Connecting gardens, groups and growers to create a more resilient food future in Darebin

Protect your fruits and veggies from Queensland Fruit Fly this summer

Queensland Fruit Fly numbers peak during summer, so now is an important time to take action.

Stop QFF from making your garden their home by:

netting your veggie patch and fruit trees

using traps to monitor for fruit fly activity

pick up dropped fruit and harvest fruit as it ripens

The first signs of QFF infestation can be small black flies with yellow body markings in your traps, sting marks on your fruit skin, or rotten fruit with larvae wriggling around when you cut open it open.

If you find QFF in your fruits and veggies, follow these steps:

  • Pick all infested fruit, including fallen fruit
  • Boil infested fruit, or put in a ziplock bag and either leave in the sun for a week or a microwave for 2 minutes to kill larvae.
  • Dispose of treated fruit in the landfill bin. Do NOT put suspect fruit in your compost or green waste bin, in case larvae is still alive
  • Please report sightings of QFF infested fruit to Council via this QFF Online Form so we can monitor for hotspots and outbreaks.
  • Tell your fruit growing neighbours so we can keep Darebin fruit fly free!

For more information on how to identify and manage QFF, watch this QFF video, or download our QFF Fact Sheet and Seasonal Calendar (hard copies are available at our Customer Service Centres.

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