Fruit Flies or What?

[Generalchaos]

We have had a lot of different fruit ruined by some sort of insect / fly that lays its larvae into the fruit. It affects Mango, Putzah, Lam Yai in various strengths.

 

I looked up the definition of "Fruit Fly" in Thai and it is translated as Maleng Wee, however, the locals hear tell me that this is not the insect and it is in fact called Maleng Wan Tong.

 

Does anyone know what this little swine actually is and what is the best insecticide to get rid of it?

 

I ends up in the fruit by boring itself into the flesh of the fruit and eating it from the inside out. When you open a fruit you find that it is full of tiny white worm / maggots, about 2-3mm in length. They cause the outside of the fruit to have dark blemishes where they have entered.

 

I assumed they were fruit flies but if anyone knows what Maleng Wan Tong is I would be grateful,  thanks.

[Scott]

Moved to the Farming forum for better responses.  

[kickstart]

A  look at Google, and your Malang  Wan  Tong .is the common Fruit  Fly, or the Vinegar Fly  or Drosophila melanogaster,

Drosophila is commonly considered a pest due to its tendency to infest habitations and establishments where fruit is found; the flies may collect in homes, restaurants, stores, and other locations.^[3] Removal of an infestation can be difficult, as larvae may continue to hatch in nearby fruit even as the adult population is eliminated.(this from Wikie )

Dose not say a lot about  fruit  orchards .

Malang Wee ,are those tiney  flys you see ,offtern  a lot together , so I have been told  they do not eat fruit.

 

I would have thought that  an insecticide    should  get rid of them .

[Pseacraft]

A couple quick informative links from google as your question made me want to be a wee bit smarter.

 

1-2-3 Of Fruit Fly Population Monitoring (Agro-ecosystem Analysis)

http://www.ait.ac.th/research/workshop-reports/1-2-3-of-Fruit Fly-Population Monitering-N.pdf

 

Integrated Pest Management webpage of the Asian Center of Innovation for Sustainable Agriculture intensification (ACISAI), AIT

http://ipm.ait.asia/

 

FRUIT FLY IN MALAYSIA AND THAILAND 1985–1993 ACIAR Projects 8343 and 8919 http://aciar.gov.au/files/node/2279/ias05_pdf_82433.pdf

 

[drtreelove]

Thanks Pseacraft; These are good links to comprehensive background information. The ipm.ait.asia link has the only real useful info on control. Look under Projects for the Asian Fruit Fly project and the 'management' section.

My wife and I leased a small farm near Mae Jo University in Chiang Mai until it was sold out from under us. We had mango and lamyai orchards. I had a MaeJo U pomology advisor and we lived near a very large grower whose orchard management foreman was our next door neighbor, so I had some good information available.  The fruit flies were hell on the mango crop. We trapped, we sprayed, but we ended up using the bagging technique for relatively successful control, which was preferred even by the large grower. Our trees were mature, so it involved a lot of climbing, which of course necessitates dealing with biting weaver ants in the trees. Not pleasant or practical for all growers. The smaller the trees, the more practical this is.

 

1. Bagging of fruits

Bagging of fruits provide physical protection to the fruit by preventing adult female flies laying eggs.

The male trapping technique is useful for early detection of the impending onslaught, but even though you trap hundreds or thousands of males, it is only useful for detection and not enough to control the infestation, from my experience.

Insecticide spraying is problematic, especially for organic programs, I didn't try botanicals, but I don't believe they would be effective enough for the aggressive fruit flies. It involves repeated spraying operations with high pressure hydraulic spray equipment, unless your trees are quite small where you can use a backpack. Chlorpyrifos, an OP (organophosphate) was what was recommended by the MJU ajarn. But this is a harsh chemical pesticide that will take out all the beneficials too.

The protein bating is a viable control, and there is an organic program compatible fruit fly bait (a Spinosad product) called GF-120 from Dow available here in the US. We're using it for olive fruit fly here in California. It can be applied to the underside of the canopy with a backpack sprayer. I don't know anything similar is available in Thailand. If anyone finds it please let me know. Don

GF-120 Fruit Fly Bait.pdf

GF-120-NF-QA.pdf