My red currant bush used to be delicious. Now the currant fly (I’m presuming) has put gross white larvae in most of the berries the past few years. I’ve heard this is common for my area (PNW), but haven’t heard of any solutions. Does anyone have ideas on how to deal with currant fly?

Brennan Anstey wrote:My red currant bush used to be delicious. Now the currant fly (I’m presuming) has put gross white larvae in most of the berries the past few years. I’ve heard this is common for my area (PNW), but haven’t heard of any solutions. Does anyone have ideas on how to deal with currant fly?

Interested to hear what options people have.

I think the same pest is what nuked my gooseberries and currants. My 'solution' was move 4 hours away and leave the plants and pests both behind.. not easy to replicate, and I miss fresh gooseberries!

In an interesting turn of events, half way through the season (possibly as the predator bugs came out?) the current fly infestation activity completely disappeared. So I could easily pick and eat currants again without the larvae in them. I’d just have to avoid the shrivelled ones which is fairly easy.

I will see how this plays out next year see if I can spot who is eating the currant flies (I’ve only ever really noticed the larvae and not the flies themselves). If anyone else has experience with this issue please post!