I’d like to pick your collective brains again :)

I’ve never much worried about fruitfly, except for picking up fallen fruit, because my harvests were never big enough to justify it. However now that the retic & greywater system have gone in, the citrus trees are starting to provide good harvests :)

So, what do you guys do about fruitfly? Sprays? Traps? Something else?

When do you start your fruitfly control – or is it year-round?

Cheers guys :)

bon008 said:

I’d like to pick your collective brains again :)

I’ve never much worried about fruitfly, except for picking up fallen fruit, because my harvests were never big enough to justify it. However now that the retic & greywater system have gone in, the citrus trees are starting to provide good harvests :)

So, what do you guys do about fruitfly? Sprays? Traps? Something else?

When do you start your fruitfly control – or is it year-round?

Cheers guys :)

Fruit fly control is year round yes. It should not be neglected whether fruit fly are apparent or not.

Observation and garden diaries are essential tools.

Available on the shelves in most places that are supplied by Yates.. is a fruit fly bait spray already prepared for use. One container will do the average backyard and needs to be applied(while fruit is on) at a minimum of fortnightly or weekly if fruit fly are seen. A bait can easily be prepared at home using a protein base and a contact insecticde. The baits should be reapplied depending upon the holding period of the contact insecticide used. The Dept. of Ag(Primay Industries) can supply one with the details and data on this. All fruit that isn’t eaten should preferably not be allowed to fall on the ground or at least picked up daily. This can be treated in plastic bags in the hot sun as depicted in any agriculture information on fruit fly .. or.. if you have enough plastic buckets you may allow the birds and ants to clean up the waste fruit in the buckets with little chance of the fruit fly life cycle of being continued. Note: All of the above requires constant observation. At least once a day examine the fruit an the trees to see if there are existing flies. If you have fruit in buckets as I have suggested, please monitor the progress as the larvae may be capable of climbing out of the bucket though I have found that if the buckets are in the sun, this won’t happen. If you have a healthy population of ants.. they will patrol the buckets and grab any wanderers. Birds such as wagtails, fantails, flycatchers and others will also patrol the buckets. If there are numerous grubs in the buckets or if the fruit becomes a grub soup where the grubs seem to be prospering.. simply pour a dash of turps or kerosene or spill a bit of lawnmower fuel on the surface or spray the surface with flyspray. You only need a small amount.. to kill all the grubs in the bucket.
Set baited traps around the boundaries of your yard to both assist in control and be observation points. If you see fruit fly in such traps, then you have a problem which must be addressed. Also Note: that the fruit fly baits only attract and kill the males. This has proven to be the most effective way of controlling fruit fly outbreaks by interrupting the life cycle but still does not completely control fruit fly.

If you notice fruit fly grubs in fruit you have a severe problem which needs to be addressed. Care must be taken not to allow these larvae to enter the soil. So don’t just chuck old fruit on the compost heap without at least first killing the grubs.. cooking up the waste fruit in a boiler will solve that problem. This is why the information given out, suggests sealing the fallen fruit in a garbage bag and leaving it in the hot sun to cook.

Citrus fruit may stay attached to the tree for long periods and may well harbour fruit fly larvae thus should all be removed and cleaned up. Apples also may be a wintering over place for fruit fly.

The name fruit fly should ring alarm bells with fruit such as tomatoes and capsicums. These are fruit.. not vegetables

Do encourage birds and ants. These are the low cost assistants that you cannot afford to be without.

In the case of where a tree may have gotten out of hand and there are fruit fly larvae known to have entered the soil then one will be faced with the need to spray the soil surface with a residual pesticide such as lebayacid. Please take care with such chemicals.. The amounts actually required are rather small.

G’day Bon, i’m also a fan of allowing chooks to roam under the trees. They’ll cleanup fallen fruit and their constant scratching helps cleanup any grubs. Unfortunately, they are not citrus fans, so you still have to pickup the fruit which does drop.

My best solution, (and i use this on tomatoes, capsicum, and citrus,) is to net the trees with insect prooof netting. My orange tree is getting a bit big, but i still manage to net it fairly well. They seem to leave the limes and mandarines alone. They love cherry guava and mulberry.
I still have oranges on my trees and though it’s cold, i saw an adult fly the other day. So they can still be around, even ‘out of season’. However, there are very few and the worst danger has passed for this year. Next plant to fruit is my cherry guava and the chooks help with them. Netting is still the best way to get all the fruit though. I have neighbours who go to varying lengths to control their fly. It’s very frustrating to see citrus on the ground for a week, just over the fence.

Longy said:

G’day Bon, i’m also a fan of allowing chooks to roam under the trees. They’ll cleanup fallen fruit and their constant scratching helps cleanup any grubs. Unfortunately, they are not citrus fans, so you still have to pickup the fruit which does drop.

My best solution, (and i use this on tomatoes, capsicum, and citrus,) is to net the trees with insect prooof netting. My orange tree is getting a bit big, but i still manage to net it fairly well. They seem to leave the limes and mandarines alone. They love cherry guava and mulberry.
I still have oranges on my trees and though it’s cold, i saw an adult fly the other day. So they can still be around, even ‘out of season’. However, there are very few and the worst danger has passed for this year. Next plant to fruit is my cherry guava and the chooks help with them. Netting is still the best way to get all the fruit though. I have neighbours who go to varying lengths to control their fly. It’s very frustrating to see citrus on the ground for a week, just over the fence.

I have a whole hedge of cherry guavas. I can’t net the whole hedge. I let the birds have most of them. The birds get most of the stone fruit. I have netted a nectarine before and got all the fruit. It was delicious. Must think seriously about trying to guard this years crop.

Thursdays child has far to go. Bluegreen must be a Thursday child.

Got a wheelbarrow of citrus to juice today. Need the barrow so we can start some pruning now that we are almost positive that all frosts are over. I hate that decision. As to whether to prune or not to prune, yet.

Hmm, OK. I’m not sure I like the sound of the spray approach, so I might start with something more labour-based and see how I go. As a general rule I do go out every day after work and pick up the fallen fruit – but I was unable to find a housesitter when we were away for 6 weeks so that approach obviously didn’t work this year. But now that I’m back it’s a daily chore again.

For me the fruit fly is mainly a problem with the mandarins, so I may look into netting those fruit. They also love my neighbour’s grapefruit, which neither I nor the neighbour’s eat, so instead of waiting for the grapefruits to hit the ground I will make a habit of pruning them off as soon as they form – I actually did this before I went on holidays, but I couldn’t reach them all – will have to bring Mr Bon out to help.

Also need to harvest lemons more often I think..

GA has some instructions for making traps:
To construct the fruit fly trap you will need:

2 plastic drink bottles – one that has the lid screwed on, and one that has been cut off at the shoulder of the neck of the bottle, without a lid.

Make a hole in the body of the bottle the same size as the neck of the other one and place it into the hole. The cup shape that remains exposed will be the entrance to the trap. Pour the solution through the hole and hang the trap from a tree near tomatoes or other plants.

The recipe below will attract the fruit fly into the bottle from which they cannot escape. They will be killed by the bleach or ammonia.

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
1 tablespoon of ammonia or bleach
1 cup of water

Will this also trap beneficial insects??

bon008 said:

Will this also trap beneficial insects??

Just to answer my own question :) Green Harvest says:
Trapping fruit flies in containers with small entrance holes is generally ineffective as female fruit flies are unwilling to enter traps. Even though it may appear as though the trap is full of flies these are unlikely to be female fruit flies. Research on a range of homemade traps has found less than 1-2% of the insects caught are fruit fly.

Recent research has found that Q fly responds best to a blue colour while Med fly responds best to yellow. Homemade traps of coloured styrofoam balls covered with a non-drying glue may catch a lot of fruit flies. Researchers in the USA have found coffee bean juice from ground up ripe coffee berries a great success as bait for female Med flies.

http://www.greenharvest.com.au/pestcontrol/fruit_fly_info.html

I’ll start with a hygeine and netting approach and then go from there, I think..

bon008 said:

Hmm, OK. I’m not sure I like the sound of the spray approach, so I might start with something more labour-based and see how I go. As a general rule I do go out every day after work and pick up the fallen fruit – but I was unable to find a housesitter when we were away for 6 weeks so that approach obviously didn’t work this year. But now that I’m back it’s a daily chore again.

For me the fruit fly is mainly a problem with the mandarins, so I may look into netting those fruit. They also love my neighbour’s grapefruit, which neither I nor the neighbour’s eat, so instead of waiting for the grapefruits to hit the ground I will make a habit of pruning them off as soon as they form – I actually did this before I went on holidays, but I couldn’t reach them all – will have to bring Mr Bon out to help.

Also need to harvest lemons more often I think..

GA has some instructions for making traps:
To construct the fruit fly trap you will need:

2 plastic drink bottles – one that has the lid screwed on, and one that has been cut off at the shoulder of the neck of the bottle, without a lid.

Make a hole in the body of the bottle the same size as the neck of the other one and place it into the hole. The cup shape that remains exposed will be the entrance to the trap. Pour the solution through the hole and hang the trap from a tree near tomatoes or other plants.

The recipe below will attract the fruit fly into the bottle from which they cannot escape. They will be killed by the bleach or ammonia.

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
1 tablespoon of ammonia or bleach
1 cup of water

Will this also trap beneficial insects??

beneficial insects are attracted to different baits.

the active ingredient in the above mentioned available pre mmixed fruit fly bait is Spinosad. http://www.scienceinpublic.com/bio21/insecticides.htm

You’d need to use large amounts of it to start causing any problems. http://www.apvma.gov.au/residues/ARDS-spinosad.shtml

bon008 said:

bon008 said:

Will this also trap beneficial insects??

Just to answer my own question :) Green Harvest says:
Trapping fruit flies in containers with small entrance holes is generally ineffective as female fruit flies are unwilling to enter traps. Even though it may appear as though the trap is full of flies these are unlikely to be female fruit flies. Research on a range of homemade traps has found less than 1-2% of the insects caught are fruit fly.

Recent research has found that Q fly responds best to a blue colour while Med fly responds best to yellow. Homemade traps of coloured styrofoam balls covered with a non-drying glue may catch a lot of fruit flies. Researchers in the USA have found coffee bean juice from ground up ripe coffee berries a great success as bait for female Med flies.

http://www.greenharvest.com.au/pestcontrol/fruit_fly_info.html

I’ll start with a hygeine and netting approach and then go from there, I think..

netting thet prevents fruit flies that are determined to lay eggs would want very small holes indeed. Small enough to reduce airflow.

roughbarked said:

bon008 said:

bon008 said:

Will this also trap beneficial insects??

Just to answer my own question :) Green Harvest says:
Trapping fruit flies in containers with small entrance holes is generally ineffective as female fruit flies are unwilling to enter traps. Even though it may appear as though the trap is full of flies these are unlikely to be female fruit flies. Research on a range of homemade traps has found less than 1-2% of the insects caught are fruit fly.

Recent research has found that Q fly responds best to a blue colour while Med fly responds best to yellow. Homemade traps of coloured styrofoam balls covered with a non-drying glue may catch a lot of fruit flies. Researchers in the USA have found coffee bean juice from ground up ripe coffee berries a great success as bait for female Med flies.

http://www.greenharvest.com.au/pestcontrol/fruit_fly_info.html

I’ll start with a hygeine and netting approach and then go from there, I think..

netting thet prevents fruit flies that are determined to lay eggs would want very small holes indeed. Small enough to reduce airflow.

I was thinking of just netting the fruits individually with those little bags you can buy – not the entire tree.

Might try something like this: http://www.gardenersdirect.com.au/commerce/search/products/?product_id=OCP006&merchant_id=2135

This is a local place where I get a lot of my gardening stuff from.

“Eco naturalure 150 ml mini pack is ideal for the fruit grower with only a few trees or bushes to protect. It comes with a syringe to assist in measuring the correct dose. Blend 10ml of concentrate with 60ml of water and paint thickly onto a 1 metre square piece of non absorbant material such as waxed carton, sealed plywood etc. Then hang in or close to the fruit tree. Re apply weekly before fruit reaches maturity. Please note that to work effectively the bait must be available to the insect once they emerge from the soil. After consuming the bait they will die and not have a chance to breed or lay eggs. If fruit fly have breed and fly in from another location results cannot be guaranteed.”

Could paint it on to a yellow surface, cut into enough pieces to hang one in each citrus tree?

bon008 said:

roughbarked said:

bon008 said:

Just to answer my own question :) Green Harvest says:
Trapping fruit flies in containers with small entrance holes is generally ineffective as female fruit flies are unwilling to enter traps. Even though it may appear as though the trap is full of flies these are unlikely to be female fruit flies. Research on a range of homemade traps has found less than 1-2% of the insects caught are fruit fly.

Recent research has found that Q fly responds best to a blue colour while Med fly responds best to yellow. Homemade traps of coloured styrofoam balls covered with a non-drying glue may catch a lot of fruit flies. Researchers in the USA have found coffee bean juice from ground up ripe coffee berries a great success as bait for female Med flies.

http://www.greenharvest.com.au/pestcontrol/fruit_fly_info.html

I’ll start with a hygeine and netting approach and then go from there, I think..

netting thet prevents fruit flies that are determined to lay eggs would want very small holes indeed. Small enough to reduce airflow.

I was thinking of just netting the fruits individually with those little bags you can buy – not the entire tree.

Might try something like this: http://www.gardenersdirect.com.au/commerce/search/products/?product_id=OCP006&merchant_id=2135

This is a local place where I get a lot of my gardening stuff from.

“Eco naturalure 150 ml mini pack is ideal for the fruit grower with only a few trees or bushes to protect. It comes with a syringe to assist in measuring the correct dose. Blend 10ml of concentrate with 60ml of water and paint thickly onto a 1 metre square piece of non absorbant material such as waxed carton, sealed plywood etc. Then hang in or close to the fruit tree. Re apply weekly before fruit reaches maturity. Please note that to work effectively the bait must be available to the insect once they emerge from the soil. After consuming the bait they will die and not have a chance to breed or lay eggs. If fruit fly have breed and fly in from another location results cannot be guaranteed.”

Could paint it on to a yellow surface, cut into enough pieces to hang one in each citrus tree?

Once .. There was something known as a Dak-Pot.

This consisted of a tin with a lid.. it seemed empty until one removed the lid. Inside there was a bit of fibrous material impregnated with bait and insecticide. For some unknown reason these are no longer available but yes the above description brought it back to mind.

If one goes down to the local gardening supplies shop and looks at the Yates preparation mentioned.. then one will note that the advice is the same.. It is a bait preparation that is NOT a cover spray. Yes it can simply be applied to bait stations as suggested. It DOES NOT have to be sprayed everywhere.

bon008 said:

roughbarked said:

bon008 said:

Just to answer my own question :) Green Harvest says:
Trapping fruit flies in containers with small entrance holes is generally ineffective as female fruit flies are unwilling to enter traps. Even though it may appear as though the trap is full of flies these are unlikely to be female fruit flies. Research on a range of homemade traps has found less than 1-2% of the insects caught are fruit fly.

Recent research has found that Q fly responds best to a blue colour while Med fly responds best to yellow. Homemade traps of coloured styrofoam balls covered with a non-drying glue may catch a lot of fruit flies. Researchers in the USA have found coffee bean juice from ground up ripe coffee berries a great success as bait for female Med flies.

http://www.greenharvest.com.au/pestcontrol/fruit_fly_info.html

I’ll start with a hygeine and netting approach and then go from there, I think..

netting thet prevents fruit flies that are determined to lay eggs would want very small holes indeed. Small enough to reduce airflow.

I was thinking of just netting the fruits individually with those little bags you can buy – not the entire tree.

Might try something like this: http://www.gardenersdirect.com.au/commerce/search/products/?product_id=OCP006&merchant_id=2135

This is a local place where I get a lot of my gardening stuff from.

mostly .. using netting may protect your fruit from birds .. but not necessarily be of much use to keep out fruit fly.

roughbarked said:

If one goes down to the local gardening supplies shop and looks at the Yates preparation mentioned.. then one will note that the advice is the same.. It is a bait preparation that is NOT a cover spray. Yes it can simply be applied to bait stations as suggested. It DOES NOT have to be sprayed everywhere.

OK cool, thanks :) I will probably get the Naturalure one anyway, because I need to order some other stuff from Gardeners’ Direct already.

bon008 said:

bon008 said:

Will this also trap beneficial insects??

Just to answer my own question :) Green Harvest says:
Trapping fruit flies in containers with small entrance holes is generally ineffective as female fruit flies are unwilling to enter traps. Even though it may appear as though the trap is full of flies these are unlikely to be female fruit flies. Research on a range of homemade traps has found less than 1-2% of the insects caught are fruit fly.

Recent research has found that Q fly responds best to a blue colour while Med fly responds best to yellow. Homemade traps of coloured styrofoam balls covered with a non-drying glue may catch a lot of fruit flies. Researchers in the USA have found coffee bean juice from ground up ripe coffee berries a great success as bait for female Med flies.

http://www.greenharvest.com.au/pestcontrol/fruit_fly_info.html

I’ll start with a hygeine and netting approach and then go from there, I think..

The thing that I’m not sure about, as with house fly traps too, do traps with an attractant in, bring house/fruit flies from miles around? I wish I could be sure that only flies close by are attracted.

roughbarked said:

bon008 said:

roughbarked said:

netting thet prevents fruit flies that are determined to lay eggs would want very small holes indeed. Small enough to reduce airflow.

I was thinking of just netting the fruits individually with those little bags you can buy – not the entire tree.

Might try something like this: http://www.gardenersdirect.com.au/commerce/search/products/?product_id=OCP006&merchant_id=2135

This is a local place where I get a lot of my gardening stuff from.

mostly .. using netting may protect your fruit from birds .. but not necessarily be of much use to keep out fruit fly.

Mossie netting works. They are about $10 each at Spotlight.

pomolo said:

roughbarked said:

bon008 said:

I was thinking of just netting the fruits individually with those little bags you can buy – not the entire tree.

Might try something like this: http://www.gardenersdirect.com.au/commerce/search/products/?product_id=OCP006&merchant_id=2135

This is a local place where I get a lot of my gardening stuff from.

mostly .. using netting may protect your fruit from birds .. but not necessarily be of much use to keep out fruit fly.

Mossie netting works. They are about $10 each at Spotlight.

Hmm, might be a good use for the mosquito netting around the four-poster. Mr Bon isn’t a very graceful creature – he’s always getting tangled up in it and ripping it. When I finally buy a new one I can sew up the tears in the old one and stick it over a fruit tree :D

Yes mozzie netting is the go.
The stuff from spotlight is unfortunately, not UV rated and will break down in a season. It becomes really brittle.
You might get a few seasons out of it if you’re careful.
The best thing i have found is to buy a cheapo pergola thingy. You know, those things people put in their backyards to have a barbie under, made from tubing with a cover over the top. They’re usually 3metres square. Well, they can be fitted with an insect cover. Usually, the insect cover has no top in it but has a drawstring to keep it tight over the pergola. They are about $20 and as they are UV rated, they last for quite a few years. Using the pergola setup over the tree and the netting fitted to it, you get every single piece of fruit. The rain still waters the dripline. The mesh allows airflow and the frame holds the whole lot off the tree. Unfortunately, my orange tree is now a bit of a monster so i just fit the net straight over the tree. Even with the bad fit, i still get most of my fruit. The fly only gets in if it comes from underneath the net. They’re not very clever critters.
You can also use double bed mozzie nets, which may or may not be UV rated.
SOme people up here use a long piece of timber standing in the middle of the tree, with a rubbish bin lid nailed to the top of it, and throw an old lace curtain over it all. The pole holds the netting up off the tree. Works OK. You’ll get the fruit but loos a bit weird.
In hindsight, i’d only ever plant dwarf forms of all my fruit trees, to make them easier to cover.
The fly here just ruins everything.