Early spring in eastern Australian fruit growing areas is the wake-up time for Queensland fruit flies (Qflies).  

Having over-wintered as adults in warm refuge areas, rising day temperatures encourage them to disperse to flowering vegetation for nectar and pollen meals and find potential host crops. 

Their reproductive organs have withered away during winter hibernation so they must get protein food to regenerate new eggs and sperm, and nectar for energy to fly distances. 

If you have fruit fly monitoring traps, you will see a sudden spike in numbers of trapped Qflies in August from zero in June-July.

 These early spring Qflies are the colonising generation establishing in suitable habitat in anticipation of host fruit developing in warmer months and will produce the later generations that plague fruit crops throughout eastern Australia. 

Area-Wide Management (AWM)is based on exclusion of the pest throughout the entire area of preventative treatment for the duration of the fruit crop produced, so the pest is excluded from the crop as it matures toward harvest. 

To achieve this control in fruit crops, the program requires two vital components: 

• Male Annihilation Technique (MAT) stations dispersed throughout the crop. 
• Protein/insecticide bait sprays applied at weekly intervals to crop and refuge vegetation. 

AgriPest DacLure Cue Lure fruit fly stations provide many months of powerful MAT attract and kill activity against fruit fly in all crop types, are easy to install and compatible with biocontrol programs using parasites and predators. 

Their use in AWM systems on a year-round replacement basis of 4-5 months coupled with placement in over-wintering refuge vegetation in July-August can significantly reduce numbers of Qflies dispersing to nearby orchards.  

As fruit develop AgriPest DacGel bait spray applications should commence at least 5-6 weeks before harvest, and even earlier in high population areas.  

DacGel is the only powder bait spray formulation on the market and is simply mixed in water and a registered fruit fly bait insecticide added. It contains yeast autolysate - highly attractive to both female and male Qflies and a food grade thickener to form a highly adhesive light gel liquid which is applied to foliage as small spots or a fine stream along crop rows at only 3.5-5L per ha.  

Research in recent years has confirmed the attractiveness of DacGel spray is significantly enhanced by addition of a small quantity of AgriPest AA Booster. 

Population monitoring.  

AWM of Qflies requires a good understanding of the habits of the pest throughout the season and it is important for growers to install a number of fruit fly monitoring traps throughout the orchard and in nearby refuge vegetation to generate information.  

Monitoring traps should be cleared weekly and catch numbers recorded as this data enables management decisions to be made at the time or anticipated from previous years’ records.  

Many eastern Australian commercial orchards are now located inland in what would normally be considered unsuitable fruit fly habitat and have suffered crop losses from Qflies migrating west from coastal high population sources. 

Monitoring traps provides vital information in these orchards. 

Orchard hygiene  

The collection and disposal of damaged or fallen fruit in an orchard is an essential activity preventing establishment of breeding populations within the orchard. 

In small orchards, fruit should be picked up and ‘cooked’ in sealed black garbage bags left in the sun for several days, or in large orchards, pickers should be instructed to throw discards into the row interspace to be regularly mowed or mulched. 

Protein bait spray applications are essential around fruit ripening as larvae emerging from stung fruit will quickly establish a resident population within the orchard.