July Todo: Pick up fallen fruit

Confused sap beetle, one of these varmints that gets into
your ripe fruit. He or she is about 1/8 inch (3mm) long.
Photo courtesy UC Davis IPM website.

Pick up fallen fruit. Decomposing fruit, you could argue, is like composting... it adds nutrients back to the soil so why should I pick up fallen fruit? Well, how does fruit fallen from the tree decompose?

          The insects that begin the decomposition process are some of the same insects which can attack the fruit on your tree. You leave your fallen fruit on the ground and these scavengers build communities out of the fallen fruit. Insects like the dried fruit beetle or confused sap beetle multiply their populations rapidly. In a couple of weeks this population of scavengers are looking for new food supplies.

More information on these pests, click here.

          The food supplies they find are the fruit on your trees and now you have a problem with tree ripened fruit - fug infested fruit.

          You thought the birds were bad, at least you could cut around the bird-pecked areas. You can't do that with fruit infested with these varmints. And watch out for your compost pile. If you add fruit to your compost pile, these varmints will invest the fruit there as well and spread to the fruit on your trees. Make sure fruit that is added to the compost pile is well covered and not exposed.