The removal of fruit fly habitat in Victoria’s Goulburn Murray Valley region has impacted on fruit fly activity by disrupting potential habit.

The free Fruit Tree Removal Program is offered through the Goulburn Murray Valley Area Wide Management Fruit Fly Program which was established in 2017 and has resulted in the removal of more than 100,000 unmanaged or unwanted fruit trees to date.

Program coordinator Ross Abberfield said the tree removal efforts had been successful in disrupting potential breeding grounds and making it harder for the pest to get a foothold in the region and spread.

“It only takes one unmanaged fruit tree to provide a potential food source for new generations of fruit fly to flourish in. By removing fruit trees and host plants that are unwanted or can no longer be managed, it is making it harder for fruit fly to find suitable habitat to lay eggs and breed.

“If left unchecked, unmanaged habitat can result in a rapid increase in fruit fly numbers which we know can occur very quickly,” he said.

The tree removal program is provided free of charge to land and property holders and allows for the removal of unmanaged fruit trees and plants from private residences and public areas such as nature strips. For a limited time, the program included unproductive orchards, however, funding for this specific initiative has now ceased.

The removal of unmanaged fruit fly habitat is one aspect of the Goulburn Murray Valley Fruit Fly Area Wide Management Program’s targeted approach to reducing the spread of the pest through a coordinated, whole of region management strategy, known as area wide management (AWM).

By collecting real time data from trapping grids, the Goulburn Murray Valley Fruit Fly Area Wide Management Program brings together community, industry and government by creating community awareness, education and engagement about fruit fly management.

All tree removal works undertaken as part of the program are carried out by fully insured professional contractors at no cost to the land-holder.

“By working together and applying a coordinated approach across the whole region we are able to be more effective in limiting the impact the pest has on our region, commercial markets and our region’s economy which relies on a thriving horticultural industry,” Mr Abberfield said.

“Unless Queensland fruit fly is effectively controlled the impact on exports, and our horticultural industry could be devastating, with a whole of community effort required to stop the spread of fruit fly. By educating the community about the opportunity to have unwanted and unmanaged fruit trees removed we are limiting opportunities for fruit fly to find fruit to infest and increase their populations.”

Through the area wide management program, a focus on derelict orchards resulted in the removal of 81,662 unmanaged trees across the Goulburn Murray Valley region which has had a significant impact on efforts to reduce potential breeding grounds. This initiative also encouraged orchardists to remove unmanaged/unproductive fruit trees from their orchards at their own expense,” Mr Abberfield said.

Community members are also encouraged to report unmanaged fruit trees on public land, roadsides, creeks, reserves and channel banks through the program to allow for the removal of habitat in these areas.

A total of 11,693 unmanaged fruit trees have been removed from public lands. Councils have undertaken the removal of potential habitat from nature strips and roadsides at their own expense, while future planning of urban street-scaping does not include potential habitat for fruit flies.

Through awareness and education, backyard gardeners seized the opportunity to have almost 10,000 (9,150) unmanaged fruit trees removed from their gardens to date.

Unmanaged habitat can provide a perfect breeding ground for Queensland fruit fly, researcher for the program Andrew Jessup said.

“In her lifetime, about two months in late spring to early autumn and much longer in the cooler weather, one mated female fly can lay nearly 2000 eggs from which up to 800 adult flies can emerge,” Mr Jessup said.

“Reducing the spread of fruit fly is vital to both the region’s horticultural sector and the national economy, with the Goulburn Murray Valley recognised as the largest producer of pears in the southern hemisphere and the Murray Valley the nation’s largest producer of stone fruit,” Ross Abberfield said.

The program’s education initiatives and community engagement campaign has increased awareness and assisted commercial growers, orchardists, home gardeners, government organisations and the broader community to play an active role in combating the spread of fruit fly.

Program partners include Cobram and District Fruit Growers Association, Fruit Growers Victoria, Summerfruit Australia, Lions International and includes the council areas of Moira, Greater Shepparton, Strathbogie, Campaspe and Berrigan.

The Goulburn Murray Valley Fruit Fly Area Wide Management Program is supported by the Victorian Government.

For more information on fruit fly control and management, visit www.fruitflycontrol.com.au