Whats eating my Nectarines

Hi everyone,

this is my first post, for a quick outline,I live in Oxfordshire, with a south facing garden and stony soil.

I thought I would try my hand at growing some fruit, so I have planted some raspberry canes, and a fan trained nectarine (Lord Napier), which is trained along a fence in full sun. All was going well, the fruit was starting to appear, then I noticed that something has started to eat them, does anybody know who is the culprit, and what I can do about it, I have attached a picture of a chewed nectarine.

Thanks for your help

 

I dont think its being eaten.
Something wrong, possibly a fungus or a pollination problem would be my guess.

 

Thanks for the reply Pete

have looked at a few of the nectarines, just looks like the flesh is exposed, even on some of the larger fruit, I have noticed some ants on the tree, also I first wonder if it was slugs so I tried a beer trap in the tree, ended up catching a woodlice ?, is there a way I could rule out a fungus

bob9

 

My first thought was snails or woodlice. Best way to establish if it's those is to potter out at night with a torch! Generally, you'd see silvery trails if it's a snail. A size ?? boot is a much surer way of dealing with them Apart from encouraging hedgehogs, frogs and toads, and making sure that there's no debris for them to hide in, I've no idea how you deal with woodlice.

 

The thing that I find baffling is that there appears to be a stone under the surface, or am I looking at the picture wrong?
A nectarine that size would not have yet formed a stone, the stone tends to form later, I think.

 

Isn't the brown part dried flesh, Pete? As you say, a fruit that small wouldn't have formed a full-size stone...

 

Hello @Bob9 to GC and nice to have you with us

You mentioned it's attached to a fencing...it could be woodlice fungus and what @noisette47 as mentioned but there's also another culprit and at this time of year your nectarines are easy access squirrels as they more or less eat anything and they'll love the fruit.

 

Thank you all for you advise

I have noticed a couple of woodlice, so I will look for them latter, sorry about the picture, it is dried flesh, the damaged area has a rough surface, like it is covered by small bite marks, so maybe on the right track, hope I can get to the bottom of what's going on, made the mistake of counting the fruits as they formed, could almost taste them, now only half a dozen left !!!!!!, guess I will have to mark it up to experience for this year.

thank you again

Bob9

 

Well looks like it was a good idea to check my tree out at night, found 2 slugs, as I have a hedgehog round sometimes, thought I would try a beer trap, so I hung some cups in the branches, ended up with a slug and some woodlice, so I hope I have found the culprits, will keep the beer traps going and see if I can salvage the last few nectarines.

Thanks everyone
you have been a big help
Bob9

 

Hi Bob glad you found out what was causing it mate....they're a night mare as we get quite a few slugs here and it's worse when it rains...my are crossed mate and let we know how it's going

 

Thanks Gail, have tried different locations for the traps, the lowest ones are catching the woodlice, so hope it will keep them a bay, must start the traps early next year, good learning curve I guess

Bob

 

Hi Bob, I think having them by fencing might not be helping as i'm no expert in the field of growing fruit like a lot of members.

This link may be of help for next year when you re do them mate

The Ultimate Guide to Growing Peaches & Nectarines - Chris Bowers

 

Thanks Gail, very helpful guide, think I have got more of an idea of what to do for next year.

Bob

 

Your welcome mate and it's just a shame how you was looking forward to seeing the achievement of the fruit and it being destroyed before it's matured properly... crossed mate for next year