Infested fruit is unmarketable, but a percentage slips through inspection and spoils berries after marketing. Winter is passed in a puparium in the soil. It arrives on fruit trees about the time of petal fall. It is found on the developing flower buds and fruit of blueberries. The larva feeds within the fruit, causing premature ripening and fruit drop.
Damage is more abundant where tree fruits are nearby.
Particularly damaging on early varieties and in poorly cultivated or mulched fields. 9 - Attacks the twigs and stems. In Vermont, especially common on lilac, ash, beech, and apple. Crawlers can be carried by birds, larger insects, and the wind. The whitish, oval eggs under the dead female hatch in late May, about the time that common lilac is in bloom.