What's eating my nanking cherry?

Nanking Cherry is targeted by plum curculio and cherry fruit fly in the fruit, aphids on new growth, and leaf-roller caterpillars on foliage. Birds aggressively compete for the small ripe cherries. Plum curculio is the most damaging insect threat to fruit yield in North American gardens.

Crescent-shaped egg scars on fruit; larvae tunnel inside, causing early fruit drop. Shake branches over a tarp at petal fall to knock off adults; apply kaolin clay; remove infested dropped fruit promptly.

Maggots inside ripe fruit render cherries inedible; infested fruit wrinkles and drops. Hang yellow sticky traps with ammonium acetate attractant from late spring; apply spinosad spray timed to adult emergence; harvest promptly.

Curled, sticky leaves on shoot tips; heavy infestations weaken new growth. Knock off with a water jet; insecticidal soap; attract hoverflies with companion flowering herbs.

Thrushes, starlings, and robins strip ripe fruit within days of coloring. Drape fine netting over the shrub at fruit ripening; use reflective tape or scare devices as short-term deterrents.