Koraleigh Fruit fly News

We have had a lot of reports of infested fruit in the last couple of weeks. Fruits affected so far have been loquats, cherries, apricots, plums and nectarines. In an effort to stop an explosion in fruit fly numbers, it is vital to keep an eye on any fruit that you have on your trees…

We saw a decline in fruit fly numbers trapped during October – which has been followed by an increase in November. We had the first infested fruit reported at the beginning of November, being loquats. About 10% of the fruit picked were affected and the affected fruit was frozen for a minimum of 48 hours,…

Billy the goat lives a comfortable life in Koraleigh, and one of his favourite things to eat is loquats! Billy has been helping the residents of Koraleigh fight Queensland fruit fly by devouring one of the fruit fly’s favourite host fruits. When Billy is offered an assortment of food he makes sure that he eats…

To protect your fruit from Queensland Fruit Fly, the best option is to cover your trees with insect exclusion netting. For best protection, this needs to be done around 6 weeks before harvest. If you have apricots, early peaches (eg: Bendigo Beauty or Anzac) or early nectarines, they may be ready for harvest in December.…

Now that the warmer weather is here, mature female fruit flies will be less attracted to traps and baits and more attracted to ripening fruits – mainly loquats and citrus. So it is time to change tact a little and make a concerted effort to monitor fruit on trees for signs of infestation. We are…

With all the fruit fly traps we have in place this season, we are certainly catching plenty of fruit flies that have survived winter. Up to 30th September, we recorded a total of 316 fruit flies (slightly more females trapped than males). It is vital that any unwanted or fallen fruit is picked up now…

Here’s the perfect example of a loquat tree being managed for fruit fly. The ground beneath the tree is nice and clean, the tree has been covered with insect exclusion netting, a BioTrap is hanging in the canopy of the tree to catch any female fruit flies that may have been trapped inside the net…

Now is the time to prepare your loquat trees (and other fruit trees) to be able to manage them for fruit fly. Remove lower branches on your tree, rake up all debris under the tree canopy & spray out any weeds under the tree canopy. Once this is done the ground under your tree will…

During our recent tree removal program we identified a total of 24 loquat trees in the Koraleigh Irrigation Trust area and Koraleigh township. Seven of those trees have now been permanently removed. Of the remaining 17 loquat trees, 4 have not fruited this season, or have had the immature fruits removed. Four loquat trees will…