worms in my pie cherries - how to prevent?

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SnowlineRose Bend, OR(Zone 4b) Aug 03, 2009

We managed to net our Montmorency early enough to fend off harvest-by-bird (it was loaded this year). But, when we cut the beautiful fruit open to remove the pits in prep for a pie, many contained a tiny white worm. Would dormancy oil have prevented this? (A local nurseryman is always pushing it.) We were so looking forward to homegrown cherry pie..... :(

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LTilton Glen Ellyn, IL(Zone 5b) Aug 04, 2009

Did it have a brown head?

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SnowlineRose Bend, OR(Zone 4b) Aug 04, 2009

Hi LTilton - no, the worms are all-white. After more research, I found the following web site which describes them http://www.jjnursery.com/care_cherry_worms.html :

"Those worms are the larvae of the western cherry fruit fly. In the spring, adult flies lay eggs under the skin of the cherries, and in a larval form, the maggots (or worms) feed on the inner meat of the cherry. As the cherries ripen, the larvae drop to the soil and remain in a dormant state until the next spring where they emerge as mature flies, to lay eggs in both sweet and tart cherries."

The web site talks about spraying malathion to get rid of the flies. I'm not a fan of spraying, so I may see if anyone in the Organic Gardening forum has any suggestions.

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SnowlineRose Bend, OR(Zone 4b) Sep 02, 2009

If anyone is following this thread...I've decided to try putting coco fiber mats around the base of the cherry trees in hopes that they will keep the hatching mature flies from reaching the cherries. My assumption is that if the coco fiber mats can stop weeds, maybe they can stop moths also. If anyone out there has tried this, please let me know. Thanks!

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LTilton Glen Ellyn, IL(Zone 5b) Sep 03, 2009

One important practice is to pick up all the fallen fruit from the ground right away, to keep the worms from emerging and heading for your soil to pupate in the first place.

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