Pests & diseases › Cherry Fruit Fly
Cherry Fruit Fly
Small fly whose larvae tunnel through cherries — the maggots in your fruit bowl problem.
Symptoms
- Soft brown spots on ripe cherries
- Small white maggots inside the fruit
- Premature color change
- Fruit dropping early
Lifecycle
Adults emerge as cherries start to color.
What to do
- Yellow sticky sphere traps with ammonium scent lure
- Spinosad sprays starting at first color change
- Pick fruit promptly and don't leave damaged ones to drop
If it's bad
- Carbaryl, malathion
Stop it coming back
- Aggressive sanitation of dropped fruit
- Net trees if size allows
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.