Wade from up north asked if we could help with this strawberry pest identification, so I am posting his email to us below, along with some photos.
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Last summer we decided our hoop houses in the middle of the yard were unsightly, and just not performing that well. We tore them out and built a single (building a second next week) 3×8′ box on the north fence. I transplanted 6 sad little strawberry plants and had low expectations. All summer they thrived and shot off as many runners as they could. About 20 plants were well established and still bearing in late fall.
We had a very mild winter and early spring. The little strawberries kept trying to poke up through the snow in February!
I picked my first ripe berry Jun 2nd (last frost by almanac is 25 May) and now I have to go out and pick 3 cups of strawberries every other night! This is starting to feel like work! 😉
I’ve started to notice some berries are chewed on and caught this little guy in the act. Can you identify him, and is there anything I can do other than hose down my delicious strawberries with pesticide (this is not an option). I had chicken wire over the box to keep the birds out, but have now removed it in hopes they’d rather eat bugs than berries.
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Any ideas on the strawberry pest identification? At first glance, I do not recognize this caterpillar, but it clearly has a taste for strawberries. Let’s hear your thoughts in the comments below:
Fab
Armyworm (Beet army worm )
Spodoptera exigua
I’m not exactly sure this is what it is but by the looks of your worm, it’s just getting started eating and has not gotten the color of what it eats yet. Army worms usually eat the green of a plant. The one you show just happened to be caught in transition I guess. Changing leaf so to speak and you caught it on a berry.
I am not 100% it is an Armyworm though. Just the first thing that came to my mind. You have to research what other bug or bird you need to attract to your berry patch that eats these. By the sound of it, you don’t like the work involved to take care of berries but if you want to stay organic, the next best thing is go through the patch by hand removing these pests. Sorry!…lol.
Dave
Eric and Wade,
Before we planted our strawberries I found a site with more strawberry information that one could hope to read. This fellow is without a doubt the King of Strawberries. I didn’t see any info on pests but he seems to answer all questions submitted. Hope this helps.
http://strawberryplants.org
Dave