Fruit flies are one of Australia's worst horticultural pests. Most research has focussed on management of these pests in orchard crops, with much less information on vegetables.This project has reviewed information on fruit flies and identified strategies that could be developed further to assist with control in vegetable crops.

Why study this?

Fruit flies generally are recognised as one of the world's most serious horticultural pests. They breed rapidly, disperse widely and infest most fruit and fruiting vegetables. Use of chemicals to control fruit flies is increasingly restricted, as exemplified by the removal of fenthion from most registered use patterns (October 2014). Most work on fruit fly management has focussed on orchard crops, yet vegetables such as capsicum, eggplant, cucumber and zucchini can also be severely affected. This project aimed to review existing fruit fly R&D relevant to vegetable crops.

What was done

Information on fruit fly management was extensively reviewed and summarised with a specific focus on how such strategies and techniques could be adopted by vegetable farmers.A workshop with growers, wholesalers, exporters and researchers is planned for early 2015 to discuss the outcomes of the review. The aim is to produce a plan prioritising research, development and extension needs for the vegetable industry.

What we found

Promising strategies for the vegetable industry include the use of visual barriers, floating row covers and other forms of protected cropping. These could be combined with new lure formulations and repellents as part of a systems approach for fruit fly management in vegetable crops.

Where to next?

Some of the strategies identified in this project will be tested as part of project VG13042 on in-field control strategies for fruit flies.

For more information contact

Dr Jenny Ekman, Applied Horticultural Research Pty Ltd

jenny.ekman@ahr.com.au

VG13040