Raspberry bushes are extremely susceptible to damage from beetles. A good place to set them up is around the edges of your bramble patch, particularly if you have any wild berries growing there. The larvae are whitish yellow and range in size from 6 to 8 millimeters long. Now that she lives near Santa Barbara, California, she is delighted that many of these grow right outside! Organic contact insecticides containing natural pyrethrins (e.g. She transitioned to full-time writing in 2009. Blackberry leafminer (Metallus rubi) larva. Byturus tomentosus monitoring can be achieved by using Russell IPM’s Raspberry beetle lure PH-158-1PR with either a Mothcatcher trap or a Ferolite trap. In addition, heavy damage to the leaves can result in a weaker plant that will produce fewer fruits. Uncredited photos: Shutterstock. Bug Clear Gun for Fruit & Veg, Neudorff Bug Free Bug and Larvae Killer). Py Bug Killer), The 4mm (about 1/8in) long adult beetles are pale brown and they lay eggs on the flowers in May to mid-July, The young larvae feed at the stalk end of the developing fruit, but later move inside to feed on the central plug, In late summer, the fully-fed larvae move into the soil where they overwinter as pupae. Raspberry Cane Borer If you're seeing just the tips of some of your raspberry canes wilting, you're dealing with the raspberry cane borer. She holds a BS in agriculture from Cornell University, and an MS from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. If the infestation is heavy, the adults can severely damage the canes. When these beetles infest a raspberry patch, they can make harvesting the raspberries a very unpleasant task! If this is not sufficient to reduce the damage to acceptable levels then you may choose to use pesticides. Early fruits on autumn raspberries may be damaged, but those ripening after late August are less likely to be affected. They look like grubs and their bodies are segmented. Adults also feed on buds, and open flowers but the damage is usually minimal. Credit: RHS/Entomology. This often damages the fruit or causes it to drop prematurely. When they emerge from the ground, the beetles start flying and continue to do so until August. In mid-spring, the raspberry beetle will feed on new leaves in an interveinal pattern. The highest standards of control are required if your fruit are destined for immediate quick freezing, for commercial sale. There is some confusion about the name of these pesky worms that can ruin your delightful raspberries. More persistent contact-action insecticides include the synthetic pyrethroids lambda-cyhalothrin (e.g. © Ask the Experts, LLC. Although a raspberry plant grows well in a variety of soil types and growing conditions, insect pests can prevent the bush from putting out a healthy crop of berries. The grubs of raspberry beetle can damage the fruits of raspberry, blackberry and other cane fruits. 11 Raspberry beetle damaged fruits 12 Raspberry beetle larva in soil Wingless weevils Vine weevil (Otiorhynchus sulcatus) Vine weevil is the most common wingless weevil in the UK. PyGanic Gardening EC 1.4 II Pyrethrin Liquid Spray. In addition, heavy damage to the leaves can result in a weaker plant that will produce fewer fruits. That’s why it is so important to monitor the level of infestation to determine whether or not you need to take measures to control them. Monitoring can be done in four ways: looking for leaf damage, using Rebell® Bianco sticky traps, beating trays or monitoring fruit infestation. A blackberry leaf with characteristic leafminer damage. You will have to manually remove the infested berries and destroy them. This is true for both organic sprays and synthetic insecticides. Westland Resolva Bug Killer), deltamethrin (e.g. A brownish-white grub, up to 8 mm long, may be found inside the fruits. Japanese beetle damage on raspberry leaves. Identification, Biology, and Distribution, The Royal Horticultural Society of the UK recommends, Arbico Organics, in pre-mixed spray bottles of various sizes, pick up a bottle of PyGanic via Arbico Organics, Arbico Organics carries many of these products. One of Helga George’s greatest childhood joys was reading about rare and greenhouse plants that would not grow in Delaware. If you want to get more precise, you can attract the adults with white sticky traps made from cardboard that doesn’t reflect UV light. They are the most active in the evening. Although a raspberry plant grows well in a variety of soil types and growing conditions, insect pests can prevent the bush from putting out a healthy crop of berries. Each female beetle can lay 100 or more eggs. You can pick up a bottle of PyGanic via Arbico Organics. You have a choice of control options, depending on how severe the infestation is on your raspberry plants. Maintaining good weed control can be surprisingly helpful. Nature of Damage. Classic insecticides that are effective against the raspberry beetles include methoxychlor, malathion, carbaryl, and diazinon. You should hold the tray one foot below the trellis wire in the canopy. We occasionally link to goods offered by vendors to help the reader find relevant products. Whatever your circumstances, you have the choice of not treating, treating part of your crop, or treating your whole field. Spinosad is also available in liquid form from Arbico Organics, in pre-mixed spray bottles of various sizes from Bonide. However, if you find that you are trapping more than 5-10 beetles per week before the flowers appear, a significant number, you should also consider using an insecticide. Such tiny beetles can cause so much damage! Its range extends from California and Arizona up through Canada to the Arctic. It is mainly a problem on summer-fruiting raspberries. Raspberry bushes are extremely susceptible to damage from beetles. They not only parasitize on the larvae of the beetle, destroying them, but also decompose hardly soluble soil fractions, activating plant nutrition. Why do these traps work so well? Have you dealt with raspberry fruitworms in your plants? If there are a lot of beetles, you will see slits where the adults ate around the veins of the leaves. Raspberry beetle (Byturus tomentosus) on Loganberry (Rubus hybrid). Set the traps out 4-6 weeks before the first flowers appear on your plants. While many people still call them raspberry worms, some experts call them “raspberry beetles” and consider “Western raspberry fruitworm” to be an outdated name. They're rather large (about 1/4 to 1/2 inch long), iridescent green and bronze, with a row of little white tufts along their sides. Keeping raspberry bushes healthy is key to encouraging the production of berries each fall. Place the trap on the top wire and keep a map of where you put them in your gardening journal. Monitoring the populations of beetles in your planting area will help you to develop a workable control plan, and you can choose from a number of measures ranging from cultural controls to the use of organic or synthetic insecticides.