What's eating my fuyu persimmon?

Fuyu Persimmon (Diospyros kaki 'Fuyu') is generally low-maintenance but mealybugs, scale insects, and persimmon psylla can cause problems. Birds and squirrels compete heavily for the sweet non-astringent fruit. In gardens, oriental fruit moth can tunnel into fruit. Scale insects are the single most consistent pest threat on Fuyu.

Encrusting colonies on bark and twigs; branches dieback; leaves yellow; heavy infestations weaken the whole tree over time. Apply dormant-season horticultural oil spray before bud break; treat active crawlers with insecticidal soap in late spring; prune and destroy heavily encrusted wood.

White fluffy colonies in bark crevices and at fruit calyxes; fruit may be downgraded by honeydew and sooty mold residue. Apply horticultural oil during dormancy; spray neem oil or insecticidal soap at crawler emergence; introduce Cryptolaemus montrouzieri as biological control.

Ripe fruit pecked open or removed from tree; even slightly underripe Fuyu is targeted due to its non-astringent flesh. Drape bird netting over trees as fruit colors; use reflective tape or scare balloons early in the ripening period; harvest promptly when fruit is firm-ripe.

Larvae bore into shoot tips in spring and later into ripening fruit, leaving frass-filled entry holes and internal tunnels. Use pheromone traps to time control measures; apply Bt or spinosad at egg hatch; practice good sanitation by removing infested shoots and fallen fruit.