What's eating my strawberry guava?

Strawberry guava faces fruit flies as its most damaging pest — larvae ruin fruit internally and accelerate rot. Scale insects and aphids also colonize stems and new growth. In cultivation, the management principles mirror common guava: prompt fruit removal, traps, and netting to limit losses from the primary fruit-fly threat.

Eggs laid inside ripening fruit; larvae tunnel through flesh, causing internal rot and early drop. Use pheromone or protein-bait traps; bag fruit before ripening; remove and bury or bin all fallen fruit.

Armored or soft scales encrust stems and branches; sap loss weakens growth and triggers sooty mold. Apply horticultural oil; introduce scale-parasitising wasps or predatory beetles.

Curled new leaves, sticky honeydew, and sooty mold on shoots and flower buds. Blast off with water; treat with insecticidal soap or diluted neem oil if colonies establish.