Bendigo backyard gardeners find fruit fly in fresh produce

Bendigo resident Wally was shocked this season to find his garden  – full of pears, peaches, plums, oranges and tomatoes, among others – compromised by the destructive pest. 

The man said he did not think the insect had infiltrated his part of Victoria. 

“We lost everything in the way of plums,” he said.

“It’s a shame, because we had huge bags (of fruit) off that tree.”

The plant previous bore as many as 1000 fruit every year.

And the insect was indiscriminate in what it ate, Wally said. 

“They’ll eat the quinces, they eat the tomatoes, capsicums – they’ll even have a go at the lemons.”

An Agriculture Victoria list of common homegrown ingredients targetted by the fly includes eggplants, apricots, pomegranates and passionfruit.

The Victorian government last month announced $6.7 million in community grants for fruit fly controls in the Sunraysia, Yarra Valley and Goulburn Murray regions.  

The grants will fund trapping initiatives and three regional co-ordinator roles to manage response to the insect. 

“Managing fruit fly is everyone’s responsibility,” agriculture minister Jaala Pulford said.

“Horticulture exports are growing fast, up 26 per cent in the last year.

“Managing fruit fly numbers is so important for growers who are wanting to export their fruit to the world.”

But do-it-yourself backyard prevention methods were expensive, with traps costing as much as $200 to cover a 10-metre area, Wally said.

“How much fruit could we buy for that amount of money?”

Other methods of control include using nets on trees or bags over fruit. Picking and using fruit as it ripens, rather than leaving it on the plant for attack, is also recommended. 

Agriculture Victoria was contacted for comment.