Why Are My Young Pears Going Black and Falling Early?

If your pear fruitlets are turning black, distorting and dropping in May — well before the natural June drop — you are almost certainly dealing with pear midge. This tiny insect can destroy an entire crop in a badly affected year, leaving the tree carrying no fruit at all by early summer. The good news is that cultural control methods can significantly reduce the problem without chemicals.

The pear midge lifecycle

Pear midge (Contarinia pyrivora) overwinters as a pupa in the soil beneath the tree. Adult midges emerge in spring, timed to coincide with pear blossom. The tiny female insects lay eggs inside open pear flowers. The eggs hatch quickly and the larvae begin feeding inside the developing fruitlet. By mid-May, heavily infested fruitlets begin to blacken, distort — often turning elongated and pear-shaped at an abnormally early stage — and drop. The larvae emerge from fallen fruit and burrow into the soil to pupate and overwinter, completing the cycle.

Collecting fallen fruitlets — critical action

The most important and effective control measure is collecting every blackened fruitlet from the ground beneath the tree as soon as they begin to fall, starting in mid-May. Do this every few days while fruitlets are dropping. Bag the fallen fruitlets and put them in household waste — do not compost them, as the larvae will simply complete their development in the compost heap and re-emerge the following spring. Consistent collection over two or three years significantly reduces the overwintering population in the soil.

Soil cultivation under the tree

After harvest and leaf fall in autumn, lightly cultivating the soil surface under the tree's canopy disturbs the overwintering pupae, exposing them to frost, desiccation and predation by birds. Do not cultivate too deeply — 5 cm is sufficient — as deep cultivation can damage surface roots. Laying a fine mesh barrier over the soil surface in winter, anchored around the trunk, prevents emerging adults from reaching the surface the following spring. Remove it by petal fall.

Resistant or mid-season varieties

Varieties that flower slightly later than the midge's peak emergence period — effectively escaping the main egg-laying window — suffer less damage. If pear midge is a persistent severe problem on your site, planting a mid-to-late-season variety as a replacement or companion may be the long-term solution.