What Is Eating My Chives?

Cultivation

• Chives can be planted as soon as the soil warms in spring. The best site for chives is one with rich, moist soil in full sunlight, but they are hardy and may be grown in shadier locations and many soil types. Fertilize chives once with balanced fertilizer at the time of planting, then again in both May in July. Keep the bed well-weeded to deter insects.

Thrips

• Thrips are tiny and difficult to see, but the damage they leave behind is noticeable. Thrips chew holes into stems and foliage to suck out the nutrients, robbing the chive plant of vitamins and minerals. Black spots and other discolorations appear on plants that are affected by thrips. The insects may stunt and prevent growth on chive plants, which don't have the nutrients needed to create flowers and foliage. Treat chives with a pesticide to prevent and control thrips.

Leafminers

• Celery leafminers attack chives and other garden plants. The insects are named for the damage they create. By feeding on leaves and stems of plants, leafminers create whitish or yellowish stripes or tunnels -- mines. As damage progresses, foliage yellows and wilts. Leafminers rarely prove fatal to plants, but they may reduce the amount of edible chives you collect from the garden. Celery leafminers are resistant to many insecticides, but commercial treatments containing cyromazine and abamectin are effective.

Root Maggots

• Root maggots are attracted to chives and other root herbs and vegetables. Root maggots resemble white or yellow houseflies, but they are found in soil and around the base of plants. As the name suggests, root maggots feed heavily on roots, causing yellowing and wilting of plants. Rotate chives with other crops to avoid root maggot infestations, and till the soil once a year to reduce insect populations. General insecticides are effective against root maggots.