Peter Perry has been a field officer with the program for a number of years and works to increase community awareness about fruit fly across the region through one-on-one discussions and visiting affected properties.
“We find most people are prepared to do the right thing and take steps to protect themselves and neighbours from fruit fly, once they have an understanding of what they should be doing,” Mr Perry said.
“Our goal is to support community members to take steps to stop the spread of fruit fly through control and more importantly prevention measures and we are able to visit a property to get an understanding of the situation to help us identify what can be done to get on top of things.”
The program takes in the council areas of Campaspe, Moira, Greater Shepparton, Strathbogie and Berrigan Shires, bringing together industry and community to take a coordinated approach to the management of fruit fly across the whole region.
The program monitors fruit fly numbers across the Goulburn Murray Valley with a key aspect of Mr Perry’s job focused on increasing education in problem areas and hot spot locations.
“Unfortunately there is no single action that will stop fruit fly, people need to carry out a range of different methods to have an impact,” Mr Perry said.
He said there was focus on citrus at this time of year with loquats beginning to ripen in the next month.
“At the moment it’s the fruit on the ground or left on the tree that is the problem, so we’re reminding people that they still need to clear unwanted fruit regardless of what time of the year it is,” he said.
“If we’re able to stop the number of fruit fly that are able to survive winter, then this will have an impact on next season by decreasing fruit fly populations.”
Fruit fly populations peak in the warmer months, however fruit fly are able to survive winter by taking refuge in warmer patches in the environment such as the foliage of evergreen trees and around structures.
“Our advice to all gardeners, growers and property owners is that action is required all year round. Rather than wait until you have a fruit fly problem, we encourage people to take a few simple steps to prevent fruit fly becoming a problem in the first place,” Mr Perry said.
Steps to protect against fruit fly include:
• Use netting, traps and baits;
• Inspect home-grown produce regularly;
• Pick up fallen or rotten fruit and vegetables;
• Solarise infested fruit by bagging and placing in the sun for 14 days;
• Prune your fruit trees to keep them manageable; and
• Remove unwanted and unmanaged fruit trees.
Community members can contact the program via email at [email protected] or by phoning (03) 5871 9222 for support in their management of fruit fly.