# Cherry worms



## brettz (Jun 21, 2013)

I just spent the afternoon picking cherries off our huge old cherry tree. After I'd sorted them and started pitting them I noticed some white worms wriggling around inside some of the cherries. Sick. It was in enough of the cherries to make me regret the ones I'd eaten while I was picking them. I know worms won't harm you but somehow the knowledge of them being in the cherries is enough of a turnoff that I'm not eager to pop more in my mouth. I did a little bit of online research and it seems it's the larva of a fruitfly. After they eat the cherry and drop to the ground they burrow there and hibernate until spring when they emerge, mate and lay more delicious little worm eggs in my cherries. Spraying pesticides is what I can find as a remedy but it's one that harms bees and I'm not interested in spraying my tree with that. Anyone else encounter this and did you find a less severe way to get rid of the flies?


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## geo in mi (Nov 14, 2008)

If it's any consolation, the carbaryl (Sevin) is sprayed as the flies emerge onto the ripening fruits, which is long after any bees would be interested in buzzing around your trees. This article states that Spinosad is effective when sprayed in intervals. The link given in the section, "Chemical Controls" also shows results of research on other organic products.

http://county.wsu.edu/chelan-douglas/agriculture/treefruit/pages/cherry_fruit_fly.aspx

Hope this may help

geo


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## geo in mi (Nov 14, 2008)

Forgot to mention chickens in the cherry orchard, to clean up all the drops.

geo


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## K.B. (Sep 7, 2012)

BT powder or spray is about the only organic way that I have found to deal with cherry fruit fly or sawfly larva in problem areas. Haven't seen them here, YET, thankfully. Just a matter of time...


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## brettz (Jun 21, 2013)

Thank you both for your responses. I was hoping to put some bee hives out near the orchard this coming year but will be waiting on that to see how/if we can control these little buggers. Out here in Oregon there was a massive honey bee kill in a Target parking lot about a month ago from pesticide spray so it's fresh on my mind. 

I have about 30 hens who would LOVE to get out in that orchard. I am not ready to get them out there right now (no protection from predators and it backs up right into the woods where coyotes are). So unfortunately they won't be there to eat the cherries as they fall (and therefore those ---- worms). It's all a bit overgrown now but I was hoping to get the grass out and chop up the ground a bit under the cherry trees and let the chickens get in there to hopefully eat up any critters they can find. The insects will already be burrowed into the ground at that point and I'm not sure how much I can turn the soil without disturbing the tree roots but I figured I'd give it a try.

One other thought I had was that we use diatomaceous earth in our coop to control flies. I know they dry out the exoskeletons of bugs. I was wondering if throwing that down under the trees, especially in conjunction with the chickens being out there, may be helpful. 

One thing I do know, my chickens are stoked on the worm problem. They are getting all our cherries this year. Plus the worms are an added bonus to them.


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## brettz (Jun 21, 2013)

One more thought... I think I am going to lay tarps under my trees that have fruit in them right now and try to catch the dropped cherries so I can destroy them (feed em to the chickens, drop em in a water trough, etc). That way at least the worms will have their work cut out for them trying to burrow into the ground. I've already seen quite a few cherries on the ground so this won't be anywhere near 100% effective but it can at least minimize the amount of critters I am battling next spring.


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## geo in mi (Nov 14, 2008)

brettz said:


> One more thought... I think I am going to lay tarps under my trees that have fruit in them right now and try to catch the dropped cherries so I can destroy them (feed em to the chickens, drop em in a water trough, etc). That way at least the worms will have their work cut out for them trying to burrow into the ground. I've already seen quite a few cherries on the ground so this won't be anywhere near 100% effective but it can at least minimize the amount of critters I am battling next spring.


Hopefully the robins and orioles will get those left hanging.

geo


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## mskrieger (May 1, 2012)

Your solution with the tarps seems like a good one. Long term, the chickens will probably help quite a bit. 

You can also put out hormone sticky traps or honey-vinegar traps during the time period when the fruit flies are laying eggs. 

And you said your cherry tree is huge and old. Does that mean it's been untended for a while until you came along? If so, your fruit fly problem may diminish on its own over two or three years as you practice good management, harvesting most of the cherries and letting the chickens at the rest. I have had cherry trees in my yard for 25 years (originally planted by my parents) and we always have a few fruit worms, but never a plague. I think they persist at a low level from the few inevitable overlooked fruit.

And one last ps...if you plan on turning the cherries into jam or preserves, you can just pit them with a paper clip, and you'll usually scoop the worm out right along with the pit. Pretty easy then to stick the wormy bowl of pits in the freezer for a day or two to kill the larva, while you get to enjoy the cherries.


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