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We harvested some worm-eaten radishes. They’re definitely still edible

Radek Stepan 22. 05. 2026 4 views

It might seem like radishes are the kind of vegetable that can’t possibly go wrong during cultivation. We just plant them and harvest what we expect. But the opposite can be true, and radishes may not look the way we expected. Several pests can wreak havoc on them. Traditionally, these are slugs, but we can handle them. The second very unpleasant discovery is when we bite into or cut open a radish and find brown tunnels and a worm inside. The cabbage root fly is responsible for this. It just happened to us.

The cabbage root fly traditionally destroys radishes

This is nothing new. Unfortunately. The cabbage root fly is a long-standing enemy not only of radishes but also of other plants in the Chenopodiaceae family. The cabbage root fly is essentially a fly that lays its eggs on radishes. The radishes are threatened by the larvae of this fly. They are incredibly voracious and can create brown trails inside the radish. The root itself is often riddled with them, even on the surface. Most of the time, however, they are only inside.

Photo: Radek Stepan

The tiny eggs are easy to overlook

That’s right. After all, these eggs are only about a millimeter long. That’s really too small for us to notice them. The larvae are longer, up to about 8 mm. They have a typical white or yellowish color. Adult cabbage root flies, however, hatch from pupae that traditionally overwinter in the soil as early as the end of April. The silver-gray flies lay eggs up to 7 mm long right now in May.

To eat or not to eat?

That is the question. Of course, radishes infested in this way are edible. But not everyone has the appetite to bite into worm-infested vegetables. The larvae do not affect the taste of the radish in any way. It is merely that very unpleasant effect.

How to protect radishes

Logically, by preventing the cabbage root fly from laying its eggs on the plants. If we achieve this, of course, no larvae can hatch. The ideal solution is to cover the radishes with non-woven fabric. This prevents the flies from laying eggs. This year, we also grew radishes in a cold frame, where very few were worm-infested.