• Pear fruitlets with pear midge will turn black and fall from the tree
• Affected pear fruitlets initially grow faster and are softer than healthy fruitlets but during May they begin to turn black at the eye end of the fruit (opposite end to the stalk)
• The black colour spreads up the fruitlet and it drops off in June
• A high proportion of the potential crop can be lost
• Inside the damaged fruitlets are many orange white maggots, up to 4 mm in length

Monitor pear fruit development for midge damage throughout spring. 

• Severity of damage varies from year to year, in some years very few pears will be affected in others a majority of the crop can be lost. It may be possible to tolerate some crop losses
• Look for affected fruitlets and remove them before the larvae complete their feeding and enter the soil to pupate
• Encourage predators and other natural enemies in the garden such as birds, spiders and ground beetles
• The midge larvae enter the soil when fully grown, where possible hoeing the soil around the base of the tree during dry weather in June and July, may reduce survival of the pupae

The adult flies are tiny midges that emerge in spring, when the females lay eggs in pear blossom shortly before it opens.

The larvae feed inside the developing fruitlets, reducing the centre to a blackish brown mush. The larvae are fully fed by late May-June, when the damaged fruitlets drop off.

The larvae enter the soil where they overwinter inside silk cocoons before pupating in the spring.