What Fruit Fly Officers do in your garden in a red outbreak area
If you live in a red outbreak area, you will be visited by Fruit Fly Officers who will assess what you grow in your garden. They will determine if you need regular treatments to help prevent fruit fly.
Visits from Fruit Fly Officers
Fruit Fly Officers will knock on your door to talk with you about what is needed in your garden. The types of fruit and vegetables you are growing will be recorded. Based on what is at risk of fruit fly, they will regularly visit your property during the restriction period.
When Fruit Fly Officers visit, they may:
- check your fruit and vegetables for fruit fly
- apply safe organic bait or traps
- collect and dispose of fallen fruit and vegetables.
Fruit Fly Officers work for the Government of South Australia in the Biosecurity section of the Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA).
All Fruit Fly Officers are fully trained and have official photo ID. Riverland staff will wear the Fruit Fly Officer uniform – a beige shirt, navy pants, and a PIRSA-branded high vis yellow vest. Field teams visiting metro outbreak areas will wear the previous uniform – orange overalls.
Access to your property
Please allow easy access to your front and back gardens so Fruit Fly Officers can do their work quickly. If you have dogs, please keep them restrained.
If you have any concerns about Fruit Fly Officers on your property, please call the Fruit Fly Hotline on 1300 666 010.
Safe treatments to help stop fruit fly
Organic bait
The organic bait used by Fruit Fly Officers attracts and kills fruit fly. It has been approved for residential situations and is certified organic and non-toxic, so it is safe around your family, pets, and wildlife.
Please allow the bait to dry before returning to your garden.
The bait is safe for fruit trees and should not impact their growth or ability to fruit. We do not apply the bait to fruit and vegetables – they are safe to eat.
Applying the organic bait
Applying the organic bait
Fruit Fly Officers apply bait to perennial plants around your property where fruit fly can live. This includes fruit trees, non-fruiting trees and bushes.
We do not apply the bait on:
- soft herbs and annual ornamental plants
- bees or flowering plants where bees are foraging.
Bee safety
Bee safety
When used in accordance with the approved label instructions, the organic bait is safe for bees visiting your garden.
The organic bait is not used on properties that have registered beehives.
If the property is large and allows enough distance between the bait and the bees, baiting may be used in discussion with property owners.
Bees can be vulnerable to different herbicides and pesticides, such as common garden products. We recommend that beekeepers and producers communicate with their neighbours and local councils so that any use of chemical products on nearby properties does not impact their beehives.
Organic traps and lures
The traps and lures used by Fruit Fly Officers are hung on trees in areas where fruit fly is present. They contain an organic bait that attracts and kill fruit flies, but they are safe for humans, pets and wildlife.
While the traps or lures are in place, Fruit Fly Officers will still need to access your property as part of the eradication program.
Traps and lures are removed from properties once outbreaks have ended.
Cera fruit fly traps
Cera fruit fly traps
Cera traps contain an organic fruit fly bait that attracts fruit flies into the device. Once inside, the flies can’t escape and they drown.
Biofeed FreeDome lures
Biofeed FreeDome lures
Biofeed FreeDome lures are a yellow diamond-shaped flat panel designed to release an organic fluid that attracts and kills fruit flies.
Removing fruit and vegetables at risk
Fruit Fly Officers will collect and dispose of fallen fruit and vegetables that are susceptible to fruit fly in your garden.
Where fruit fly maggots are found, all fruit from trees will be collected from the location. If you have fruit trees in your backyard, we will visit your property once a week.
Fruit Fly Officers will check your fruit and vegetables at risk for signs of fruit fly.
Releasing sterile fruit flies
Sterile male fruit flies are used after baiting and hygiene.
Once or twice a week, sterile flies are released from a vehicle that slowly drives around the red outbreak area, or from a plane.
The sterile fruit fly mates with wild females who then lay infertile eggs, preventing breeding and spreading.