Hello,
For the past week my 8 year old plum tree has been covered in flies. I am at my wits end because droves of them are flying into my house.
At first I sprayed the flies in the house with Raid housepest spray, but when it did not have much affect on them I realized that they were not the usual black houseflies. A quick walk around my rural garden soon came up with the source.
A few days ago I sprayed the tree with a general insecticide but it has not made any difference at all.
I really do hope someone can help me with this, I have searched the internet and cannot find any information on this pest.
Regards and thanks in advance,
Eileen.

No promises, but I use liquid Sevin as a spray. It gets almost everything
that has bothered my garden. Don't use it on blooming plants because it
will also kill your pollinators.

Dwayne

"Eileen" wrote in message
...

Hello,
For the past week my 8 year old plum tree has been covered in flies. I
am at my wits end because droves of them are flying into my house.
At first I sprayed the flies in the house with Raid housepest spray,
but when it did not have much affect on them I realized that they were
not the usual black houseflies. A quick walk around my rural garden
soon came up with the source.
A few days ago I sprayed the tree with a general insecticide but it has
not made any difference at all.
I really do hope someone can help me with this, I have searched the
internet and cannot find any information on this pest.
Regards and thanks in advance,
Eileen.




--
Eileen

Thank you Dwayne. I'm off to search for a bottle of Sevin now before I die from heat exhaustion! The flies are so bad I cannot open my downstairs windows.

Eileen.

Eileen wrote:

Thank you Dwayne. I'm off to search for a bottle of Sevin now before I
die from heat exhaustion! The flies are so bad I cannot open my
downstairs windows.

Eileen.


Before you rush out, check the following web site on Sevin:

http://www.bayercropscienceus.com/products/view:sevin/

It does not mention flies on it's list of targets. Not to say that Sevin won't
work,
but I would try and identify the fly first and try and get a pesticide perhaps
more
effective for the job. Take a few dead flies to your Garden Center or Extension

Center to identify it and get advice on the best pesticide for the job.

Sherwin

Thank you all for your replies.


I have attached a photo taken yesterday of the pests.

Eileen wrote:


Thank you all for your replies.


I have attached a photo taken yesterday of the pests.


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|Filename: Fly on Plum Tree.jpg |
|Download: http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=2915|
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That is a bluebottle.

These flies deposit their eggs in manure, decaying garbage or dead
animals. The only effective way to eliminate them is to find where
they are laying eggs. If the plum has fruits, open a few up and see
if they are infesting them (especially ones on the ground).

Otherwise, sniff (literally) around the area. You might discover a
dead possum or raccoon hidden in weeds, or you might find a
particularly fetid pile of garbage.

I once experienced an infestation of these and houseflies of epic
proportions. I was living in the country, and a neighbor was making
extra money by selling his topsoil. After he removed the best of it,
he got a bright idea and allowed a dairy to dump truckloads of whey
onto the subsoil as a soil amendment. Within a week, I literally
could not open a door without a hundred of these flies entering the
house. I've slogged through manure in a barnyard and been pestered by
flies, but never experienced anything as extreme as this.

The flies are attracted to the smell of carrion, so one way to reduce
their numbers slightly is to make a "big stinky" trap. Find a
widemouthed gallon jug, and make a funnel of window screening to sit
in the mouth of it. Clip the bottom of the cone so it is open only
about 1/2" to 3/4" Then take a golf ball sized clump of raw hamburger
and drop it in the bottle. Add water to about 1/2 way up the side of
the hamburger ball. Place the cone on top and secure it with duct
tape. Hang the bottle under the tree and away from the house -
otherwise 1. you won't be able to stand the smell once it starts to
work, and 2. animals will try to get to the meat in the bottle as it
first starts to stink.

Flies will be attracted to the rotting meat and enter through the
funnel, and not be able to escape. Their bodies will add to the
stench. Trust me, it'll be bad, but it will significantly reduce the
numbers of flies.

Use flypaper (hardware store item) to stop more of them. Hang some in
your tree, put some by your doors and windows.

All this is only stopgap. You must find the eggs and eliminate the
source if you want real relief. If the plum tree is harboring them
and creating a breeding ground, I would remove it.

Harry Chickpea wrote:


All this is only stopgap. You must find the eggs and eliminate the
source if you want real relief. If the plum tree is harboring them
and creating a breeding ground, I would remove it.

That sounds a bit excessive. If the plum tree is infected, it can probably be
sprayed
at the proper time to kill these flies.

Sherwin D.

Thank you Harry for your informed and detailed reply I much appreciate it, but to be honest I have been worried all morning since reading it. It all just seemed so awesome.

What surprised me was that a few years ago I replied to a newspaper ad' from a local farmer selling horse manure. I for some silly reason was thinking that a trailer load of manure would be like a ton at the most. You can imagine my horror when I came home from work that day to find in excess of 6 tons of it dumped at the front of my house! The amazing thing is despite it taking us weeks to shovel/wheelbarrow and spread the manure in my garden we were never bothered with the flies as we are now. (p.s my husband will never let me forget this episode, he says next time I'm on my own!!)

Sherwin, thank you for calming my panic.

My brother took the photographs for me, I sent him a link to your posts to let him see how helpful you all are.

He took quite a few pics for me and he says that in his opinion that the fly in the photo I've attached below is the one that is also in my house.

Can anyone identify this one for me?

Eileen wrote:


Thank you Harry for your informed and detailed reply I much appreciate
it, but to be honest I have been worried all morning since reading it.
It all just seemed so awesome.

I'm sure that your situation is less than what I experienced. After
my Hitchcock-like experience I became more sensitive to flies being
around me. Now, at the first sign, I'm out there screaming "Die fly,
DIE!" as I swat and set traps. :-)

Another thing I forgot to mention is that if a dead animal is the real
source, the flies will only last a limited amount of time.

What surprised me was that a few years ago I replied to a newspaper ad'
from a local farmer selling horse manure. I for some silly reason was
thinking that a trailer load of manure would be like a ton at the most.
You can imagine my horror when I came home from work that day to find
in excess of 6 tons of it dumped at the front of my house! The amazing
thing is despite it taking us weeks to shovel/wheelbarrow and spread the
manure in my garden we were never bothered with the flies as we are now.
(p.s my husband will never let me forget this episode, he says next time
I'm on my own!!)

LOL, we've all done something like that. DW and I decided to take FLP
up on the offer of free mulch from power line clearing. The load
completely filled our double car driveway. Worse yet, the molds from
the leaves and malleluca cuttings got into the air when I used my home
mulcher to reduce the size of the chips. It laid me flat on my back
for three months, and I'll NEVER get near mulch like that again.

Eileen wrote:


My brother took the photographs for me, I sent him a link to your posts
to let him see how helpful you all are.

He took quite a few pics for me and he says that in his opinion that
the fly in the photo I've attached below is the one that is also in my
house.

Can anyone identify this one for me?

Doesn't really matter. You have a fly problem.
The solutions are all similar.

(It does look like the highly endangered Black Plum Probiscus Potty
Wotty Fly. Hope you're not in California.) :-)