Coming to a fruit tree near you?

This rather attractive little fly may or may not be in the Flowerdale/Strath Creek area. It’s the Queensland Fruit Fly (QFF), Bactrocera tryoni, a native insect distributed through much of eastern Australia, and with a bad reputation as a pest of orchards and vegetable crops, both on a commercial scale and in home gardens. So it’s not just introduced species that can cause problems for agricultural activities. This is the annoying culprit that is responsible for you having to wastefully dump your fresh fruit before entering the Sunraysia Pest Free Area.

Next Sunday, 1st July, the Strath Creek Landcare group is hosting a Focus on Fauna presentation on the QFF by Cathy Mansfield, Statewide Fruit Fly Coordinator for Agriculture Victoria. Cathy will talk about the life cycle, host plants, damage caused and methods of control. All are welcome, but please email focusonfauna@gmail.com if you plan to come.

To determine if the QFF is in fact in our district, the Upper Goulburn Landcare Network will have free lure traps available to take home. So here’s a chance to contribute to a bit of citizen science!

Click on the flyer at right for full details.