What should you do if you find infested fruit?
NEVER PUT INFESTED FRUIT IN YOUR COMPOST WITHOUT KILLING THE LARVAE FIRST! Compost is the perfect ‘home’ for fruitfly larvae.
To stop larvae from developing into adult fruitfly and causing significantly more damage to fruit and vegetables, the larvae need to be destroyed. This can be done several ways…..
Freezing – If you have a small number of fruit affected, place the affected fruit in the freezer for 48 hours to kill the larvae, then then fruit can be placed in your compost or rubbish bin.
Microwave – high heat will kill larvae. Place affected fruit in your microwave for approximately 30 seconds. Fruit can then be placed in your compost or rubbish bin.
Solarising – place affected fruit into a heavy duty garbage bag, tie the top and leave in the sun for 14 days.
Mulching – for large volume of infested fruit (eg: after stripping an affected tree), you can mulch or mow over the fruit. If mowing, ensure that you have the mower deck set down low to destroy the fruit.
Infested olive
Infested loquat
Infested apple
Infested peach