What's eating my raspberry 'heritage'?

Heritage is an autumn-bearing raspberry, which means it largely escapes the classic raspberry beetle because adults finish laying before Heritage fruits ripen. However, aphids (which spread mosaic virus), spotted wing drosophila in soft ripe berries, and birds remain persistent problems. Aphids are the most damaging long-term threat because of the virus they carry.

Colonies on shoot tips cause leaf curl; critically, these aphids vector raspberry mosaic virus, which stunts plants and cuts yields year after year Apply insecticidal soap or neem oil on new shoots in spring; remove and destroy virus-showing canes; choose virus-tested planting stock; encourage ladybirds and lacewings

Females lay eggs into soft ripe berries; larvae collapse fruit internally; autumn fruiting coincides with peak SWD populations in warm years Harvest berries promptly and frequently; use fine exclusion netting (under 1 mm mesh); apply spinosad sprays if adults detected in monitoring traps

Ripe raspberries eaten or knocked to the ground; blackbirds and robins are the most common culprits in gardens Erect a fruit cage or drape netting with less than 20 mm mesh over the canes from when fruit begins to colour; remove netting after harvest to allow bird access to pest insects

Fine pale stippling on leaves; webbing under leaves in hot dry summers; heavily infested leaves bronze, then drop early, weakening the cane Keep soil consistently moist; apply horticultural oil; introduce predatory mites (Phytoseiulus persimilis); avoid broad-spectrum insecticides that kill natural predators