Bait now to control Medflies
The Department of Agriculture and Food WA is urging commercial fruit growers to bait for Mediterranean fruit flies to limit a population surge during the summer.
DAFWA is also extending the message to the community to ensure the flies are controlled in backyard trees.
DAFWA senior research officer Sonya Broughton said Mediterranean fruit flies had started to emerge this month, indicating a much higher population now than at the same time last year.
Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata) is a serious horticultural pest which attacks a range of cultivated fruits and some fruiting vegetables in WA.
Dr Broughton said when deciduous stone fruit and some fruit trees were bare of leaves, the flies sheltered in citrus and other evergreen trees to await warmer weather.
"In order to lay her eggs after mating, if few hosts are available, the female Medfly will sting hard green fruit," she said.
"The first sign of damage is often larvae-infested or 'stung' fruit caused by the female laying eggs in the ripe or unripe fruit."
Dr Broughton advised growers to begin foliage baiting citrus and evergreens in orchards as soon as possible to help control the flies while numbers were low.
"Backyard lemon trees, loquats and early stone fruit should be included in the baiting program," she said.
"The best Medfly control weapons are foliage baiting twice-weekly, installing lure and kill devices and spot spraying, which is targeted and conserves beneficial insects."
Dr Broughton said it was vital to bait for the flies early and often to control their numbers before fruit ripened.
"To increase the effect, apply baits and lure and kill devices over as large an area as possible, ideally as part of an area-wide management program or community baiting scheme," she said.
Hills Orchard Improvement Group spokesman Brett Delsimone said he supported DAFWA's message and said it was also essential to provide advice to the community regarding the baiting of their backyard trees.
A DAFWA spokesman said the department provided advice to backyard growers on the importance of, and methods to, control fruit flies through a combination of online information, media releases, leaflets, talks to garden groups, council community talks and presentations, talks at garden shows, garden talkback shows on radio, and advice and information over the phone.
DAFWA also takes the opportunity to target growers through field days and community events.
At the recent Nannup Flower and Garden Festival, DAFWA promoted through its Small Landholder Information Service how best to monitor and protect fruit from Medfly and offered free sample traps.
