Raspberries come from a type of shrub of the genus Rubus, which is part of the Rosaceae family. In North America, raspberries are among the most sought after fruits, and just one bush can yield hundreds of fruit in a single growing season.
Raspberries are wonderful in jams, pies, tarts, smoothies, and drinks, as well as being ideal for plucking and eating directly from the stem. As an added bonus, the vitamin C in fresh raspberries is great for keeping the immune system healthy and fighting off illnesses.
Raspberries are among the few food sources with a particularly high concentration of omega-3 fatty acids. In addition to its other health benefits, raspberries can help those with heart conditions because of their high omega-3 concentration.
Furthermore, it’s an excellent choice for customers who care about being active. For this reason, raspberries are a good choice for those who are trying to incorporate more healthful foods into their regular diets.
However, a few questions have been raised about the presence of tiny bugs in raspberries. If you’re in a similar boat and can’t put your finger on what’s causing the bugs in your fruit, hopefully the following list will shed some light on the matter.
Tiny Bugs In Raspberries – 3 Reasons
- Fruit Flies
There is a fair probability that you are dealing with fruit flies if you have recently purchased a fresh supply of raspberries from the shop and you see that some of the berries contain what appear to be very tiny bugs.
The good news is that there is no need to worry because they can be eliminated with minimal effort. Instead of throwing out the raspberries, try soaking them in saltwater to kill the bugs. It won’t take more than a minute, and then you can stop fretting over them.
A simple solution of salt and water can be made by combining the two in a container and giving it a good swirl to dissolve the salt completely.
It’s important to use a lot of salt when making the combination, as using a little won’t produce the desired outcomes. Because of this, you won’t ever have to be concerned about the fruit flies again.
After the saltwater solution has been prepared, simply soak the raspberries in the solution for a few minutes to kill any remaining fruit flies.
After you have eliminated all of the flies from the berries, wash them thoroughly with fresh water, and then you are free to incorporate them into whatever recipe you desire.
- Spotted Drosophila
The little fly known as spotted-wing drosophila can be found developing inside of many different types of fruits. It causes the most harm to plants that bear fruit later in the season, such as raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries.
Berries quickly lose their firmness as the immature stages, which resemble tiny maggots, feed on the fruit from within. At the very least twice weekly, you should pick all of the mature fruit to minimise spotted-wing drosophila damage.
Spotted drosophila are the most prevalent form of insect that are found in raspberries. They feed on the sap of the plant and lay their eggs on the fruit. These provide a structure to your stock and typically feed on fruits that have a more tender consistency in their flesh.
Since their outer edge is more delicate, you’ll find them on many kinds of berries. The population of these bugs in your fruit is determined in part by a variety of environmental circumstances, each of which plays a unique function.
If you want to reduce the number of these pests in your raspberries, it’s best to get rid of any spoiled fruit and dry out the environment as much as possible. By doing so, you should expect to see a dramatic reduction in the population of these pests on your plants. So, take care to harvest all ripe fruits from the plant.
People have also claimed that keeping the yard tidy is important in controlling the pest population. Therefore, you will need to carve out some time during each week of your schedule to ensure that the yard is properly maintained. If you don’t solve this problem, pests will continue to infest your fruit until they’re all eaten.
Effective spotted-wing drosophila control may be achieved through the use of insecticides directed at the adult fly stage. Nonetheless, the variety of produce accessible from household gardens is restricted.
Raspberries, which are vulnerable to spotted-wing drosophila bloom and bear fruit over a long period of time. In these cases, extra precautions must be taken to avoid killing the bees and other pollinators that come to the crop.
Spinosad (spinosyns) containing products have been shown to be effective for a period of 5–7 days. However, acetamiprid, another insecticide, is just as effective but far less widely available.
The control of spotted-wing drosophila has not been shown to be successful with the use of insecticides that have a very brief residual activity, such as pyrethrins or insecticidal soaps.
It is essential for successful control to have a spray coverage that is complete throughout. Covering the underside of leaves and the interior of plantings, which is where spotted-wing drosophila flies spend the majority of their time, should receive a particular amount of focus and care.
- Larvae
The larvae of the raspberry beetle, from which the common name “raspberry worm” is derived, are known as “raspberries” (or Byturus unicolor, if you are feeling scientific). A full-grown specimen of these bugs will measure no more than a smidgen over half an inch in length.
Their bodies have a ruddy brown colour and they are covered in tiny, slender hairs. Raspberry canes are a favourite food of the adults, who eat the leaves but avoid the canes themselves.
They have been observed mating on or near raspberry blossom petals, and then abandoning their eggs there to start new generations of the pest.
The early spring is when you’ll see these pests for the first time, usually around the middle of April or the beginning of May.
They’ll strip your raspberry leaves bare, down down to the underlying tissues, and even consume the blossoms and clusters of buds. Typically, raspberry bushes may recover from beetle damage, so don’t worry too much about yours.
In addition to the spotted drosophila and fruit flies, the larvae of these other insects can also infest these berries. Consequently, if the bugs that are eating your raspberries have not yet reached their adult stage, then you are most likely dealing with their larvae.
The larvae are less of a hassle to get rid of, and the same saltwater treatment that works on raspberries will work on these as well.
The process won’t take more than a few minutes, at which point the container’s lid will be removed and the larvae will float to the surface. Once you’ve done that, washing the raspberries with clean water is a breeze.
There is always the option of relying on insecticides and other treatments in order to reduce the severity of this problem with larvae and fruit flies.
Simply describe the situation to the knowledgeable staff working at the gardening store and they will help you out. By doing so, you will gain a deeper understanding of the ideal dose and mode of administration.
These are just a few of the many reasons why you are having such a hard time keeping the population of tiny bugs in raspberries under control. When it comes right down to it, everything hinges on the care that you take of your yard and the relative humidity in the air.
Therefore, make sure that the yard is kept clean and that any decaying fruits that are on the plant are removed from it. That way, you can stop worrying about those little pests, and you can watch as your plants flourish.