How do you control fruit flies? Clean up fallen fruit and combine with traps to reduce the population

As temperatures gradually rise, fruit fly populations gradually increase, causing damage to fruit crops such as wax apples and mangoes. Huang Yubin, an associate researcher at the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute, said fruit flies lay eggs inside fruit crops such as guavas, causing losses for fruit farmers. Currently, across Taiwan, the highest fruit fly population density is in the Fangshan area of Pingtung, and fruit farmers need to pay attention to clearing fallen fruit in orchards and combining this with bait to control fruit flies.

 

According to the latest pest monitoring results, the average density of fruit flies across Taiwan recently was 64.6 flies, with higher densities in the Fangshan area of Pingtung, the Yanchao District of Kaohsiung and the Meishan Township of Chiayi, among which the Fangshan area of Pingtung was the most serious, with a population density 8.3 times the Taiwan average. Huang Yubin explained that fruit flies prefer hot weather, and when temperatures rise they begin to enter their peak activity period, during which fruit flies begin mating, increasing the fruit fly population. If farmers neglect to clear fallen fruit or discarded fruit after harvest, this may create a breeding ground for fruit flies,

 

Huang Yubin said that to avoid newly emerged fruit fly populations dispersing outward and causing damage, farmers can use methyl eugenol mixed with the organophosphate pesticide naled to lure and kill male flies. Because female fruit flies can continue laying eggs until death after completing one mating, laying about 1000 eggs in total, in order to reduce mating opportunities for fruit flies, male flies need to be killed first.

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Huang Yubin called on farmers to set up control materials as soon as possible in order to prevent fruit flies from reproducing in large numbers early. For adult fruit flies that have already hatched, a spinosad concentrated bait can be set up, which contains protein hydrolysate and can attract fruit flies to approach and feed, thereby poisoning the fruit flies and achieving a control effect.

 

As for the control of melon flies, Huang Yubin mentioned that because the melon or loofah gardens in Zhuangwei Township of Yilan and Dashe District of Kaohsiung have finished harvesting, the discarded fruit will form a breeding source for melon flies, causing the average density of melon flies recently to rise slightly compared with the same period last year. He suggested that farmers use chemical bait to control melon fly numbers and pay attention to the environmental cleanliness of melon gardens, tying up discarded melons in plastic bags and disposing of them together with combustible waste.