David Owens, Extension Entomologist, owensd@udel.edu
Congratulations to Michael Crossley for correctly identifying seedcorn maggot as the culprit behind the missing pea stand! The photo was taken of a field in which we try to do everything wrong: disking in fallow weeds (or green manure) plus making additional organic matter inputs (chicken manure). We time this to coincide with peak adult emergence and wait a few days before planting into a field loaded with flies and eggs or early maggots. This year, we pulled it off quite well and had between 50 and 100% stand loss, depending on the treatment. Previous years we had significant infestations but little stand loss.
