More Pear Midge

More bad news on pear midge infestation. I got a stepladder to investigate the top of my half-standard Morettini and found an even greater number of infected fruitlets at the top of the tree. This tree did not set any fruit last year as it flowered in January, so the midges that infected it must have travelled a fair distance.

I also found infected fruitlets on Winter Nelis, Sucrée de Montluçon and Fondante d'Automne which showed no outward symptoms other than looking slightly dehydrated (example far left). I would not have detected any on Winter Nelis if I hadn't carried out random checks. Round/conical varieties don't seem to change shape or size as greatly as the pyriform/calabasse types do in reaction to the larvae.