What's eating my sweet cherry 'sunburst'?

Sunburst cherries share the same pest threats as other sweet cherries. Birds are the dominant threat to ripe fruit. Black cherry aphid colonises shoot tips in spring. Cherry slug sawfly disfigures foliage in summer. Sunburst's large, dark-red fruit is especially attractive to wasps and starlings as it ripens in July.

Ripe cherries stripped rapidly from the tree; Sunburst's large fruit is particularly attractive — a whole crop can be lost in a day Net the tree with fine netting before fruit turns pink; reflective flash tape around the perimeter as backup; harvest ripe fruit promptly

Tightly curled, stunted shoot tips with dense black aphid colonies; honeydew drips onto fruit and foliage below causing sooty mould Pinch out infested shoot tips if practical; spray with insecticidal soap or pyrethrin; winter plant-oil wash to smother overwintering eggs on bark

Olive-green slimy larvae graze upper leaf surfaces leaving a see-through, brown-papery skeleton; cosmetic but weakens the tree if repeated Apply wood ash or diatomaceous earth dust; pyrethrin spray in the evening; second generation in August can be more numerous than the first

Ripe Sunburst cherries (July) pierced and excavated; wasp damage accelerates brown rot spread through the canopy Hang commercial wasp traps nearby from early July; remove damaged and fallen fruit promptly; fine netting can exclude wasps as well as birds