What was it all about?

Looking at ways to manage and monitor fruit fly in vegetable crops, this project produced the Fruit Fly Management for Vegetable Growers guide that brings together new research and existing information into a single handy resource for growers.

The new research carried out by the project focussed on two previously untested methods for managing and monitoring fruit fly in vegetables: netting and repellents; and attraction with UV light.

In brief…

• Floating row covers proved both a visual and physical barrier to fruit fly, and also improved yield and quality of capsicums in the trials (though yield and quality was unaffected in the other crop involved in the research, chilli)

• Netting that was draped over crops and secured with soil effectively excluded flies in the tested crops

• Although Vent Net has a large mesh size that allows flies to crawl through, it still significantly reduced entry of flies into the crop – cutting fruit fly infestation by 98 per cent

• Aphid Net reduced fruit fly infestation by 99 per cent in the project’s trials, but other pests inside the crop increased

• VegeNet was completely effective in blocking flies while it remained intact and sealed to the ground

• Surround kaolin clay applied to chilli plants seemed to deter fruit flies, with further examination required in this area

• A small field trial was conducted using a prototype UV light trap, with the use of the light doubling the number of flies captured on yellow sticky traps and with more females captured than males

• The researchers suggest a combination of UV light with another attractant, such as protein bait or an odour lure, could provide better results than either method used alone, with further work required in this area.

ACT NOW

• Access the Fruit fly management for vegetable growers guide here 

• Key practices described in the guide are also demonstrated in these short fruit-fly-control videos:

• Targeted control

• Monitoring

• Food-based baits

• Male annihilation and female-biased traps

• Netting, repellents and field hygiene

• The project’s netting work is also summarised on p26 of this edition of Vegetables Australiamagazine.