Worms in cherry

If you take proper care of cherries, then it will delight its owner for a long time with a tasty and healthy harvest of berries. Berries are rich in various mineral vitamins and trace elements that are essential for human health. But sometimes there are situations when worms appear in the cherry. What to do if this happened.

Worms in cherries: the causes of the appearance of the pest

Worms in cherries: photo

The reason why cherries become wormy is the cherry fly. If an insect appears in your garden, then it becomes noticeable by the appearance of the cherry. They take on a dark matte shade. if you find a small worm in the center of the berry, then this will be the larva of a cherry fly. If you carefully examine the berry, you can see the presence of pits and depressions. The infected plant begins to rot quickly, even if you create optimal conditions for growing cherries, the berries begin to crumble, the amount of harvest decreases significantly. Many summer residents are worried about the question, but how can you get rid of not only the worms in the cherry, but also drive away the cherry fly from the site forever.

First you need to understand what an insect is, in order to understand exactly what safe means and methods can be used to get rid of it without harming either people or the tree. The cherry fly is very small in size. Her body length can be only about 4 mm. The worm in cherry has a dark brown to black body color with longitudinal yellow stripes on the back of the insect. Transparent wings allow the insect to fly from one plant to another, at various distances, without much difficulty.

With the onset of the winter period, the cherry fly hibernates, for this it burrows into the soil to a depth of 1 to 15 cm. The insect wraps itself in a cocoon, which has a barrel-shaped shape, of a dirty yellow color. With the onset of warm days, the fly begins to leave its shelter. During the winter, they become very hungry and crave abundant food. Within 2-3 weeks, the fly consumes the sweet secretions that come from the cherry aphid. She is the very first who begins to feast on young foliage and eat annual shoots. When the insect regains its previous shape, it begins the process of laying off its offspring. To do this, they opt for unripe berries. They begin to bite through the shell and lay the larvae right in the berry. Those larvae that have been postponed begin to develop within 15-25 days. They begin to consume the sweet pulp of the berry, creating various passages and holes in it. When they are already full enough, they begin to emerge on the surface of the berry and fall directly to the ground, where they begin their transformation into a cocoon.

This is how worms appear in cherries. Of course, worms in cherries are not a very pleasant phenomenon. Eating a berry that the larvae have already eaten is also not very pleasant. Therefore, it is best to take care in advance that the cherry could not undergo such a phenomenon.

How to get rid of worms in cherries?

Worms in cherries: photo

There are many ways that have worked well in the fight against cherry fly. You can also use some of them:

• Plant only early maturing cherries. You will harvest such varieties before the cherry fly has time to lay the larvae in the berries, which means that the worms in the cherry will stop bothering you. Cultivars with a middle or late ripening period are much more likely to be attacked by cherry flies.

• If you loosen the soil of the trunk circle in the spring, this will destroy the cocoons of the cherry fly.

• Apply special insecticides, chemicals, which in a fairly simple way will help get rid of cherry flies. It is best to carry out processing with such means at least 2 times. For the first time, you need to use it when the fly, in the spring, gets out of the soil after hibernation (the air should warm up to +18 degrees). Many experts widely recommend the use of special traps that must be hung on the branches of a tree. The trap can be prepared on your own:

• Take thick cardboard and stick on bright yellow colored paper.

• Then treat the entire surface of the cardboard with ALT glue (it is used to catch mice).

• Hang such a trap on a tree.

When you notice that about 20 flies are stuck on the paper, this will mean that the fly woke up after hibernation. It is during this period that the treatment with special means must be repeated. But remember that any chemical treatment should be done 15 days before you start harvesting. Such drugs as Karate, Lightning, Aktara help well. It will be nice if, during the treatment, you use a different preparation each time so that the plant does not get used to one substance. After such treatments, the berries will need to be washed very well under water. Insecticides can be used to treat not only wood, but also the soil around it. There are also many folk remedies that are widely used among many summer residents.

• Use of sweet liquids. Pour the sweet liquid into a cut plastic bottle. Hang on tree branches. This will help attract the cherry fly. You can hang 4 of these bottles so that you can save the cherry harvest. Just place the bottles evenly and evenly throughout the tree. Then you just have to monitor the state of the liquid. If possible, add a new one: kvass, beer, honey water.

Harvesting is best done in one step. After you collect all the berries, you will need to clear the area from volunteers and spoiled fruits. Also, if you clean up, fight cherry aphids, then you will not see a cherry fly. After all, it is she who attracts the cherry fly.

Worms in cherries: what to do with such berries?

Worms in cherries: photo

The worm cherry does not represent any harm to health. It's just not very pleasant to realize that the worms have already eaten the berries. In addition, worms can become pathogens of various bacteria, which in turn can lead to minor poisoning. If you still want to save your harvested crop from worms, then you can use the old and proven method - soak cherries in cold and salted water for 30 minutes. To do this, you need to take 2 liters of cold water, salt (about 1 tablespoon), dishes where you will soak the berries and a colander, then drain the water and rinse the berries. The whole process will look like this:

• Remove twigs, leaves and stalks from the cherry.
• Dissolve salt in water.
• Pour the berries into a container so that all the berries are in the water.
• Leave for half an hour.
• Drain and rinse the cherries.

This method is the most popular and safest method for getting rid of worms in cherries. The berry does not change its appearance and taste. As we said earlier, worms are absolutely safe for human health, but it often happens that, having noticed a worm inside the berry, then it is difficult to try this healthy and tasty berry again. That is why, it is best to carry out preventive measures aimed at preventing the appearance of cherry flies.