Perhaps those caterpillars of yours are coming from under the ground around the tree Susan? Something that has been waiting for the fruit.....could be entirely wrong but how else did they get inside the net.
I learnt my lesson well - it only took me about 3 years of having my crops ruined by fruit fly to FINALLY get serious about the netting business. Have not looked back. I am losing a few but not to fruit fly. It is some sort of caterpilla that burrows straight into the seed. I don't mind these so much because they leave a neat little hole and the fruit doesn't rot and is entirely edible around it. I wonder what it is though because I would think that a net that keeps out fruit fly would also keep out any moth/butterfly that would lay unless the eggs were laid MUCH earlier than I netted it??
I'm surprised that the tomatoes are so far safe, despite the proximity of the nectarine tree to the tomatoes in the growbed.
When I saw you comment Lissa, a month or 2 ago about chopping the tree to suit the net, I thought I should have done that. Instead of thinking that, I should have gone straight outside and chopped the top off, I might be looking at a decent crop, even if a few got stung beforehand. The goats love the stung ones so long as they're not mushy.
I cut my tree back a bit more this year Rob so the net reached the ground as some FF got under last year right at the end of the ripening time.
Great pity about the beautiful fruit in your pic. Very disappointing for you. I'm not cropping any good toms at the moment though some portions are edible.
Bummer about the nectaries - they look fabulous. Your Black Russians are a bit weird like mine. Of 4 plants, 1 died in infancy, 1 is definitely a Black Russian, 1 is blackish with stripes (!) and 1 is a red fruit similar to Rouge de Mamande. Even Pohlmann's don't always get it right. They are still delicious or the ones the fruit flies didn't beat me to are very edible.
Rarely do I get ff in Toms, must have been struggling a bit. I know that I did not boost the soil half-way through the season and that's probably why so many are now in the rubbish bin :-(
I'm taking to heart the many reports of ff in stone fruit. I have 5 new stone fruit plants set to produce next season. The vegenet is coming out as soon as they are finished being pollinated.
The nectarines this year are turning into a write-off. All 5 of the nectarines in the shot turned out being stung, I actually picked these early hoping that they were ok, a few days after taking the photo, they were not. Last year I got one lovely crop due to a net covering the tree & tied around the base, this year I have almost no crop, due to a the same net not properly covering. With hindsight, I should have chopped the tree back or got a larger net. This year I had a fruit fly trap in the tree as a compromise.
I will probably spend some time today, stripping most (with visible stings) and keeping a few to see how they ripen.
Those tomatoes were meant to be black Russians, but I don't think they are. They've been coming out of the growbed in abundance along with the roma tomatoes.
Comments
Susan, do the grubs look like this?
It's a moth of some kind - Heliothis or similar - possibly the eggs were laid before the netting arrived?
Perhaps those caterpillars of yours are coming from under the ground around the tree Susan? Something that has been waiting for the fruit.....could be entirely wrong but how else did they get inside the net.
I learnt my lesson well - it only took me about 3 years of having my crops ruined by fruit fly to FINALLY get serious about the netting business. Have not looked back. I am losing a few but not to fruit fly. It is some sort of caterpilla that burrows straight into the seed. I don't mind these so much because they leave a neat little hole and the fruit doesn't rot and is entirely edible around it. I wonder what it is though because I would think that a net that keeps out fruit fly would also keep out any moth/butterfly that would lay unless the eggs were laid MUCH earlier than I netted it??
I'm surprised that the tomatoes are so far safe, despite the proximity of the nectarine tree to the tomatoes in the growbed.
When I saw you comment Lissa, a month or 2 ago about chopping the tree to suit the net, I thought I should have done that. Instead of thinking that, I should have gone straight outside and chopped the top off, I might be looking at a decent crop, even if a few got stung beforehand. The goats love the stung ones so long as they're not mushy.
I cut my tree back a bit more this year Rob so the net reached the ground as some FF got under last year right at the end of the ripening time.
Great pity about the beautiful fruit in your pic. Very disappointing for you. I'm not cropping any good toms at the moment though some portions are edible.
Bummer about the nectaries - they look fabulous. Your Black Russians are a bit weird like mine. Of 4 plants, 1 died in infancy, 1 is definitely a Black Russian, 1 is blackish with stripes (!) and 1 is a red fruit similar to Rouge de Mamande. Even Pohlmann's don't always get it right. They are still delicious or the ones the fruit flies didn't beat me to are very edible.
Rarely do I get ff in Toms, must have been struggling a bit. I know that I did not boost the soil half-way through the season and that's probably why so many are now in the rubbish bin :-(
I'm taking to heart the many reports of ff in stone fruit. I have 5 new stone fruit plants set to produce next season. The vegenet is coming out as soon as they are finished being pollinated.
The nectarines this year are turning into a write-off. All 5 of the nectarines in the shot turned out being stung, I actually picked these early hoping that they were ok, a few days after taking the photo, they were not. Last year I got one lovely crop due to a net covering the tree & tied around the base, this year I have almost no crop, due to a the same net not properly covering. With hindsight, I should have chopped the tree back or got a larger net. This year I had a fruit fly trap in the tree as a compromise.
I will probably spend some time today, stripping most (with visible stings) and keeping a few to see how they ripen.
Those tomatoes were meant to be black Russians, but I don't think they are. They've been coming out of the growbed in abundance along with the roma tomatoes.
What a gorgeous crop! So vibrant with potential.
Don't the stone fruit grow quickly. I think mine might be ready for picking in a week or so though they are small and less numerous than last year.
Love your toms.