Strawberry seed thieves

Geoff Langford

Over the seasons we have seen a couple of pests that just remove the seed from strawberry fruit.  The act of seed removal usually renders the fruit unsaleable, so it is a problem.

The issue can be caused by seed eating birds or by mice.  Bird issues are more common in spring and early summer while mice are possible in both spring and autumn.  Seed eating birds include redpolls, chaffinches and occasionally sparrows.  Redpolls are especially problematic in outdoor areas as they are not seen in large numbers and are hard to spot.

Once the seeds have been removed, the fruit deteriorates and will often rot.

It’s hard to imagine a mouse removing the seeds without eating the fruit! But after we starting losing a high percentage of the crop towards the end of this season, trapping successfully reduced the damage.

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