Larva usually joins infested berries with silk. Eggs are laid on developing fruit about the time that berries are beginning to turn blue. Feeding may continue in the harvested berries. Infested berries become soft and mushy. 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.