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Uk

I wonder if anyone can give me a clue to what it is that has attacked my plant and pumpkin. Everything was fine yesterday then today we noticed that the end 2 foot of the main vine was laid flat to the ground upon lifting the vine we could see thousands of small thin maggots or some sort of larvae that had eaten all of the vine that was actualy touching the soil then we noticed that an 8 day old pumpkin was totaly eaten away on the underneath also 4 of the secondary vines had the same problem when i removed the pumpkin there was what only can be described as a ball of maggots on the soil within minutes they had worked their way under the soil. What seems unusual is that the plant was only attacked where it came into contact with the soil and nothing on the top of the vines which makes me think that whatever these larvae are they actually came from the soil. If anyone has any ideas or advice it would be appreciated. Thanks.

7/11/2011 2:10:59 PM

Navarre,OH

More than likely some kind of cornseed/beenseed maggots?

7/11/2011 5:48:45 PM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

wireworm or pickle worm? without a picture we are just guessing

7/12/2011 1:19:00 PM

United Kingdom

Hi Terry just got an email from RHS Wisley your maggots were bibionid flies - probably brought in with manure but I found they are also pests of grassland.

7/15/2011 5:30:11 PM

Middlesbrough Uk

this was the official results from the royal horticultural society in uk from a sample sent

Ref: 13962403/173107


Thank you for your enquiry to the Royal Horticultural Society's Members’ Advisory Service.

Thank you for sending some samples of the larvae that are attacking your pumpkins. They are larvae of a bibionid fly (Bibio sp.). This type of fly maggot is not uisually a problem on pumpkins as they niormally feed on decaying plant material in the soil. They can sometimes be found together in large numbers where there are accumulations of dead leaves. I suspect in this case the larvae may have been introduced with the cow manure or other organic manures applied to the growing site. The tissues on young pumpkin plants are relatively soft and might not provide much of an obstacle to prevent these larvae entering the plant stems and fruits.

As this is an exceptional form of damage, it may not happen again in future years. Control of the larvae will not be easy as larvae that live in the soil or have bored into plants are difficult to get at. There is the added problem in a vegetable garden of finding a suitable pesticide that is approved for use on the particular type of vegetable. Next year it would be advisable not to apply the cow manure that may have introduced the larvae. Any larvae that survive the insecticide treatment you have applied are likely to become adult flies next spring. They may lay eggs on your allotment site but hopefully, this problem will not repeat itself next year.

Yours sincerely
Andrew Halstead
Principal Entomologist

7/19/2011 2:46:45 PM