Strawberry blossom weevil
How to get rid of the weevil
Cracked or dried flowers on strawberries, raspberries or blackberries are not always caused by hail or drought. They are often the work of a flightless beetle that lays its eggs in the closed flower buds of the berries. The flower stems are then gnawed through, causing them to fall off or break off and dry out. No more berries can develop from these flowers. The beetle itself also causes hole-like feeding damage to the leaves.
Treatment
The fallen and broken flowers should be collected and disposed of. The beetle itself can be treated with neem oil. You should also remove the straw mulch from under the berry bushes after harvesting as this is where the beetle likes to hibernate. If the infestation is severe, you should also remove all the leaves from the strawberries to deprive the beetles of their food source.
Other information
The beetle becomes active at temperatures as low as 18 ° C/64 ° F, so it can be found as early as the end of March. A female can puncture up to 100 flowers to lay her eggs. This method gives the beetle its name. Normally, however, the pests do not cause too much damage to the crop.
By James Lindsey at Ecology of Commanster, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1671891
