GARLIC
 

Can someone help me with this problem?
I have been growing garlic and onions for years and have always had healthy
crops.
I came across a place in Colorado that sells soft neck garlic cloves to
plant. I purchased and planted some.After harvesting,
I found that some cloves had tiny maggot type creatures in them.Including
the plants from my own garlic from the past.
I have never had this problem in the past. Did I introduce them with my
purchase? The company is non-committal. What can I safely treat my garden
with to get rid of them.
Any information would be greatly appreciated

GARLIC
 

Louis Toth said:

Can someone help me with this problem?
I have been growing garlic and onions for years and have always had
healthy crops.

I came across a place in Colorado that sells soft neck garlic cloves to
plant. I purchased and planted some.After harvesting,
I found that some cloves had tiny maggot type creatures in them.
Including the plants from my own garlic from the past.

I have never had this problem in the past. Did I introduce them with my
purchase? The company is non-committal.

Did you plant any cloves which had soft or damaged bits? If you are like
me, you probably went over your purchases cloves and only planted ones
that seemed clean and healthy.

Maggots are the larval stage of flies. I think weather patterns (or just bad
luck) may have brought the flies to your garden.

Picture of an onion maggot:
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/D/I-DP-DANT-LV.003.html

What can I safely treat my garden with to get rid of them.
Any information would be greatly appreciated

Garlic is usually not badly effected by maggots.

Some factors which might make garlic more susceptible to maggots:
wetter than normal weather
poor drainage
cooler than normal weather in the growing season
soil high in undecomposed organic matter

Since you pulled up plants that had obvious maggots in them, it may be
that many of the flies did not complete their life cycle. Pulling and
destroying any plants that seem unhealthy (yellowing, stunted, wilting) is
absolutely recommended. You don't want any maggots to mature.

Replant only whole, healthy cloves at the proper time for planting in
your area (for me, that would be October).

Applying diatomaceous earth around the plants can give some control
over the flies.
--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)