Fruit flies can lay their eggs in a wide variety of types of maturing or ripe fruit, including stonefruit, citrus, loquats, tomatoes, avocados and quinces. They can also lay eggs in some vegetables such as capsicums. The tiny, creamy-white maggots hatch from the eggs and burrow through the fruit as they feed.

Infested fruit can look perfectly sound on the outside. On the inside, infested fruit often looks brown and mushy.

Fruit flies generally cannot travel very far, unless they hitch a ride in your fruit or vegetables when you are travelling.

This poses the greatest threat to fruit fly free areas, so the general public plays a significant role in the management of fruit fly in the Fruit Fly Exclusion Zone.

Fruit flies are different from ordinary ‘house’ flies.  The two species that cause problems in Australia are the Mediterranean Fruit Fly (found in Western Australia) and the Queensland Fruit Fly (found in the Northern Territory, Queensland, parts of New South Wales and the eastern corner of Victoria. Both these flies are much smaller than house flies and it’s  important to be able to tell the difference.

If you find what you think are fruit flies in your garden or in your fruit or vegetables, phone the fruit fly hotline for advice on 1800 084 881 (during business hours).

You can monitor your crops for pests with a simple fly trap and you can dispose of infested fruit safely by the ‘bag and bin’ method – but it’s really important that you also advise the Hotline on 1800 084 881 to enable us to monitor for outbreaks where fruit fly is found. This is the best way to protect your local community and Australia’s horticultural industry.