Fruit flies, how to fight them

Very small flies score the fruits with their ovipositor to deposit their eggs inside. These eggs will hatch inside the fruit, and the larvae will eat free food for days until growing to begin the cycle again!

How do these fruit fly attacks unravel? What is the best treatment?

Conditions leading to appearance and spread of fruit flies

The fruit fly particularly loves warm weather.
It lays its eggs on rather ripe fruits.

How can one fight fruit fly invasions?

• The best trick is to set up pheromone traps.
  These traps diffuse artificial fly sex pheromones, that attract males and traps them on glue-covered surfaces. They can’t wriggle free and mate anymore.
  This reduces the amount of fertilized females, which leads to less eggs being laid on the fruits.
• One trap often isn’t enough, usually around 2 or 3 should be set up around the fruit trees you want to protect.
• Finally, you can also make your own fly trap with a yellow-colored slab covered in glue.

Fruit trees that are often contaminated with fruit flies are: cherry trees, olive trees, peach trees, apple trees, pear trees, plum trees.

See also

• Cherry flies
• Fighting aphids
• Fighting caterpillars
• Fighting codling moth larvae

Credits for images shared to Nature & Garden (all edits by Gaspard Lorthiois):
Fruit fly by Katja Schulz under © CC BY 2.0