Insecticide and fruit

[Eoghan]

I bought some insecticide to deal with caterpillars on raspberries in fruit but there do not appear to be instructions re eating sprayed fruit. OK belay that 7 days before eating - not ideal with raspberries in constant fruit production. Any more natural suggestions or do I just have to pick anything ripre and then wait said seven days?

"contains 1,2 benziothiazol-3(2H)-one and glutaraldehyde"

[ameno]

I've never fancied spraying raspberries, even though I have quite bad raspberry beetle some years, partly precisely because of that. You can't really leave them at least 7 days before eating; it's just not practical. The other reason I've never done it is that I usually don't wash raspberries, because their texture and structural integrity makes doing so very difficult.

I did give in last year and spray my plums for plum moth and my Sunset apples (it's the only variety that seems to get it) for coddling moth, though, and it greatly reduced the level of infestation compared to previous years.

As for other ways of keeping your raspberries free of raspberry beetle, the best way is to have the plants in as sunny a position as possible and to keep the plants (or more specifically the fruit) open, airing and, ideally, in light. I have found over the years that raspberry beetles greatly favour fruit in shady, sheltered, damp positions, whereas the ones in the open in full sun are hardly touched.
Last year I hardly got any raspberry beetle larvae, even in my loganberries, which are usually badly hit, and I'm pretty sure it was down to the hot, dry spring we had.

[Eoghan]

It is caterpillars on the leaves that are my problem, the fruit seem to develop black mold where the air of the fruit is - if that makes sense. Trying to treat that with ventillation

[Eoghan]

My rasps are a pretty dense thicket. Will post some pics today and canvas opinion

[Martin H]

I don't spray my berry plants. But if there's any sign of the raspberry beetles, I do what my mum did: put them (the fruit) in a bowl of salty water for an hour. This makes any grubs come out. A quick rinse and you're ready to go.

[burnie]

I don't like using chemicals on my food, spraying soapy water made with washing up liquid deters most infestations, caterpillars get pulled off or squished if they get out of hand.

[nickdub]

I used to use derris on my soft fruit sometimes - not recently mostly because I've become too lazy to bother.

[Nicos]

I don't spray my berry plants. But if there's any sign of the raspberry beetles, I do what my mum did: put them (the fruit) in a bowl of salty water for an hour. This makes any grubs come out. A quick rinse and you're ready to go.

Same here Martin if it’s a particularly bad year.
Strangely enough since I started needing reading specs I don’t seem to have so much trouble with grubs.

[ameno]

It is caterpillars on the leaves that are my problem, the fruit seem to develop black mold where the air of the fruit is - if that makes sense. Trying to treat that with ventillation

In that case I would just recommend squashing every caterpillar you can find. You don't need to get rid of every single one, just as long as you can get rid of a majority.

[MarkPelican]

Be generous, share your fruit with wildlife .

could it be raspberry sawfly rather than beetle at this stage. I keep a close eye and squash what I see.