Time to check fruit

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 still in the ‘we can make a real difference’ time frame at the moment – please don’t let this opportunity to make a significant impact on fruit fly slip through your fingers!

Make sure you have cleaned up under all your fruit trees, and keep a watchful eye on ripening fruit. Pick up any fallen fruit daily – this is important as it could make the difference between killing the first generation of fruit fly for this summer, or letting them live to make your fruit and veggies inedible.

When you pick your fruit, cut it open and check for any signs of maggots inside. If you find any you need to strip all fruit from the tree and solarise it in a suitable plastic bag (leave it in the sun for 7-10 days), or place it in the freezer for 48 hours to kill the larvae. Please DO NOT leave it for the birds or chooks to eat – they only need to miss a couple and ‘hey presto’ all our earlier work was for nothing.

Go to ‘Damaged Fruit‘ for tips on disposing of infested fruit.

Do you have more fruit than you can use? Offer some to you neighbours! Need a hand to strip a tree? Let us know and we’ll get some extra hands to make the job easier. And thanks for keeping up the fight!