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Wasps love feeding on soft, juicy fruit. They can break through the skins of grapes, peaches and plums, and quickly nibble out sizeable cavities, but fruit with tougher skins such as apples and pears must first be broken open by pecking birds before

Pears ripening on the tree are damaged by wasps excavating holes into the soft, juicy flesh. The holes are initially created by hungry birds, then wasps are attracted by the juice and move in.Pears that are still on the tree display hollowed out

An insect of the order Hymenoptera. They're considered a pest in the summer when they feed on ripe fruit.

, use the parasitic wasp, Metaphycus helvolus, bought by mail order as a biological control.Use an insecticide containing imidacloprid or thiacloprid in early summer when the insects are more vulnerable.a wide range of plants, house plants, greenhouse

Ants are eusocial insects that belong to the same order as wasps and bees.

by hand any affected leaves and shoots. pearsspring to autumnMore advice on growing pearsTreating apple and pear scabPreventing pear wasp damageDealing with codling moth on fruit treesMonty's favourite fruit varieties

', 'Laxton's Epicure' and 'George Cave'Sow parsley in pots for winter and spring useThin out heavy crops of plums to prevent branches snappingHang wasp traps in fruit treesPinch out the tops of outdoor tomatoes, as further flowers are unlikely to produce ripe

and the taste doesn't suffer. The spots can be easily scraped off.A plethora of sooty, greenish or brown spots all over the fruit, which usually appear during cold, wet seasons, and particularly on shady parts of the tree.Good garden hygiene eases many fungal

Apple and pear scabApple sooty blotchPear leaf blister mitePear wasp damage

lookout after dark. In the greenhouse or conservatory, you could use the biological control Trichogramma brassicae, which is a tiny wasp that targets caterpillar eggs.The moment you find signs of caterpillars, spray the plants with pyrethrum.just about