I wonder if you have any new insights re the fruit pest on peruviana.
This year my overwintered Lucie’s Golden peruviana plants suffered nearly 100% damage planted in a high tunnel. As described, either the center was eaten out or the whole fruit rotted. I wonder if overwintering the plants accelerated the damage. Perhaps the pest had pupated in the dug soil? These plants set fruit in July.
The plants grown from cuttings and planted in a high tunnel seemed to have less damage, about 20% fruit loss. These cutting grown plants set fruit in August.
The seed sown peruviana plants were grown out in the open and started fruiting in September and had the least damage but also the least productivity in my cool climate.
Even my seed sown Malinalco planted under cover suffered damage on the tips of the fruit. But the plant’s productivity was so high it did not seem to matter.
So I was left thinking that overwintering the plants might have been part of the problem. And/or growing under cover jump-started the pest cycle.
Did you try any new techniques to foil the pest (cherry fruit worm?)? I see in previous posts that you tried Remay …but plants seemed not to get pollinated. Did you try removing the covering during the day …or try Surround or Bt? Maybe diatomaceous earth at the base of the plants might work. Or a bug zapper for the evening moth?
Im afraid life has gotten real in some new and trying ways this growing season, and so Physalis growing is a distant concern for me right now. I haven’t been able to visit my gardens, orchard, and greenhouse for the past 4 1/2 months, so I don’t know how anything is doing.
That’s an interesting observation about pest pressure being so much higher on overwintered plants. I DO believe that this critter pupates in the soil near the crown, so it’s definitely possible they’re hitching a ride. I will say that in my experience, new seed grown plants in a high tunnel were decimated just as much as outdoor ones have been, despite my hopes to the contrary.
Remay seemed to prevent pest pressure, though I suppose that could be due to the fact that it prevented fruit formation, so nowhere for the little buggers to tunnel. I kind of suspect that adults are emerging and laying eggs nearby the calyx or into the young fruits. early in the game. Im still not positive if the black hole fruits get is from ovipositing or an exit hole. I still think its most likely a type of fruit worm. I wanted to try Bt but have yet to. Ditto diatomaceous earth under plants
Sounds like it’s cosmopolitan and possibly a “species complex” with varying traits and habits depending on host. The hawthorns Ive found with fruit worms inside were nearly identical in terms of appearance of worm and damage.
Thanks for your helpful and detailed answer despite having to deal with much more challenging issues this year. Your replies are always carefully written and a pleasure to read.
I wasn’t even aware that hawthorne were native in the PNW but, if it is the host for the moth’s cocoons, I see that the map of Suksdorf’s Hawthorne includes my area along with parts of Oregon and CA.
from: Native Plant Highlight: Suksdorf's Hawthorn - Backyard Habitats.
I’ll ty DE, Bt, and Surround on individual plants next year. If any are successful, I’ll post results.
Ive only been through Anacortes once, to catch the ferry out to Orcas Island, but I can tell you that Seattle is full of feral Hawthorns, including a lot of single seed, ie C. monogyna.
Also, I see that one of the photos on the page I linked in from Spokane.
Thanks @cdamarjian, I appreciate your compliments. Yeah, rough year. Hope to sort things out at some point. I’ll definitely look forward to hearing about any results of your efforts.
Wow they are tiny and quite pretty too!
To echo what was previously stated you are also one of the people whose posts I always am excited to read, doubly so with this project!
Hoping things will be easier for you next year
My peruviana outside this year have been totally and completely decimated by whatever this pest is. I have a photo of the culprit in larva form at least (last photo):
I get those too! They only eat my groundcherries, don’t touch my tomatoes or peppers, unlike the hornworms that eat all 3. I usually only find them in fruits that have been sitting on the ground though.
Interesting! I see no damage on green peruvianas, but only on fruit as it goes from yellow to orange. I think we’re noticing multiple pest problems here!
As temperatures dramatically cool off here, more peruviana fruit seem to be making it to maturity. A few Malinalco get attacked at their distal end but most are escaping damage. Maybe one of these pests is temperature dependent.
Similar. Total loss for me so far. I’ve had one fruit make it to somewhat ripe, the rest off of three plants destroyed.
I sometimes get a few fruit in right before the frosts, so the mouth is certainly a lot less active once temperatures get very low.
I saw some cutleaf groundcherry plants this weekend, loads of fruit, narry a moth strike in sight. I’m definitely going to try the grafting trick to see if that helps at all. I suspect it’ll only help with setting fruit in hot weather and not with the moth, but who knows, maybe it’ll help with that too.
It reminds me of a corn earworm. When we grew corn, it was decimated by a similar worm, so its possibly the same bug. I haven’t had it as bad as the others though, I had plenty of groundcherries.
Ive seen what look like corn ear worms going for tomatillos at my place. Ive never had them go after ground cherries / golden berries. I think the idea of species complex includes differences in host, behavior, and even life cycle to some extent. I recall reading about colorado potato beetles first making the leap from wild Solanum to potatoes. A small population makes the jump and its descendants follow suit. Probably even morphology could change to some extent. Corn ear worms seem mostly white or light in color, not dark and mottled as in @swincher’s picture, but the lack of light inside the corn husk could help explain that. Also, perhaps just different instars.
Do you guys eat them when they are yellow or only when the outsides brown? I usually eat them around this color after they fall (so not this guy quite yet) and don’t typically wait till the outside is like fully brown/clear. Not sure if thats what you are supposed to do or not.
For Lucie’s Goldenberry this is a good stage for me - fruit is orange, sweet, and juicy. Overnight temps here (PNW) have dipped to 40 yet fruit is still ripening. This variety doesn’t seem to need heat to develop sweetness.
And the pest that devoured the fruit in the heat of summer is absent.
I have been able to identify these volunteer Physalis as p. Minima. They are okay tasting, much better than p. Angulata but not the best thing ever. They taste worse or different from the original plant, but still will probably make a pretty good salsa. Sometimes they have a red blush to them and that gives them a berryish taste.
This is p. Grisea. It tastes way better than minima, with a mix of flavors that is hard to describe. Definitely a better fresh eater. Will probably use the next fruit to collect seeds and hopefully propagate some more.
i grew cape gooseberry, aunt Mollys ground cherry and Niagara groundcherry 3 summers ago. they have all reseeded since then and produced fruit with no care though not as productive as they were in good soil in raised beds. though the cape gooseberry fruit doesn’t fully ripen before frost, it matured enough to leave viable seed for the next season.
