# Do all guavas have worms in them? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 14, 2012, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-guavas-have-worms-in-them/634670 "2012-09-14T07:22:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-guavas-have-worms-in-them/634670/1 "2012-09-14T07:22:12Z")
I have a guava tree in my yard, every single guava I’ve ever eaten off it has “maggots” in it. Every guava from another tree has also had these same worms in it, every guava bought from a market too. Others have also confirmed the ubiquitous nature of these. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-guavas-have-worms-in-them/634670/2 "2012-09-14T07:44:58Z")
[No, only about 95%.](http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S1519-566X2006000100016&script=sci_arttext) ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-guavas-have-worms-in-them/634670/3 "2012-09-14T08:55:17Z")
They are farmed and MOST that make it to the fruit stands don’t have maggots in them (here in my country.) Sorry, I don’t know how farmers do it. ---
**Author:** ![Simple\_Mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7cd45c/32.png) [@Simple\_Mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Mind)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-guavas-have-worms-in-them/634670/4 "2012-09-14T09:01:18Z")
We have that problem here as well (Philippines) but get around it by wrapping the small, green, hard fruit with a paper envelope that prevents the fly to lay it’s eggs, so that later there are no maggots, works great, we use the pages from the telephon directory, that paper is strong even when it’s getting wet. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-guavas-have-worms-in-them/634670/5 "2012-09-14T09:22:11Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > They are farmed and MOST that make it to the fruit stands don’t have maggots in them (here in my country.) Sorry, I don’t know how farmers do it. A combination of pesticide, bagging and traps. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-guavas-have-worms-in-them/634670/6 "2012-09-14T10:16:01Z")
^ Most likely. We do have a tree growing in our front yard. It produces nice apple-sized fruit but we quit anticipating because of the maggot problem. Some of our neighbors offered to bag the fruits early on (with the agreement that they’ll do the picking of course.) It’s unsightly. And the plastic fills with water after a downpour. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-guavas-have-worms-in-them/634670/7 "2012-09-14T10:44:18Z")
Don’t use plastic bags, They cause all sorts of problems. Use paper, as \*\*Simple Mind \*\* suggests. Ideally paper that has been treated with pesticide. That is, if you think it’s worth the effort. Personally I think they smell much, much better than they taste. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-all-guavas-have-worms-in-them/634670/8 "2012-09-14T11:15:52Z")
I have a guava tree in my garden. It produced many guavas this year, and I ate lots. I did not see any maggots except for some in guavas that fell and rotted. Perhaps it has to do with my region, South Africa.