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Fruit fly watchdogs
to target pest
Community help is being sought to tackle the threat of fruit fly in the Southern Riverina.
Residents in Deniliquin and Tocumwal and surrounding areas are being urged to take measures to control and prevent the spread of Queensland fruit fly.
Director of Plant Biosecurity at the Department of Primary Industries (DPI), Satendra Kumar said fruit and vegetable growers needed to implement good management practices to keep on top of the fruit fly problems that many growers experienced last season.
| Community called on to help |
“Fruit fly is a community problem and it is the responsibility of all fruit and susceptible vegetable growers to keep fruit fly under control,” Dr Kumar said.
“These measures will help protect backyard fruit and vegetable growers from the fruit fly pest and assist NSW DPI in protecting the valuable fruit/vegetable industry in the Riverina.”
He said people needed to be vigilant in the way they managed their backyard fruit trees and it was important that backyard fruit owners thinned their crops wherever possible.
“This will have a twofold effect - there will be less susceptible fruit available and the thinning process should ensure bigger, healthier fruit is left on the tree to ripen,” he said.
“Once the fruit is ripe, it should be picked straight away.
“As well, residents should encourage their neighbours to destroy all of their fallen fruit and neglected and unwanted fruit trees should be completely removed.”
Dr Kumar said nearly all fruits and some vegetables such as tomatoes, capsicums, chillies and eggplants were susceptible to Queensland fruit fly.
Edition 255, 25 January 2012
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