How to stop having worms in cherries?

You have greatly benefited from the magnificent flowering of your cherry trees. You have lovingly watched these little red fruits develop. After a nice harvest, you can't resist the temptation to bite into one of them. But what a horror! You see in the center of your cherry a white larva gesticulating in all directions! Looking at your salad bowl, all your cherries are infested. But where do all these larvae come from? And how do you get rid of it?

A point on the cherry fly

This little insect bears the sweet name of Rhagoletis cerasi, it is a dipteran. It measures approximately 4mm in length. It is easily recognizable because it has a black body with a yellow spot on its back. Its wings are translucent streaked with black bands. Once the fruits are large enough, the fly lays one egg per cherry, usually near the pit. The larva feeds on the flesh of the fruit for almost a month. A single fly can lay up to 70 eggs. If you have dozens of cherry flies around your cherry tree, a good portion of your crop will be infested with them. As soon as the fruits fall to the ground, they burrow into the ground and transform into pupae. They will wait until next season or even two years to come out and infest your cherries again.

There is another insect that attacks cherries, but also various fruits in your garden, it is called Drosophila suzukii. Unlike the first, it lays several eggs in the same fruit.

How to recognize cherry fly infestation?

You can quickly tell if worms are lodged in your cherries, if they rot and fall in an unexplained way. It will be wise, at this time, to pick up the fallen cherries and put them in the trash to get rid of them. Do not put them in your compost, the flies will come out the following year and you will face the same problem.

If you haven't noticed anything like this then you can pick several fruits and observe them carefully. If you see that they have a small hole, there is a high risk that your cherries are overgrown.

How to get rid of cherry maggot?

Certain varieties are much less attacked than others. Note that early species such as Napoleon, Burlat, etc. present less risk. To get to the root of the problem, you can hoe several times around your cherry trees. The larvae burrowing only shallowly into the earth will be easily dislodged from their cozy little nest. Make it a habit to always pick your cherries from the ground and if you can, don't leave any fruit on your tree.

You also have the possibility of making fly traps yourself. To do this, nothing could be simpler: cut pieces of cardboard that you paint yellow. Once this operation is completed, brush them with glue. All you have to do is put them down!

There are pheromone traps that you can easily find in garden centers to combat cherry fly. It’s a safe and eco-friendly way to get rid of them! For a large cherry tree, you will need about three or four traps. So that every year you can continue to enjoy tasty clafoutis and cherry jams, remember to renew your traps.