mygardenau
Newly Registered
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Sep 13, 2009 4:23 am
Location: Australia

Fruit Flies

I have never grown veges or fruit before and have started out with just a pot with two strawberry plants, and another pot with a tomato plant. But the fruit flies have discovered them and are hanging around by the swarms. So far, they don't seem to have touched my fruit but the strawberries are just starting to ripen. What can I do to get rid of the fruit flies without spraying pesticides. I don't use chemicals on any of my gardens as I have wildlife visitors such as native bees, reptiles, birds and other welcomed insects.

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rainbowgardener
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 25279
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: TN/GA 7b

Are you sure they are fruit flies? It would be odd for fruit flies to be hanging around like that unless there is something for them to feed on, ripened, split open strawberries or tomatoes.

Do they tend to hang around on the soil until disturbed? If so, try typing fungus gnats into the search box on upper left of most pages, see if you think that is what you have.

Otherwise tell us a little more about the critters you have, what they look like, how they behave or post a couple pics (instructions in the introductory section at the top)

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applestar
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Posts: 30514
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

For now, if you have a cordless handheld vacuum cleaner, you could "vacuum up" the flying pests as long as you do it carefully as not to damage the plants. :wink:



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