Hi Tui

Why do my fuji apples have worms inside them? There's lots of fruit but they're always rotten with little worms / bugs inside. How do I prevent it? Thanks.

Hi Yvonne 

This is likely to be codling moth larvae in the fruit. The codling moth flies in September/October and lays its eggs which enter the fruit, they then drop down into the soil and start the life cycle all over again.

Because the caterpillar are in the fruit they are hard to control. There are pheromone traps that can be hung in the tree to capture the male and so stop the life cycle of the codling moth. Do this in August/September.

Grease bands or corrugated cardboard can be placed around the tree stop the larvae moving up the trunk and into the fruit, the larvae go into the corrugations and this can be removed, burnt and replaced.

Other things that help is to pick up any fallen fruit that may have the larvae in them and dispose of in the rubbish rather than in the compost bin, otherwise these will overwinter in the soil and emerge in spring, infecting the fruit.

Thanks, Tui Team