so right! db's expert says about the protein he should know hey? that
is probably the crux of my issue the flies are not hatchng in my
garden, they are hatching in some other garden where the gardener has
very poor husbandry. so by the time the fly gets here she has fed and
is primed to mate or already mated, that make sense. what he calls
protein i dunno but guess it is derived from flowers of plants, always
flowers somewhere always in our garden. wdon't see hordes of females
just one or 2 hear and there.
My understanding of protien is anything that is high in nitrogen. Is why i
suggested using some fresh manure. Put it in a clear plastic bottle drill
plenty of holes about half way up add some water and hang it in the trees or
around your perimeter. The ponk will have mainly females attracted to it.
You can make the holes small enough to keep most blowies out. But it doesn't
really matter as flies will drown in the liquid and cause there own ponk
attracting more victims. You do have to top up the water as it will
evaporate. You may have to empty the bottles or renew as they can fill up
quick. I notice in summer that dog poo not only attracts blowflys but also
fruitflies in large numbers. So if you have horses, cattle, sheep, goats,
chickens etc etc close by guaranteed the female fruitfly is having a good
feed.
I was catching mediterranian fruitfly as it is our pest here in WA. But the
numbers were so high that the traps didn't stop damage to the fruit on my
mandarine which i pulled out. Perhaps you would have better luck as you are
tackling the male fruitfly as well.
maybe i'm looking in the wrong area but how often can a female mate
and lay eggs is this a one up affair or does she persist all season?
seems that way as the male fly population would have to be low to say
teh least.
in the past those recipes we have featured have worked so much so we
at least got 50% or thereabouts of our crop without the effort of
netting. that may be because then our next door friendly neighbour had
guava's that he allowed us to pick all immature fruit from and destroy
it, but unfriendly one had mango trees where all fruit eventually
ended upon the ground if the fruit bats didn't eat it, so guess then
on what d.b's expert said the female came right to our garden for
protein and fell fould of the traps.
so no aswers or help there for us and others like us as we have no
idea which gardener is infesting the area with the fly? we have been
here 5 years and up until 3 years ago our trap the male program was
delivering acceptable resuls then it all went haywire like someone had
planted a guava that came into fruit and became the population point
for the fly, my understanding that could be up to 4k away as the crow
flies.
so the nets will be out soon now as the tom plants are growing great
guns already needing tying. we got good fruit of the star fruit
because miraculously it fruited over autumn/winter and is still going
hope that keeps going as we then don't need to find a net for that
tree. or pick and dump all fruit when green.
sadly no we don't have our earth friendly throne, will set up a
humanure bucket if and when i can even if only for my persoannal use
modern mcmansions don't lend themselves to the versatility to allow
those who live in them much leeway for being responsible for ones own
waste. westill recycle much other rottable stuff into or growing
areas, keeps the land fill bin low in content. still promote that
responsibility though. we use nearly all water at least twice.
anyhow good chat if you learn something about these dreaded females
let us know i will pass i around where i hang out.
On Sun, 29 Aug 2010 07:45:25 +0000 (UTC), John Savage
wrote:
snipped
--
Matthew 25:13 KJV
"Watch therefore, for ye know neither
the day nor the hour wherein the Son
of man cometh"
Mark 13:33 "Take ye heed, watch and pray:
for ye know not when the time is".
len
With peace and brightest of blessings,
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."
http://www.lensgarden.com.au/