Pests & diseases › Pear Psylla
Pear Psylla
Tiny sap-sucking insects on pear shoot tips. Honeydew leads to sooty mould.
Symptoms
- Sticky honeydew on leaves and developing fruit
- Black sooty mould coating
- Stunted, distorted young leaves
- Tiny aphid-like insects on shoot tips
Lifecycle
Multiple generations a year, March to October.
What to do
- Wash off honeydew and mould with strong water jet
- Encourage anthocorid bugs and earwigs (their main predators)
- Soft soap spray on bad outbreaks
If it's bad
- Pyrethrum spray after blossom drop only
Stop it coming back
- Don't over-feed with nitrogen
- Encourage natural predators — leave earwig refuges (upturned pots of straw)
Crops it goes for
Plan the plot, track every sowing, cook the harvest
Sowing reminders and harvest forecasts for your own frost dates, the Seed Tin, Scan Centre for any label or packet, and the Potty Mouth Garden Club. Free to start.