Black Worm in Strawberries
>> Friday, November 14, 2008
Warning.....If you are squirmish about worms, you might not want to look at the following photos.
For years I have been plagued by these black wriggly worms eating some of the ripe strawberries. They are disgusting. They range in length from 1-3 cm. The following photos show how much damage 2 little black worms can do to a strawberry. They are the same 2 worm in all the 3 pic.
Andrea from LifestyleBlock suggested I try using a solution of apple cider vinegar and spray the strawberries several times a day. Since I only had white vinegar I used that instead. The mix I did was 1 tablespoon vinegar to a litre of water. For 5 days now I have been diligently spraying the partially ripe strawberries and it seems to be working.
Since spraying I have only picked 2 strawberries with the black worms in it. And it was only because it was missed by the spray being hidden by the leaves.
With the weather hotting up, the plants are watered with a weak solution of comfrey tea. Comfrey makes good fertiliser.
For years I have been plagued by these black wriggly worms eating some of the ripe strawberries. They are disgusting. They range in length from 1-3 cm. The following photos show how much damage 2 little black worms can do to a strawberry. They are the same 2 worm in all the 3 pic.
Andrea from LifestyleBlock suggested I try using a solution of apple cider vinegar and spray the strawberries several times a day. Since I only had white vinegar I used that instead. The mix I did was 1 tablespoon vinegar to a litre of water. For 5 days now I have been diligently spraying the partially ripe strawberries and it seems to be working.
Since spraying I have only picked 2 strawberries with the black worms in it. And it was only because it was missed by the spray being hidden by the leaves.
With the weather hotting up, the plants are watered with a weak solution of comfrey tea. Comfrey makes good fertiliser.
The worms have devoured a quarter of the strawberry
See how they can stretch
One have gone all short and fat
The perfect fruit
14 comments:
Thanks for this advice. I've just found the same worms in one of my strawberries so I've sprayed all the strawberries with the vinegar water and we'll see what happens.
Those worms are really annoying aren't they ! You have to keep spraying the vinegar at least until all the strawberry season is over. I find the minute I am complacent, the little black worms are back with a vengeance.
At least the vinegar is organic and it really does work at keeping the strawberries from being attacked by the worms.
Hope it works for you.
The tiny black worms seem to be the worst on the strawberries that are directly on the ground. I was thinking of putting on a collar around the base of the plant to hold the strawberries up off the ground. Has anyone done this? I will try the vinegar too! thank you.
If you do try the collar, would love to hear whether it works.
Thanks for this information! I know this is going to seem "out there" but my pest control method is to "talk" to the pests and indicate to them that my fruits and vegetables are off limits to them. I may, on occasion, give them one or two fruits as a gift, but they may not take it upon themselves to feast willy nilly.
My method has worked exceptionally well with sow bugs, snails and slugs. It has worked fairly well with the black worms, but they still take what is not given.
i get them coming in my house sometimes what are they? anyone know?
i live in the bahamas.
They seem to come out only at night. What are they called? I can't find info on them anywhere.
I'm not certain yet, but I think it may be a land planarian of the genus Dolichoplana. These are well known as predators of slugs and earthworm, and I have a lot of each in my strawberry patch. But I'm pretty sure the land planarians are eating the berries too. I'm going to put one in a jar and confirm it will eat the berry too. If I get a definitive ID, I will post it. (I'm in California)
We just received a sample pictures of same type worm at our California Master Gardener office in Stockton. Your pictures are better. So far we have dtermined that it is not any planarian we are familiar with and it is not a nematode. If you get a conclusive answer, let me know.
Steve_sanguinetti@yahoo,com
I'd love to know what these things are! I have them on my strawberries too and they are making me mad! The look for all the world like leeches. They are NOT slugs; weird! I can find no information about them anywhere! Eeeew.
Gonna try diatomaceous earth, which I am sure will work overall but is almost impossible to apply under the leaves where these things hide out.
-- Nikki Harding
I disagree Steve that it's not a nematode. It is not any kind of insect larva. It is some kind of roundworm! It is glossy and wet, and moves like a leech. I am pretty sure they are nematodes.
I am in NZ and I to have the same slugs yuck.I never had this problem last summer and am wondering if they arrived with the peastraw I bought to put around my strawberries.I also find that the fruit touching the straw only seems to get the slugs,the fruit off the ground doesn't seem to get infected.
I have the same problem in Pukekohe, New Zealand this year and have never seen them before to date. This year I used pelletised pea straw around my plants and have regularly used a slug/snail bait to reduce the slugs and snails eating the fruit. i have found the 'worm' only in ripe fruit and fruit that is also touching either the soil or the wet pea straw. Mark
Hi Mark,
This year instead of spraying the ripe strawberry with vinegar I bought some Diatomaceous Earth and sprinkled in around the plants. It seems to work and whenever I see any ripe strawberry with the black worm, I spinkle it to that specific area.
However with the constant rain we seem to be having this summer, it washes away the diatomaceous earth and the black worms are back with a vengeance. I need to spinkle DE again once we get a fine spell. It has certainly reduced the number of black worms eating the strawberries.
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