brown strawberries & suspect bugs

[Potter]

Hello all, I'm really hoping that someone can help me!

I've noticed that my strawberries (grown in a strawberry planter) seem to be developing a brown stain on the surface of some of them. On a really close inspection today I found two guilty looking fellas. One is black and I found 3 of these and one was a brown one (on his own). Does anyone know if the brown caused by one of these fellas, or is it something I'm doing or not doing? Or something else? Thanks

[Protea]

My Ken Muir book suggests it might be Strawberry Seed Beetle, and by the look of them you had the culprit in your hand!

The beetles are quite large (12-18mm long) with a lack body. They come out to feed at night, and hide under stones and leaves during the day. The beetles remove the seeds from the fruit, damage and eat the flesh (which causes the browning). Damage is normally situated on the underwide nearest the soil (or in the case of containers - i guess it would be nearest the side of the pot?).

Unfortunately there is no amateur control method other than keeping the area free of weeds to discourage a uild up of the pest, since the beetles will feed on weed seeds out of strawberry season.

Perhaps you could move your pot to another location in the garden, in an attempt to confuse them?

[Potter]

Thanks Protea, I'll try moving the pot like you say, though I think I know who the culprit is. The brown fella is a Tarnished Plant Bug and so doesn't look great for my raspberries either. Going be on real watch for them now. It seems they are a problem in Canada and the USA, but I can't find much about them here. Has anyone had these or know what I can do? It doesn't seem too bad yet (though the marks have been on the strawbs for a couple of weeks so nymphs could be on their way too?). Help! Jules

[rustylady]

As well as watching for suspects, you do have to accept that unless you do as commercial growers do and spray with every chemical known to man you will not get 100% perfect crops. I'm fighting woodlice, slugs and blackbirds to get my strawberries harvested, but I still picked 116 near perfect fruit today (off a fairly small bed around 9' x 9'). I gave some to the lady next door, left some on John's doorstep (he wasn't home and had to give up his allotment recently due to ill health). My daughter took a large punnet home with her and I'm eating strawberries every time I go into the kitchen.

[Potter]

Thanks RustyLady,

I do keep needing reminding, I just don't want to lose crops before I've even started if I can help it. I'm not about to start using chemicals so need to get used to sharing with all the inhabitants in the garden. I'm very new to this, I'm unsure about loads and seem to worry about everything . I've got loads of strawbs WITHOUT the tarnish. Looking forward to them turning red!

[Protea]

There's a good picture of a tarnished plant bug if you scroll down this page: http://www.kendall-bioresearch.co.uk/general1.htm
Another one here: http://www.bioimages.org.uk/HTML/P4/P45838.php

I'm suprised its a lygus bug (tarnished plant bug) as they're a pretty unknown pest in the UK, but not saying its not one of course!

I really wouldn't worry too much about it, if you've got plenty of healthy fruit then sacrificing a few to the bugs isn't too bad