Prevent fruit fly

Preventative measures you can take during the year.

Winter

  • Males become active in late winter and early spring when they begin to mate. This is the time to monitor with fruit fly traps
  • Prune trees to a manageable height for ease of fruit picking and netting
  • Replace unwanted fruit fly host trees with non-host plans
  • Pick up fallen fruit
Remember: In the winter the risk of fruit fly is lower but winter fruits can provide a food source for overwintering fruit flies.

These include apples, pears, quinces and pomegranates left hanging on trees and ripe winter citrus such as oranges, mandarins and grapefruit. Fruit fly may hibernate in citrus trees throughout winter.

Spring

  • Remove fruit fly host plants if you are not going to control fruit fly in your garden
  • Design your vegetable garden layout and cropping cycles so that fruit fly populations don’t build up
  • Set up traps to monitor for fruit fly and check traps weekly
  • Pick and dispose of any excess ripe citrus especially grapefruit and late season oranges
  • Pick up and dispose of any fallen loquats
  • Spray high risk fruit if appropriate and always follow label instructions
Remember: In spring high risk fruits are late season citrus such as grapefruit and early ripening hosts such as loquats.

Summer

  • Net your vegetable garden or bag individual fruit
  • Pick up fallen fruit everyday
  • Check tomatoes and fruit for sting marks
  • Heat treat fallen and infested fruit and vegetables to kill Queensland fruit fly maggots
  • Continue to trap and monitor fruit fly population levels weekly
  • Spray high risk fruit if appropriate and always follow label instructions
Remember: In summer high risk fruits are stone fruit such as cherries, apricots, peaches, nectarines and plums. High risk vegetables are tomatoes, capsicums and chillies.

Autumn

  • Pick up any fallen fruit to break the fruit fly lifecycle
  • Heat treat fallen and infested fruit to fill the fruit fly maggots
  • Continue to monitor for fruit fly and check traps weekly
  • Continue to spray high risk fruit if appropriate and always follow label instructions
Remember: In autumn high risk fruits are pome fruits such as apples, pears and quinces, early citrus such as mandarins. Other fruit includes pomegranates and ornamental fruiting plants such as fejoa.

This information comes from the season calendar of backyard jobs by the Goulburn Murray Valley Regional Fruit Fly Group.

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