If you have fruit trees in your garden, you'll need to act fast as fallen fruit left on the ground in late summer and early autumn can lead to a variety of problems.

Expert gardener James Lewis at MyBuilder.com, a way to hire tradespeople, said it's essential to collect and remove fallen fruit as swiftly as possible.

"Gardens can be a lot of work in summer when plants and lawns are growing fast and you're watering often. So it's understandable that people may neglect to collect fallen fruit when it seems like an unnecessary job.

Leaving fallen fruit on the ground can attract pests and ruin the grass (Image: Getty) "However, it's actually vital to remove rotting fruits. They can attract not only wasps and hornets, but also rats. This could lead to having pest control in - not a cheap job. It can also lead to plants self-seeding, and saplings can spring up all over your lawn.

"So don't neglect this job - pick up daily if you can and dispose of your fruit if you can't make use of it."

From attracting pests to ruining the grass, there are a variety of ways in which allowing fruit to rot in your garden is a problem.

While some of these issues, such as an unpleasant smell, are annoying, others could actually cause serious issues that could need professional intervention.

These issues can be easily avoided by swift collection of fruits and suitable removal. Ideally, fallen fruits should be picked up before the rotting process begins.

In hot weather, fallen fruit can begin to rot within hours, attracting wasps and other pests, including rats.

Once this process is further down the line (within 48 to 72 hours), seeds from the fruit can be spread into other areas of your garden, leading to new unwanted seedlings growing.

If you have a large tree or yield, the fallen fruit can also kill off the grass underneath it within a few days, leading to patchy brown areas, James at MyBuilder.com explains.

Wasps, bees and insects love fresh and newly rotting fruit which might affect your ability to enjoy your garden and could lead to stings or bites.

However, the bigger problem is when rotting fruit attracts vermin such as rats.

Rats like the smell of fruit and it can provide a good food source for them. A rat infestation can be distressing and also extremely costly with prices for pest removal starting at approximately £100 and often can be much more should they prove tricky to eradicate.

Fallen fruit is a breeding ground for many bacteria and fungi if the fruit is left to rot on the lawn.

This is problematic because if left there it could spread to the tree itself, as well as neighbouring healthy plants.

If your tree becomes diseased and needs removal, the costs can be more than £200. Fighting to save diseased trees can also be extremely costly and methods are often ineffective.

If you don't remove fallen fruit from the ground, weeds commonly grow around fruit trees because if the fruit is left to rot, the soil receives rich organic matter which provides perfect growing conditions for weeds.

While removing weeds can be done yourself, it tends to become an ongoing job once they are established in an area.

The cost of weedkiller should be taken into account or the time of your gardener if you have one.

Fruit that has fallen onto the lawn will impact the grass in several ways, including by blocking the sunlight and air from reaching the grass as well as the weight of the fruit flattening the blade.

This will damage or even kill your grass if the fruit is not removed.

In just one day the grass can begin to yellow, in two days it can enter a dormant state and after two weeks of fallen fruit, it can begin to die.

The cost of reviving a lawn can be significant with lawn treatments being expensive and sometimes ineffective. In the worst case scenario, re-turfing may be necessary.

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While fruit may be a food source for us, to a tree, its fruits are a way of dispersing its seeds so leaving fruit on your lawn can spread the seeds rapidly, until your whole garden is full of fruit tree saplings.

Species such as apple trees can spread rapidly through their fruit and if that's not your aim, you're best to remove your fruit before you have a forest of saplings in your lawn.

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has shared the fruits you can harvest in autumn.

These include apples, goji berries, medlar and pears.

Quince and autumn-fruiting raspberries will also be ready to harvest in autumn.

It added: "Timing is important - if picked too soon, the flavour of the fruit may not be fully developed; but leave it too late and flavour and the storage quality will be poor".