks for responses.   I didn't think they looked like maggots, always thought maggots were soft.  I did check all the bulbs as I lifted them otherwise I would have missed the only one that had gone soft.  Here's hoping for some dry weather to dry them - it has been a good crop of quite large onions this year.

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