Field library

Fruit & Shoot Borer

A small caterpillar that bores its way inside the plant. Early in the season it enters a soft top shoot, and that shoot then droops and dries. Later it bores into the fruit and fills it with tunnels and droppings. It plugs the hole behind itself, so the fruit looks sound from outside and you only find the damage when you cut it open.

How to scout

Twice a week look across the field for drooping, dried shoot tips, and cut open a few of the fruits you pick. Count how many out of every hundred picked fruits have a bore hole.