Trapping is a method that you can use to monitor for fruit fly activity in your home garden. Although trapping can also be used to help reduce fruit fly numbers, it is generally not recommended as a control method alone. This is because trapping only captures some of the adult flies, while others around can still enter your garden and infest your crop.
The first and most important step when attempting to prevent fruit fly attack is good hygiene. Mature maggots pupate in the soil to remerge as adult flies and collecting infested fruit breaks their lifecycle. Signs that eggs have been laid in fruit are dimples or weeping clear sap on the fruit. Pick these fruit off as well as any damaged and rotting fruit. It's also important to pick up fallen fruit as soon as it drops before maggots have a chance to escape from the fruit and burrow into the ground to pupate.
To kill maggots, immerse them in a sealed bucket of water for a couple of days or put them in a sealed plastic bag and put it in the sun. If you have chooks, they will appreciate them! Hang two or three traps per tree and change the lure weekly when the pests are active. There are also commercial pheromone traps and effective, certified organic bates available from garden centres for fly control
Traps are devices that use an attractant to draw adult fruit flies into a container. Attractants can be pheromones, food scents or visual cues. Once captured, the trapped flies are either unable to escape, killed by an insecticide, or drowned in a liquid.
Benefits
Helps you determine whether fruit flies are present in your garden
Alerts you to the start of the fruit fly season and the need to start control
Useful for evaluating the impact of your cover spray or baiting program
Relatively easy to use and maintain
Relatively low cost with the option of buying or making your own
Depending on the trap, some only target fruit flies and not beneficial insects
May help reduce adult fly numbers and crop damage if a many traps are used
What makes it right for you?
Factors affecting success
Correct interpretation of trap catches in relation to control needs
Usage of the right type of trap for the fruit fly species present in your area
Proper placement, monitoring and maintenance of traps in your trees and garden
Go to main page Fly Control Auckland for insights & assistance on the job
The first and most important step when attempting to prevent fruit fly attack is good hygiene. Mature maggots pupate in the soil to remerge as adult flies and collecting infested fruit breaks their lifecycle. Signs that eggs have been laid in fruit are dimples or weeping clear sap on the fruit. Pick these fruit off as well as any damaged and rotting fruit. It's also important to pick up fallen fruit as soon as it drops before maggots have a chance to escape from the fruit and burrow into the ground to pupate.
To kill maggots, immerse them in a sealed bucket of water for a couple of days or put them in a sealed plastic bag and put it in the sun. If you have chooks, they will appreciate them! Hang two or three traps per tree and change the lure weekly when the pests are active. There are also commercial pheromone traps and effective, certified organic bates available from garden centres for fly control
Traps are devices that use an attractant to draw adult fruit flies into a container. Attractants can be pheromones, food scents or visual cues. Once captured, the trapped flies are either unable to escape, killed by an insecticide, or drowned in a liquid.
Benefits
Helps you determine whether fruit flies are present in your garden
Alerts you to the start of the fruit fly season and the need to start control
Useful for evaluating the impact of your cover spray or baiting program
Relatively easy to use and maintain
Relatively low cost with the option of buying or making your own
Depending on the trap, some only target fruit flies and not beneficial insects
May help reduce adult fly numbers and crop damage if a many traps are used
What makes it right for you?
Factors affecting success
Correct interpretation of trap catches in relation to control needs
Usage of the right type of trap for the fruit fly species present in your area
Proper placement, monitoring and maintenance of traps in your trees and garden
Go to main page Fly Control Auckland for insights & assistance on the job