Kitchen Garden Forum

For the first time I have had maggots in my maincrop peas. Are some varieties more susceptible to this than others, or might it be the timne of year or the weather? Any advice welcome.
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Granny

Hi Granny, I think this is the pea moth, which will eat any type of pea including the mange tout types.

The presence of pea moth seems to be down to all sorts of things: weather, time of the year — who knows for sure. Most years the damage is quite mild, this year it seems to be bad. Last year, I had none at all.

Here's a fact about pea moth that may be of interest to home seed savers: the larvae do not attack the most vital part of the seed. That way, you can sow pea moth damaged seed and it will all germinate.

I'm in Bristol and this year the attack of pea moth has been almost unnoticeable (ie I havent knowingly eaten any!). Last year was a different story, loads of larvae. I've noticed the raspberries have been clear this year as well. Sorry, I'm straying off topic...

Thanks for replies. It's actually quite reassuring to know it's unpredictable. I've never had any before so wondered if I'd done something wrong.
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Granny

Marken wrote:I'm in Bristol and this year the attack of pea moth has been almost unnoticeable (ie I havent knowingly eaten any!).

I'm just down the road from you and have had quite a few pods with wriggly visitors in them.

Can anyone advise if it gets worse over the summer? My first crop has now finished and I'm about to plant a second lot.