Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Little buggers are making a mess of my tomatoes. First year I've had them in the garden.
What are the best ways to get rid of them and can we use them as fish food. I put out a bottle with some holes and bait and caught a dozen in the first day.

One idea would be to use a bit of PVC with a Y and have the bait in that part meshed off to stop them getting to it. Then have the pipe go down into the fish tank. They get to swim and the fish get a snack and the plants get left alone.

First you need to be sure that they are indeed Fruit Flies (Drosophila spp.) They could also be fungus gnats : http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2114.html
http://www.citynews.ca/blogs/frankieflowers_7048.aspx


If they are fruit flies, cut the top few inches off of a 1L beverage bottle and pour a few ounces of vinegar/apple cider vinegar works well. Make a funnel out of paper with an opening of ~3mm and tape securely to the top. Make lots of these and when they begin to fill with flies, freeze them and make a few more until the infestation is gone. Also, dispose of bruised/rotten/damaged fruit and fallen leaves/vegetation promptly to keep their food source to a minimum.

Lady in an organision I belongs to makes them out of 2 litre soft drink bottles. Cut 2 holes opposed to each other in the bottle cut the tops off two more bottles and push the ends into the holes (leave the top on the main bottle). You just hang them from the neck. Urine and vegemite works so does beer. But in the interests of recycling better to drink the beer and pee in the bottle

hi dufflight,

the organic growers around me here use the fruit fly traps as described or commercially bought ones.... but they still get fly strike on their tommies...

but the fruit fly doesn't seem to bother cherry tomatoes.. most growers here dont bother growing anything else....

bummer really... the big jucie tomatoes are soooooo much yummier

hope this helps

Fishwrangler - what you guys call fruit fly, we call vinegar fly. Fruit fly is much worse unfortunately.

Does the vegemite need to be mixed with the urine? Is it not in the interests of recycling to eat the vegemite too?

Not wanting to apear un-Australian but I don't like vegemite.

WHAT?

Thats ok i have an italian friend who doesent like tomatoes

Fascinating. Could someone please post a scientific name for the down-under Fruit Fly?

FishWrangler

This link for the ones we have in WA. http://agspsrv34.agric.wa.gov.au/Ento/medfly.htm

Could also purchase some hunter-killers from a pest control...