Plant Doctor Archive

Lesions on tamarillo

MY yellow tamarillo has plenty of fruit on it but the fruit has hard lumps just under the skin. What can I do to stop this?

WITHOUT seeing your tamarillos, it is difficult to diagnose your problem, because the bumps could be caused by a number of things. It could be insect damage from thrips, aphids or green vegetable bugs. Did you see any of these on your fruit at early stages of development? They suck the juice from the fruit, and cause white and/or hard lesions to form under the skin later on. If the rest of the fruit looks and tastes ok, then it will be fine to eat.

Next season, spray with Yates Mavrik or Nature's Way Insect Spray, or take off the vegetable bugs by hand and squash them to deter others.

The lesions could also be bacterial, from wind damage (where fruit rub together) or from nutrient deficiencies. It may pay to take your fruit into your local garden centre and let them have a look for closer identification.

Reproduced with permission from the former Weekend Gardener magazine. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the RNZIH.