One of the most sublime fruits on the planet is a freshly picked strawberry, but they are not without their pest troubles. Let’s look at some possible culprits if something is eating your strawberries before you do.

The easiest way to tell that a bird has been in it is that it will have holes in it on the upper side of the fruit. Sometimes these are large holes; other times, half the berry might be gone; and in some instances, they take the entire strawberry. This usually occurs on ripe fruit, not berries that are still partially green.

The best way to hang onto your berries is to cover the bed or the row. Pinwheels, hanging CDs that shine in the sun, and any other visual device never seem to work for very long. They figure out that nothing ill befalls them, especially when the lure of the berries is too great. Use a floating row cover directly over the plants if the berries are already set. The other option is to put hoops over the plants and drape bird netting.

If the strawberries look like something went over them with a rasp, look for slug trails as a secondary clue. When the sun goes down, slugs come out and can wreak considerable damage on the fruit.

For the truly hard-core, a very effective method is to go out at dusk with a flashlight and pick them off my hand. This is especially useful if you live in an area that has large slugs.  An iron phosphate bait is also useful and very species-specific. It’s not going to hurt birds or other wildlife. Some people use eggshells because they think their coarse texture irritates slugs’ sensitive exoskeletons, but they don’t work very well. But if you can do anything to keep the fruit off the ground, such as a planting fabric or straw, that can often dissuade them.

If you have pill bugs, the tiny, armored roly-polies, it’s also wise to keep the fruit off the ground because they nibble on what they can reach. They are champions at consuming decomposing materials and are highly beneficial in the garden. It’s just not very helpful when they take advantage of fruit that is within reach. It’s a delicate balance between creating a barrier between the soil and the fruit and inadvertently making an ideal nesting area for sow bugs. Sometimes, if you use plastic sheeting, they might hang out underneath the plastic and come up through the hole at night. Straw seems to work the best.

You can also make pill bug traps by filling a toilet paper tube with duct tape. They actually work pretty well and are easy to just pick up and throw away. Find those directions here: What to do When Pill Bugs Eat Your Plants

It’s no surprise that earwigs will also feed on the fruit. Look for irregular chewing patterns.  Like sow bugs, earwigs prefer those moist, dark places. But you can use this to your advantage to create traps. Even setting down a sheet of newspapers often enough for them to gather below. Make sure the area around your strawberry plants is not conducive to earwigs, and that will reduce a lot of your problems.

We are not the only ones who love strawberries. Keep an eye on your plants and your berries in case anything tries to steal this favorite summer fruit.