Fruit fly control

Grant says...
Debbie.
From my understanding the fruit fly traps are purely a means of detecting wether you have fly around or not. The bait is a sex attractant to the male fly.You monitor the fly numbers by the amount of dead male fly near the trap.It is up to you to do the controlling.
You may have to keep the little guys off your fruit by netting or spraying .

ben silver says...
Feijoas may not be a good test. fruit fly love golden delicious apples and late peaches such as "Golden queen". Professor of fruit fly biology at sydney university is rather dismissive of these lately developed sprays . If you are in an isolated area my experience is thAt male lures are sufficient for figs but not for the highly attractive fruits mentioned . Place male lures in an encircling pattern at say 20metres from fig in order to intercept males entering from periphery.

ben silver says...
My experience precisely. A little wary that Wild May does not list its ingredients . Faint whiff of snake oil.

ben silver says...
The only qualitatively new male trap is smething called AMULET Cue lure. The makers claim that the insecticide fipronil has a delayed action so that females that mate with contaminated males get killed a lot of the time . It costs about $60 to find out if this is true. Incidently the substance Cue lure, if you can obtain it, is really cheap because only 1ml is used in a trap for the male fly Add 2ml of insecticide and total cost $1 tops . Plant a label on it and call it FlY RID and sell $13 a piece.

Andy says...
I've done some work on Wild May, Naturalure, exclusion bags, other baits and traps. They all work but in different ways. Wild May, Amulet, cuelure in Dakpots, etc attract only the males. In low fruit fly population areas (e.g. inland with cold winters or in well-managed orchards) it is possible over the years to get rid of the females too. No males then no females. But this won't work in coastal regions with high fruit fly populations that move around a lot. Traps with vegemite, yeast etc are O.K. for a day or two and may trap females and males but the solution goes off and actually repels fruit flies and attracts blowflies. Adding preservative to the mixture tends to reduce the trap's efficacy. Exclusion bags and netting enclosures are great - time consuming, yes. As long as desperate birds (koels and rainbow lorikeets seem to be the worst) don't force there way in! Splash baits like Naturalure are good too. It's approved for organic control and is used all over the World now. However you must keep the applications up - like once a week and after rain - as it attracts flies into small orchards from a fair distance.

natasha compton says...
i have an apricot tree that has fruit fly i have tried different traps the most succsesful one that i have found is the 2 litter bottle trap with womans urine in is the best in half a day i had 20 fruit fly in it by the next morning i have about 50 fly i know it sounds strange but it really works

natasha compton says...
you may think this sounds strange but i made a trap out of a 2 litter coke bottle and used urine as my bait and with out a word of a lie it is the best trap ever i change the urine every day and they also say that womans urine is better than mens try it you will be suprised

Andy says...
I have a Qld fruit fly colony and some people are more attractive to fruit flies than others. I've put it down to the amount of ammonia they give off! Although some perfumes are attractive - particularly those that are based on raspberry ketone.

Andy says...
Ben
The photo shows part of my Qld fruit fly colony. I use it to study new traps and trap additives.

Pictures - Click to enlarge
Picture: 1

Andy says...
Correy
The previous picture shows some aluminium and mesh cages that house about 20,000 Queensland fruit flies in each. In the picture I have pears sitting on top of the cages to be infested with female fruit fly eggs. I then take the newly infested fruit off the cages and then treat them. The results are used to develop new quarantine treatments for exports to other countries and States. We are working on cold and heat treatments at the moment. I'm also looking at fruit fly trapping methods. The pictures show a NZ Lynfield trap (looks like a bucket), a Bugs for Bugs lure and an Amulet CL pad (cardboard). But there are many, many more types around.

Correy says...
Very Cool it looks like you have a lot of fun with your 20,000 fruit fly friends.

If you wanted to share some of your more interesting results as you go I am sure many of us who aren't friends with our fruit flies would be interested.

Scott G says...
Thanks Julie, that is a good idea about the simple frame. I had been told a frame would increase the lifespan of nets but hadn’t gotten serious about making one because of how serious a structure I had pictured in my head.

Both nets have just finished duty stopping fruitfly and parrots/bats on the Nectarine and Peach. They worked very well but they got a tear or 2 from the thicker branch ends that poked out to the extreme of the dripline as a result of pruning. These trees filled the nets so inserting a frame wouldn’t really have held the net away from the tree much. But I will be covering the Guava in a month and I have pruned it smaller so a frame should be an advantage there. I also pruned it anticipating the net so that the tree will have a chance to grow some smaller, soft new shoots at the end of the pruned branches by the time the net goes on. Thus (I am hoping) this will stop the hard branch ends rubbing on the net. Another thing to consider is during the time the trees are growing fruit they grow a considerable amount of new foliage and in the case of the Nectarine and Peach this was about 40cm in every direction. This extra growth had the advantage of holding the net off the fruit so it was less attractive to all the things that wanted a nibble.

I will strongly consider a polypipe frame.

One net (made from curtain lace) had been used last season on the guava and it is showing signs of weakening due to exposure.

The net on the Peach tree didn’t stop an infestation of Rutherglen bugs. The were small enough to get through it.

Below is a picture of one of the 2 nets my girlfriend made. This one is from heavily discounted curtain lace bought at Spotlight. The other is from mosquito netting. Both cost about $2 or $3 per metre and each net used 10m so $20-$30 per net. They are basically cut and sewn into a cube with the bottom missing. The dimensions were dictated by the width of the roll of the fabric (about 2m). The fabric was also chosen to let the maximum light through. The net shown has about 4 bricks on the ground holding it down. Completely sealing the net to the ground doesn’t appear too necessary as long as the gap isn’t too big (perhaps 50mm??) The other net on the peach was tied and pegged together around the trunk.

Pictures - Click to enlarge
Picture: 1

Julie says...
Rod,fruit fly sting when the fruit is still green. If it has been stung, bringing it inside won't make any difference - it will still develop.
I knew an orchardist who picked fruit before it was ripe, put in the coolroom for two weeks, then brought it out to ripen. I had no success with this - as soon as the fruit was warm again the maggots developed. I now use recycled mushroom bags on my peaches - it's a bit fiddly, but I get to eat ripe(organically-grown) fruit.
Plums I lose to birds (rubber snakes on a few branches, moved every few days helps) and apricots I make into delicious jam when they are under-ripe.I could avoid all this if I used Lebaycid, but don't fancy it.

My current strategy is to grow fruit in bonsai bags to keep them small.I then plan to mossie net the whole area (with a polypipe frame) which won't be too large. That's the plan, anyway!

Rod Browne says...
The last two years have been a total loss

In 2004 we got a good crop of well flavoured fruit

As I said I used naturelure this year and had a very minor success , after fairly consistant application . not worth the cost

maybe too much contamination in my area

Will look at leybacid next year ,

or maybe give the mossie net ( I assume it is cotton and you get this from from spotlight )a try as we only have a small tree

Anonymous says...
we always drown our fruit ti kill the fly
didnt want to export the larvae to another site
and once its festy enough and well dead
we put the whole lot in the compost
to recycle nutrients

Rod Browne says...
I have just got a publication recommending a new fruit fly control by Yates

It attracts the fly and then kills it

went to the yates site for more info

http://www.yates.com.au/Products/PestControl/InsectsConcentrates/NaturesWayFruitFlyControl.asp

maybe worth a try , works on same principal as Success , which works for me on other pests

TJ says...
I started applying Eco-naturalure (same as Yates but cheaper) to 1m square area of milk/juice bottles with the side cut out on posts – 1 per fruit tree – on 2/10/07. Peaches that were ripe by early Dec had hardly any fruit fly – but peaches and tomatoes that are ripe now are full of fruit fly. All infected fruit has been placed in a sealed bin full to the top with water (seemed to drown them all last year).VERY DISAPPOINTED. Think the sun, wind and heat has dried the Eco-naturalure out too quick. Have been told would be better applied to a more porous surface and placed in the shade eg pieces of wood in the tree etc. Found sooty mould developed easy – so would be wary about spraying it in the same place on the actual tree repeatedly.

Recently given a recipe from an older fellow who lived near a commercial orchard. Apparently he didn’t have any fruit fly problems, but the orchard always did. Vegemite and malathion mixed into a thick paste and painted on boards in or near the fruit trees/garden. He also hung bottles with holes cut in the side of them containing about 2 inchs of the following mix: 1 tbl sp cloudy ammonia, 1 tbl sp vanialla ess, ½ cup brown sugar, 1 litre water. He spooned the dead fruit fly out and topped up the liquid regularly.

Have just covered the capsicum plants with frost guard white fabric (<$3m at Mitre 10) over a frame made from poly pipe. Am also going to try covering the tomato plants that have just started flowering with mozzie net, curtaining, tuille or whatever I can get cheap. Will probably put some Eco-Naturalure on something protected by sun and wind a bit - if I think of something as veg garden completely exposed.

Last year I tried a PestGuard bag from Green Harvest, but found it was ripped etc by the wind before the fruit was ripe. Another prob with these is because you can’t see through them you have to keep undoing to check if fruit is ripe.

Any thoughts?

Bsilver says...
Spinosid is an insecticide produced by bacteria. Why is it preferable to ,say ,Malation. Is nicotine safe because it is produced by a plant?

bsilver says...
Is the idea to break down the insecticide rapidly and render treatment ineffective?

Scott G says...
Mal, that is interesting. If only the egg/larvae filled chillies could be disposed of or used as part of a trap.

In my garden I see gourds attracting fruit flies a lot and a few come when I skin a Luffa.

Bsilver says...
Limitations of bait sprays aka splash baits not widely canvassed viz useful when f. fly pressure not high and /or target fruit is in relative isolation ,say a bush block. One cannot expect to obtain control if neighbour has neglected trees loaded with fly .

Julie says...
The idea of using organic insecticides is that they kill/repel the insect but have been broken down by the time you eat the fruit, so you are not eating poisons.
It's a bit of a drawback in some ways, because you have to keep reapplying them. Don't know of any systemic ones apart from Neem oil which is supposed to act systemically.

Andy says...
Hi Everyone
I'm now with the UN in Vienna working on suppressing fruit flies in Member States so they have more fruit and vegetables for themselves and for exort.
Scott G - yes the cucumber fly is a pest of melons, zucchinis, etc from the far North Coast of NSW and into SE Qld. There's no traps like dak Pots, etc able to attract them so you often don't know they are around until you see the maggots in the fruit. Traps with vegemite (or other protein based stuff -like beer or ammoniated liquids like cloudy ammonia) will attract some (but also a lot of other insects so can get messy). Bait sprays applied early will help unless the fly population is too large.
Mal: sometimes fruit can withstand fly strike because the skin is too slippery for the flies to puncture. Maybe your flies preferred the softer skins of the chillies to the fat shiny tomato. Cherry tomatoes are generally resistant to fruit flies for this reason (but can get stung if they dry out and shrivell slightly or start to split or if they get damaged by bird pecks, etc).
Best of luck everyone.

John says...
amulet system?

Anonymous says...
Can anyone advise me as to where one can buy mozzie netting in a roll.

Tried baits last year but to no avail.



I have now 40 fruit trees to protect against the fruit fly. I have erected poly frames but cannot find where I can purchase netting on a roll.

TJ says...
Big W have an actually mozzie net ready to hang from a hook on ceiling above a bed. Just bought one for $10. Hoping will cover one tree. If not will cut up and use the netting of it. Think the quantity of netting in it would be cheaper than buying off the roll at Spotlight.

The curtain remnant basket at Spotlight is a good place to look to - often only about $1.50 a metre.

Has anyone had problems with fruit fly getting in a netted tree when picking ripe fruit etc. Wondering if better to net sections of a tree or individual branches/fruit???

Also has anyone heard of "solarising" - apparently some put black plastic on ground under fruit trees to kill last seasons fruit fly still in the ground??? Does anyone know anything about this??????

Scott G says...
I have had no problems with fruitfly getting past my nets even when the nets weren't completely sealing the tree near the ground.

I havent had any thing get by the net while I was picking. I just get under the net with the tree and pick the fruit off into a big bowl. It's too tricky to get the nets on and off the trees.

I hold my nets down with a few bricks. On top of what Kath said they need to be held down well to stop them blowing away in strong wind.

That Mozzie net at BigW is the cheapest I have heard of them selling for. That would be cheaper than making them from 10m of spotight fabric.

Trying to kill fruitfly in the ground would only be of help if they were the only source of fruitfly in your area. Otherwise you would still get fruitfly from your neighbours' trees.

Scott G says...
I have chickens below many of my fruit trees. I have heard that the chooks can help reduce the fruit fly population by eating the emerging adults.

GVV says...
Finally I bought 150m roll of 4m wide blue mozzie netting from China and have installed it over the framing I made from 1/2" electrical conduit.

Recon I will have no problems this year. Trust I have beaten the little suckers
Got the netting thru Mystique Mozzie nets on the web

GVV

GVV says...
Scott

Can't remember the web address but her email address is angelina@mostique.com.au.

I have just ordered another roll 200m x 6m as some of my trees are quite large. On the first order I had it in 6 days as I needed to get the trees covered as some had fruit set.

When calculating out, including sea freight from China, it is cheaper than what I bought in Big W. Also buying in a 4 or 6 m wide roll it is less hassle on larger trees.

Quality is very good

Obviously if it is airfreighted the cost is higher.

Shaz says...
Love this forum. Thank you so much. Talking about netting I am thinking about netting the fruit trees on the new property that we have just moved into and am quite interested in how the crop nets are used. we have just moved back from WA and in Carnarvon they use crop nets over most of their orchards, mainly for wind, but my thoughts are that it could also exclude fruit fly and birds from attacking the fruit. Do you think this would work? They usually use shade cloth so a nice light coloured shade cloth could work just as well as a mozzie net couldn't it?

anonymous says...
Si
It looks as if there is no alternative to netting my 125 fig trees.
The F.Fly was bad last year despite using naturalure.
What is the verdict on colour?
I just priced the stiff netting from spotlight - $1.99/m but only 1.35m wide. would have to sew together.
Plan to put in 4 star pickets topped with 2 lengths of corner to corner poly pipe.
Has anyone tried that?
great forum.
cheers

GVV says...
Si

By the way with netting the price for netting you pay $1.99/m for a 1.35m wide is very expensive.
Look above at the contact I placed on the forum on 1 Oct and contact her. I purchase now in 6m wide rolls and no need for sewing narrow pieces together
GVV

Julie says...
Check out my comments on November last year. I recommend using two sections of polypipe crossed at the top, to support a net.

Anonymous says...
Attached is a photo which shows how I win the war with the fruit fly.

My continued attack on the fruit fly has paid dividends and we have the most beautiful (and grub free) peaches in the area. This should be the same with all our other fruits.

Note the tree in the picture is four years old however we cut them back every year and they are more easy to work with when netting.
The smaller trees give quality fruit but not quite as many as a larger tree.

GVV

Pictures - Click to enlarge
Picture: 1

GVV says...
John

The frame I use is 1/2" electrical conduit which is good in the sun.
I bought some 6 meter lengths of reinforcing steel 12mm diameter and cut it into 450mm lengths and drive them into the ground leaving half out of the ground and place the conduit over it.
I use an electrical tie to hold them firm at the top where they cross

GVV

Scott G says...
Bazza:
I think I read that blue is the most attractive colour to QLD fruit fly. Perhaps you could try blue tape or paint?
Do you have a lot of fruit fly in your area normally?

anon says...
Sadly much of the inventive and intuitive fruit fly traps fail for a simple reason .... female flies ,the ones that do the damage, will not enter through holes . Sex mad males , naturally , will pass through holes and a lot else to get "satisfaction" Essentially you 're barking up the wrong f/fly trap.

Anonymous says...
I am convinced there is only one way to beat the fruit fly and that is with netting. We produced a beautiful harvest of peaches this year after using netting. Other years using all these noted ideas with traps never worked successfully - always watching and finding blown fruit. This year not one piece of fruit blown.
Yes it may cost a little more but it is well worth netting. Our other fruits now set will also be fruit fly free

Baz 2 says...
Hi all,

I'm new here and this looks like a good place to get some tested advice.

I planted last year Nectarines (May Grand & WC Fripp) Plum (Narabeen & Santa Rosa) Apricot (Divinity & Bulinda) Mulberry (Black English) Orange (Washington) Passionfruit (cant remember).

I was just about to buy some bird netting when I noticed your posts GVV. Glad I did as this seems to me the way to go. I would like to grow my trees a bit bigger than what you have let them in your photo, but I understand your reasoning. Cost of the netting I think will force me to do a similar size...

I'm off to contact your contact for the netting... :)

Baz 2

Anonymous says...
Baz 2

If you keep your trees small you may not get as many fruits but they are much easier to handle, easier to pick fruit. Also smaller tree's fruit is much bigger and tastier. My manderines are now in their third year, the trees are small and they are heavily laden with fruit. But to obtain a good juicycrop one must fertilize and water regularly. This applies to all fruit trees. Have attached a photo of a 4 year old mango tree. See how small I keep them and look at the fruit blossoms on them.
GVV

Pictures - Click to enlarge
Picture: 1

paula says...
Very interested in how you prune your mango trees annon. I'd love to be able to keep them to that size while still producing.

Baz 2 says...
GVV

I have tried to source some mosquito netting from 'Mystique Mozzie nets' and tried her email address angelina@mostique.com.au. but can't find it on the web and have had no reply from email.

Can anybody recommend somewhere else? I am ideally after a 4M or 6M wide roll 150M long.

Anonymous says...
Baz

I am back in India working and wont be back home til 20 Dec. I have her phone number at homeand usually call her.

She sent me an email advising that because of the drastic drop in the AUD exchange rate she is not buying in China and is waiting until after Christmas. Next time I call home I will get her number for you
GVV

TJ says...
PS www.flemings.com.au have a good pdf re pruning you can download.

Julie says...
I pruned the centre out of my loquat tree when it was quite young. It has never been pruned since, and has stayed at around 2m. They are usually so tall you can't possibly reach most of the crop.

I bag up each bunch in recycled mushroom bags, closed with a clothes peg.This takes about half an hour. They keeps out birds and fruit flies, and I get more fruit than I can use, even giving it away!

Anonymous says...
Baz 2

Large conduit is no good if one wants to bend it over like I have done - look at the pictures on 3.11.08 above.

I use the grey electrical conduit as it has the properties to protect it against the Qld sun although it is a little more expensive.

My nets will be up for around 4 months or so depending on the ripening period then I will remove them and store for next year and I hope that they will last for quite a number of years to come. As for the netting, what I purchased from Angie seems to be holding up - some trees have been netted for several months now and I will commence removing some of the nets soon. The first one will be my peach trees as their crop will be finished next month

TJ says...
Baz2 - Can I ask what went wrong when trying to use the 1" poly (was it the metric poly with the blue stripe on it?). Was it too flexible?

Note: Conduit will bend if heated - our electrician had to do this recently in our reno.

Anonymous says...
TJ
From what you say above, the 1" pipe you used with the blue stripe on it is for underground water and no good for leaving out in the sun. Sounds like the pipe I use for underground water lines.

I use the grey electrical conduit and it is fine. I purchased 100 lengths which made it considerably cheaper.
Attached is a photo of one of our cherry trees before we placed the netting. This conduit is quite rigid and fits the bill perfectly.

GVV

Pictures - Click to enlarge
Picture: 1

Julie says...
John, somehow missed your question before. I live in Urch Road. Where are you?

TJ says...
Baz2 and GVV
With regard to heating and bending the conduit - I was thinking more along the line of heating it yourself and then bending it to shape if you wanted to make a more rigid frame. I wasn't suggesting it would bend in the heat of the sun.

As for the metric poly (with the blue stripe) - we have some here that has been in the sun and heat for a number of years and is fine. I have just used some to make a frame to cover my tomatoes. I used 25mm, which seemed to give the perfect ratio of flexibility to stability for a small structure. (Conduit would have been too rigid) But, the poly wouldn't be rigid enough to use in say 8m lengths over a fruit tree, especially in a windy area.

I had covered my fruit trees without using a frame as a trial. Covering is certainly more effective and easier than repeat spraying, baiting etc. I am now going to get some conduit or similar to make frames for my trees, and lots of netting.

TJ

Anonymous says...
TJ

I do not heat my frames as when I beend them over the tree and slip them over the reinforcing steel I have in the ground, the 'spring' in the conduit keeps it firmly down over the conduit.
My frames are up to 2m high using the small conduit bent over and tied securely at the top and I have had no problems with them.
By Feb/Mar next year I will remove all my fraames and nets and only put them out in Sept when fruit begin to set.
We have really had hugh success with our trees this year and I recon it is worth the cost and effort. And as you say it beats all that spraying which when added up also costs money.

GVV

peter says...
i bought some lightweight bird netting
at my local mitre 10 store.
i stretches out to nearly 4 meters
wide and cost $1.80 per metre.

Anonymous says...
TJ

Just go down to your local electrical wholesaler and ask him the cost per length. You are in Dubbo and I am in Maryborough Qld so I am sure there would be a difference in prices between here and Dubbo $ per meter for a 1.8 meter roll is expensive. I bought 4m wide mozzie netting for less than $3 per roll in Sept tis year. As I said some months ago I bought 100 lengths of electrical conduit and got massive discount and I keep it on the shelf in my shed - enough for years to come.
I found I was wasting my time at spotlight and other stores as joining nets is a waste of time and is never really secure when finished against wind etc. This is why I opted for the 4m wide and am moving to the 6m wide rolls.
By the way guys, bird netting will not keep out the fruit fly no matter how much you try or do.

GVV

John says...
I have seen koppers logs used as weights on the bottom, just wrap the excess net around them.

David says...
What a terrific find this forum is. I am a new fruit tree gardener and have been struggling with working out ways to net my trees. Trouble I had this years was that I took the net off my nectarines too early and lost them to the local birds.

One question though to GW, do you have to do any sewing to fit your netting to the frame? Your photos on 3 November look as though the netting very neatly fits your frame.

David

John says...
bunnings is now selling fruit protection cloth for this purpose.

John says...
Its about 900 wide and folds out to not sure how wide and 20m long.

Will check the folded out width soon.

TJ says...
Bunnings sell Umbrella and Gazebo Nets for keeping mozzies out. Are designed to pop over 2.1m to 2.7m diameter umbrella or 3m x 3m gazebo, so have a hole in the top which you need to cover. I bought an extra umbrella one, cut it up and stictched to the top of others to cover the holes.

They come complete with a zipper in the side for easy access, reinforced bottom edges with metal eyelets and 8 pegs to peg down to the ground. Black in colour. Suppose to be fire retardant high quality mesh.

I put mine over a frame, similar to the conduit ones discussed above, but made with 4 x 8foot star posts and some 25mm metric poly pipe. Standing up to the wind well, perfect for umbrella ones, gazebo ones will try heavier pipe or conduit with the star posts as the 25mm metric poly is sagging in the middle over the slightly longer distance.

Umbrella Nets about $18 (approx 10m x 2.5m of netting), Gazebo Nets $25 (approx 12m x 2.5m of netting).

TJ says...
Picture of nets described above for your info.

Pictures - Click to enlarge
Picture: 1

Baz 2 says...
Thanks for the photo TJ. Looks great. I think you would like the conduit frame extra ridgidity but with slightly more height you might run out of net???

I am curious as to your height and length/width spacing of the frame posts. If you could supply this info I can set up and prune my trees accordingly. Cheers!

SlickMick says...
Hi Louise,

I hope that you are catching up on your sleep again.

I reckon that the FF and the fruit bat rank equally in their ability to destroy a crop overnight.

You friend must have spent a small fortune on putting flyscreen all over his orchard but in many ways I think that may be the best way to overcome the problem ultimately as long as the ground within the barrier is free of larva.

You seem to be approaching the problem appropriately by isolating your fruit from the fly although it is time consuming to make the bags and then have to tie them on. Last season I built a canopy over my nectarine and covered it with birdnet intending to spray for the fly which I did with limited success. This year I have determined to make the flyscreen tubes and to slip them over the branches much as you suggest.

I am using the bags over my tomatoes and capsicum and I am getting FF free fruit for the first time in years. The bags are expensive especially if you have large quantities of fruit to cover but they do work and making alternatives is time consuming so it is a bit of a difficult question.

Anyhow I think that what you are doing is the best that can be done under the circumstances. Ultimately you will reduce the incidence of fly coming from your orchard. Not much you can do about the FF coming in from untreated orchards unfortunately.

MR says...
TJ, had a look at Gazebo an umbrella nets today at Bunnings. They were packaged up of course, but seem to have an opaque top as far as I could tell. I can't tell with your photos if that is so, or if the top is still mosquito mesh.

The fruit trees would need sun, a "tent" type top would block too much sun wouldn't it?

Maybe I could ask Bunnings to open one up for me.

MR says...
Thanks Julie. It wasn't so much the mosquito met, but the top of the canopy that seemed to be 100% blocked. In Queensland the sum is more overhead, but would get early morning and late afternoon sun I guess. We'll give it a try on the peach tree and a weeping mulberry this coming season anyway. They are the only two fuiting as yet.

Baz 2 says...
Can scan in labels off the ones I bought to show you if that helps

That would be great TJ, as the Bunnings down here doesn't stock them. I was going to do a run to Perth but if I can order by a code, that would be great.

TJ says...
Here is the label off one net...

Pictures - Click to enlarge
Picture: 1

Julie says...
MR, looking at the pictures, I see what you mean now about the opaque top. Sorry I misunderstood.

Julie says...
TJ, what are you using for support? I am guessing you don't have a table in the middle? :)

PK says...
Great forum. Thanks for all the input. I too have had no fruit from my tomatoes since coming to Queensland from SA in 2004. But I keep on. One question with the netting is how to get pollination with the whole plant covered. Tomatoes are constantly flowering throughout the growing season and need to be pollinated.

Julie says...
I meant to say: I have grown several varieties at the same time. Meaning, they didn't cross-pollinate.

PK says...
Sure does. Next job - order some netting and get a sewing person. Thanks. PK

lulu bell says...
we just made a covering for our 5 trees with white plumbers pipe and curtain scraps - good if you can sew and that seems to solve all our ff problems for now.. you could try putting a bee hive under your tomato net my uncle dose that to his cucumber green house.

Julie says...
Doesn't sound like fruit fly to me. They may be ferment/compost flies. You don't usually see fruit fly in swarms.

Tiggerbow says...
That is a relief!
Thanks so much Julie and Jimmy for your help : o )

TJ says...
Hi,

Cover your peach tree after it has finished flowering and the fruit has started to form, whilst they are little hard and green. Seems to work here - then don't have to worry about polinating etc as bees have easy access. Also nets last longer the less time they are on the tree.

virginny says...
Sigh, the female will not enter a trap. If they did it would be a lot easier.But they don't. Please contact me to get in on the ground floor for an anti-gravity machine. It is cheap ,easy and guaranteed.

clint says...
Beware of products that promise to do "everything"

amanda says...
Hi Simon - how big are the pumpkins when they rot n fall off? if they are small - do u have lots of bees working the flowers, is it too cold for these guys in your area at present? (cold weather can = poor pollination)

I hope I'm not asking obvious questions 4 u?! Maybe try a good smearing of vaseline around the stem (when it's dry) bugs that land just get stuck - stopping them and also trapping them so you can have a look. I don't know much about cucumber fly tho'..

Correy says...
Grafton VV:

I may be keen to get a small quanitity. What price are you selling it for.

P.S You should share the fruit trees you are growing at My Edibles:

http://www.daleysfruit.com.au/my/

Simon says...
Hi Amanda,

Thank you for your reply.

The pumpkin are about the size of squash ball/tomato when they fall off the plant.

Yes, plenty of bees doing their business.

No problem with cold, it's quite warm in South East Qeensland.

The vaseline would probably work, although I don't think that I would have either the time or the patience to coat all the stems.

Presumably Grafton VV has a bee hive inside the netting for the purpose of pollination?

Brendan says...
Hi Simon, try putting some Dolomite around the pumpkin vine where it's coming out the ground. Even a bit of wood ash too. That will fix the 'dropping off' problem.

Julie says...
Could you send a photo of these, so we know we are talking about the same thing. Whereabouts in the home are they found? A lot of people call the little ferment/compost flies 'fruit flies' - that's what they're called in the US.

In my experience, true fruit flies rarely go inside, though I have seen them sometimes - not enough to be a pest though.

John Mc says...
There's nothing mentioned here about using Pineapple juice and water 40% and 60% respectively. It's sprayed onto the fruit and the idea is that the FF don't like the sticky surface and quickly leave. It's mentioned quite a bit on the local garden talkback radio show. A lot of the listeners swear by it. I haven't tried it myself, but I think It's well worth mentioning. Looks like there's a lot of desperate orchardists here.
They do say you must use Golden Circle brand because of some property it has over other brands. You would have to spray the fruit on a regular interval, but, after seeing the trouble some people are going to, It might be well worth a trial run. I'd be interested in any feedback if anyone has indeed tried this method.

TJ says...
Hi Charles,

The net on the website you referred to looks interesting, but also a bit on the pricey side.

Hi David,

With the Bunnings Umbrella net - did you keep the top gathered a little with the cord to fit a 1m square of fly screen, or did you take the cord out???

Also how did you fix the flyscreen to it eg sew, glue etc???

How much did the fly screen cost, and what type etc did you use?

Regards
TJ

GVV says...
Reply to Simon 2 Aug

You cannot know a lot about the use of nets over fruit trees

The trees are netted only after the fruit is set

GVV

amanda says...
Hi All..I am a total ignoramous when it comes to fruit fly control - as I haven't had them around as yet.

I am isolated from any source of fly and being in WA - only get the Med' fly. The stone fruits in orchard are producing their first "regular" crop at 2.5yrs. I saw a few flies hanging around my mandarins a few months back and picked them so there has been no carry-over crop for them.

I have read a bit of info above and from what I can work out - at this stage I just need to put out traps to monitor the situation?

I thought I'd give the wee a go and another with vegemite and beer?

Is any number of fly in the trap a sign of taking further action?

Is spinosad residual? Are there any non-residual chemica controls? (if so I will give netting a go)

Thanks for any advice! I am about to start another new learning curve! :-/

Mikey Mike says...
Just curious as to what do the commercial orchids use/do to control fruit fly.

kert says...
It is still Lebaycid . "Surround" is kaolin ie a clay constituent > It may be worth a try to spray with plain old clay and see if this is effective.

kert says...
Yes, it would . Aproper Regal sprayer would cope, I think.

Jimmy says...
A regal is an old fashonied kind of sprayer, it works like a trobone pumping action and sucks out of a bucket.

Not seen one for sale for 20 years, Rega made a very similar sprayer.

Leigh says...
I can't work out why my elderly minionette lettuce attract fruit flies.
Within 2 metres I have a trap that is slowly collecting dead flies but the lettuce always has them flying in and crawling around on the leaves. Nearby I have silverbeet and cauliflower growing but the flies show no interest in them whatsoever.
Is it the scent of the lettuce leaves or the leaf texture or something else?
Any ideas?

Pictures - Click to enlarge
Picture: 1	Picture: 2

Julie says...
I guess you Queenslanders should know, but are you sure that is a fruit fly? From pictures I've seen (we only have the Medfly in WA) it looks a little different to me.

Jimmy - thanks, but the auction finished in July. I did find an ancient dust sprayer on ebay.

Leigh says...
I think you're right Wayne. This is the first time I've grown lettuce and I now think they are cos lettuce.

amanda says...
Hi Leigh - the wasps are the good guys (they also have long antennae and f'fly have short stumpy ones) If the "flies" are really small - they may be Drosophilia (a ferment fly) - which is often confused with a fruit fly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drosophila

russell says...
Hi,
I have had good success with fly netting from east coast netting. 6 star pickets with 50mm polypipe hoops over the trees and slid over the star pickets. The poly makes it easier to slide the netting over the tree. Make sure the net is long enough to have some on the ground for holding down. Spray the fruit and ground with rogar prior to putting the net on.

Mikey Mike says...
Hi I just wondered why are the male fruit fly targeted when it is the female one that lays the eggs?
Are the females not attracted to bait?
Does any one know when the females hatch what do they eat to survive ?
Mike

Renato says...
re. fruit trees netting. I purchased bulk netting from =coastguardnetting.com.au =Ballina NSW ph.02 6686 7321 ,at very a reasonable cost,much cheaper than Bunnings or Spotlight.My fruit trees are up to 6 metres high. Renato

Julie says...
Mike, I forgot to say - if you put out traps to catch males and females, put them in separate trees, so the 'boys and girls' have less chance of getting together!

Julie says...
I just used to buy ordinary white lunch bags. Nowadays I use recycled mushroom bags, as I seem to accumulate a lot of these. Clip them on with a clothes peg.

I put them on my peaches fairly late in the season, so no problem with ripening. It didn't work for apples though, as the birds got into them early on, and the bags stopped them colouring up. I will use a net this season.

Julie says...
Oh no! I was hoping to get one or two. Maybe a bit later in the season?