Fruit Flies – Trapping option

Do you grow your own fruits and vegetables?  Do you share your excess or do you receive fresh food from other generous growers?  You may have experienced various pests at the different stages of the food production.  Pest management is an ongoing concern for many gardeners, especially so if you’re trying to grow in a chemical-free way.

In recent times, Queensland fruit flies have been detected further south and even on the island state Tasmania (on produce from interstate market).  This may all sound very distant to us home gardeners until you find wrigglers in your precious produce.

There was a recently confirmed case in Warranwood, while I have found wrigglers in my cherry tomatoes and apples which are not confirmed although equally devastating seeing vine-ripened cherry tomatoes that looked perfect on the outside but are riddled with larvae on the inside.  At least our ducks had nice treats…

Queensland fruit fly larvae

Queensland fruit fly larva

Unknown wrigglers

With this emerging threat in mind, Claire has kindly organised to try to get traps in bulk from BioTrap Australia (subject to minimum order quantities and other conditions).  If you’re interested, please contact Claire.

I am also hoping to have a short workshop at the next Bayswater North swap (April) on how to make DIY traps.  First, I’m going to test them out in my garden so out I go now!

Tags: fruit flies, queensland fruit flies, trapping