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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe pest, intonsa thrip, arrived in force in August, at the worst possible point in the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It just does such a magnificent job of destroying the fruit,” Hoyle says. “We get typically a very bronze-looking green fruit, which becomes very hard and no good. Some of the lesser-infected crops just end up looking dull very quickly.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The insect is a rasp-feeder, scraping the surface of the fruit, and the damage leaves the skin compromised and vulnerable to further loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The fruit will start to repair that damage by creating scar tissue, and the scar tissue is what ultimately makes it look dull,” he says. “And then it breaks in rain. Even a very light shower, four mil, will do a significant amount of damage, because the skin is already compromised.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The losses at the peak of the season were severe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “August was just a shocker. We had fields that we were throwing 70% of the fruit in the bin, and that was in the field,” Hoyle says. “That 30% that went to the shed, I don’t even think we managed to pack up 50% of that. So of that whole crop that we picked over two weeks, we probably threw 85% of it in the bin.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n He says the timing hurt most, because it struck when the crop was at its heaviest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “It’s just a pity that it hit us during our peak, where it was at its heaviest load and we lost all of that,” he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The strawberries have since staged a partial recovery, which has softened the blow to the wider season. “We’ve kind of got a secondary flush that’s come through, and it’s not too bad,” Hoyle says. “So it’s not detrimental for the crop for the season, just the one picking. Now we’re on the shoulders, it seems to have calmed down a bit.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.hortidaily.com\/remote\/https\/agfstorage.blob.core.windows.net\/misc\/FP_com\/2026\/10\/08\/IMG_81353.jpg?preset=ContentFullSmall\")
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.hortidaily.com\/remote\/https\/agfstorage.blob.core.windows.net\/misc\/FP_com\/2026\/10\/08\/IMG_81932.jpg?preset=ContentFullSmall\")
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