Flies

[morlandg]

Can anyone tell me with what I should be spraying my nectarine tree? The buds are starting to form. In previous years the fruit have all been ruined by flies laying their eggs inside. I guess now is the time to spray the tree but with what??
Graham

[morlandg]

Anybody any ideas/suggestions?

[Gasman]

Try a mix of olive oil less than a cupful, with a dash of washing up liquid, liquidised briefly to avoid too much froth - dilute this with x 30 amount of water and spray on the plants - a good dowsing all over and under the leaves. If this is done before the flowers open it doesn`t affect the bees and pollination. Then when the fruit have set well (lots of spare fruitlets will fall off but this is normal) spray again to keep off more aphids, scaly bugs and leaf miners and the honeydew black fungus. Also good for olive trees - does for the woolly aphid just sprouting all over the place at present, and spider mites. Anything that is prone to aphids, bud-mites, and various other bugs can be sprayed with this with no risk to the plants.

[morlandg]

Thanks Gasman - I will try it.

[chadbukl]

It might also be worth trying a traditional spanish fly trap
Hang a plastic soda bottle from your tree with 5-10mm holes burn in the top of it. put a couple of inches of water in it and add bicarbonate of soda i am told the flies go wild for it
I have seen them hanging off Olive orange and lemon trees near me

hope this helps

[Sandramay]

My neighbour puts paper bags over the developing friut.

[wisden]

I like the idea of oil, washing up liquid and water sprayed on the tree before, and after blossom spraying the tree and fruit.
After a couple of years of having the fruit ruined by fruit flies, this year I have gone out once a week and checked my nectarine tree for ripeness. Last week I took a fruit of the tree, cut it open and it was still quite green. Yesterday, I spotted a damaged fruit and lo and behold I have now harvested the tree and two thirds of the fruit is ruined.
Has anyone tried this organic method of fruit fly control and does it work.

[Mariacristina]

I use the olive oil / washing up liquid/ water mix for spraying my orange trees and it gets rid of all the bugs that take up residence in them. Works for aphids too. I save oil I have cooked with and filter it through kitchen paper. The most important ingredient is GARLIC. I keep all the trimmings and bits and pieces from garlic in a jam jar and cover them with olive oil until nicely infused. Use that in the mixture. I promise the fruit does not taste of garlic and my neighbour, whose bees spend all day in my garden when the orange trees are in blossom, does not end up with garlic flavoured honey either. I am convinced that the garlic is the magic ingredient.

[wisden]

This sounds great. What would you say about vegetable oil instead of olive oil?

[Mariacristina]

I have never used anything other than olive oil . . . and it has always been re-cycled olive oil. My chemistry is limited to an O Level about a hundred years ago but I would have thought that a vegetable oil of a similar density would work equally well. I don't have any other oil to experiment with . . . but I will invest in a small bottle of sunflower oil and see if it works. The key ingredient is the garlic. If anyone tries anything different it would be useful to hear the outcome.