What's eating my sweet cherry 'stella'?

Stella cherry's biggest nemesis is birds stripping ripe fruit — netting is the only reliable defence. Cherry fruit fly maggots ruin fruit in parts of the US and Europe. Cherry slug sawfly skeletonises leaves in summer. Brown rot spreads rapidly through the dense canopy. Net the tree before cherries begin to colour.

Ripe Stella cherries (July) stripped completely from the tree within hours; pecked cherries rot and attract wasps Net the entire tree with fine fruit netting from when fruit begins to turn pink; bird-scaring balloons and reflective tape offer limited short-term deterrence only

Single white maggot inside ripe cherries; affected fruit remains on tree but is soft and has a tell-tale puncture mark; significant in US cherry-growing regions Yellow sticky traps with ammonium-acetate lure to monitor; spinosad sprays from when traps first catch flies; remove all unharvested fruit after picking

Slimy, slug-like larvae skeletonise leaves from mid-summer, leaving a brown papery upper surface; heavy attacks weaken the tree Dust affected leaves with wood ash or diatomaceous earth; pyrethrin spray targets larvae directly; small infestations can be picked off by hand

Dense black colonies on young shoot tips from April–May; leaves curl tightly around colonies; sticky honeydew fouls developing fruit below Insecticidal soap or neem spray when colonies first appear; plant-oil winter wash to kill overwintering eggs; natural enemies (ladybirds, parasitic wasps) usually suppress by June