Dee Byers asked 15 years ago
I have and my father before me, tried to deal with pear midge on a very old pear tree in our garden (over 100 years old). The pear tree flowers profusely and produces ‘pearlets’ but many if not most of them have been invaded by pear midge which rots out the centre and the ‘pearlet’ turns black drops off and dies. Is there anythjing I can spray with to prevent this happening in the future. When the pears come to maturity they are wonderful and store very well.
1 Answers
Gerry Daly Staff answered 6 years ago
Pear midge can cause heavy loss of fruit. When the little pears fall off, the midge goes into the soil to pupate or they emerge from the fruitlets to pupate on the tree. If you pick off the affected fruitlets before they fall or as soon as they fall, you will get rid of of most the larvae.
Spraying with an insecticide just before the blossom opens can help too as it kills the female midges before they lay eggs at flowering. Or as soon as the blossom falls, spray to kill the larvae before they burrow into the fruit.
