Can anyone help me identify the pest that attacks our nectarines every year? Some kind of insect burrows into the fruits leaving silvery threads hanging down. Fruits then rot from inside.

We have tried sprays and traps - pest is undeterred!

Where are you located? I found a guide to identify various pests but it relates to Australia.
http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/307151/Common-insect-pests-of-nectarines.pdf

Here is a publication from the University of California:

Nectarine Pest Management Guidelines--UC IPM (http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/selectnewpest.nectarine.html)

And

Nectarine: Fruit Development: Other Pests—UC IPM (http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/C540/m540fpothrpest.html)

Have you contacted your local Extension Office or a greenhouse or a nursery?

Have

If you haven't found any actual insects, I would look for caterpillars since you have the webbing/silk around the damaged fruit. Bleusong's link mentions Oriental Fruit Moths, check them out.

Where are you located? I found a guide to identify various pests but it relates to Australia.
http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/307151/Common-insect-pests-of-nectarines.pdf

Here is a publication from the University of California:

Nectarine Pest Management Guidelines--UC IPM (http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/selectnewpest.nectarine.html)

and

Nectarine: Fruit Development: Other Pests—UC IPM (http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/C540/m540fpothrpest.html)

Have you contacted your local Extension Office or a greenhouse or a nursery?

Hello Bleusong52,
Thank you for your prompt response, and help to identify my mystery bug. I have looked at the links you kindly sent, but nothing quite matches the description of my pest...
My nectarine tree is in Rhodes, Greece. We have asked for help from our local agricultural supplier, but sprays and traps they recommended have not worked. This is the fifth year we have seen the tree bear lots of fruit, only to find not one remains edible after ripening. It is so disappointing.
The silvery threads which can be seen dangling from fruits are not web-like - they are more like syrup that has set in threads. I have cut fruits open to see if there are any grubs inside, but don't see any. The leaves and trunk of the tree appear unaffected - only fruits are attacked. I'm beginning to think my tree has a unique pest!

If you haven't found any actual insects, I would look for caterpillars since you have the webbing/silk around the damaged fruit. Bleusong's link mentions Oriental Fruit Moths, check them out.

Hello Catsmine,

Thank you for your message. I have looked at Oriental Fruit moth, but it does not fit the profile. The threads we find hanging from our fruits are not web-like, they are more like syrup that has hardened into a thread. Cutting open the fruits reveals only brown damaged areas - no visible grubs or caterpillars. There's no damage to leaves or branches, only to fruits. I have a good photo, if you would like to see the problem.

Do you have a lot of songbirds around? That sort of damage sounds similar to what finches did to some cherry trees in the mountains near here.

I have had these. Almost look like discolored ice crystals, sometimes sticky, sometimes hard.

Do you use a domant oil spray?

That sort seems to be the most important.

If there isn't any tunneling into the fruit, the damage could be lygus bugs or stink bugs, or also known as plant bugs. These hemipteran bugs have piercing mouthparts. As they take a "bite" they pierce the skin and only cause small dimples that essentially "bleed" which may be causing the gumming you see. Consult Nectarine Pest Management Guidelines--UC IPM (http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/selectnewpest.nectarine.html) While this website is for California, I assume that Greece has similar or the same small plant bugs that cause similar damage.

Hi
Did you find out what the pest was? You describe exactly the problem we are having.
Peter
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