Fruit Fly

[Tim]

Does anyone have fruit fly issue with Surinam cherry? 
What type of flies and what steps taken to counter infestation?  It varies by location the types but a cherry full of larvae is plain nasty and all the same

[HMHausman]

Does anyone have fruit fly issue with Surinam cherry? 
What type of flies and what steps taken to counter infestation?  It varies by location the types but a cherry full of larvae is plain nasty and all the same

Yes, fruit flies attack surinam cherries and grumichamas and anything else with a reasonably soft or thin skin.  Not much you can do but bag the fruits (impractical with these) or try to develop off season crops, or just sit back and enjoy the higher protein fruit.

[Tim]

Yum!!! extra protein...I guess it's healthier since it's organic as well

It's also terrible on Eugenia aggregata here too   I soak them in water and salt but that only kills a small number.  It does force most of them to leave the fruits though.  Acerola is about the only one I haven't seen with larva ... knock on wood.

Yes, fruit flies attack surinam cherries and grumichamas and anything else with a reasonably soft or thin skin.  Not much you can do but bag the fruits (impractical with these) or try to develop off season crops, or just sit back and enjoy the higher protein fruit.

[murahilin]

Yum!!! extra protein...I guess it's healthier since it's organic as well

It's also terrible on Eugenia aggregata here too   I soak them in water and salt but that only kills a small number.  It does force most of them to leave the fruits though.  Acerola is about the only one I haven't seen with larva ... knock on wood.

Get rid of the rest and only grow acerola. That's one of my favorite fruit anyways.

[BMc]

Eat them in the dark. 

[Tropicdude]

On small tree, you could probably net the whole thing.   Here they just use traps to control population.  seems to work well. make sure to remove fruit from the ground, part of the life cycle is underground.  little buggers crawl out of the fruit and finish growing in the soil.

[Tomas]

No fruit flies on acerola?

Tomas

[HMHausman]

No fruit flies on acerola?

Tomas

He eats them when they are green and firm.  Once they ripen, the fruit flies love acerola as well here.

[MangoFang]

  -  - 


(...I love the Harry/Murahlin banter......)

[Tim]

Tomas - From my observation, that is correct.  No infection on acerola.

This is one of those fruits I never get tired of eating, but only YOU can justify getting rid of everything else to grow only acerola & mombin.

Get rid of the rest and only grow acerola. That's one of my favorite fruit anyways.

[HMHausman]

-  - 


(...I love the Harry/Murahlin banter......)

I enjoy "bantering" with/about my good friend Murahilin.  However, in this case it isn't banter.  He really does est them green.  He says that's the best way to eat them.  I am serious!

[Tim]

I have a very vivid imagination, now that it's there it won't matter how dark 

Eat them in the dark. 

[BMc]

Its interesting - our fruit flies dont sting anything smaller than large cherries. I think they may take too long to develop in small fast ripening fruit. the only cherry type fruit that gets stung, and only rarely, is grumixama, and even then the worms are tiny. Or maybe I just eat them all whole and dont notice the maggots? They hammer anything from cherry guave size up though.

[fruitlovers]

Its interesting - our fruit flies dont sting anything smaller than large cherries. I think they may take too long to develop in small fast ripening fruit. the only cherry type fruit that gets stung, and only rarely, is grumixama, and even then the worms are tiny. Or maybe I just eat them all whole and dont notice the maggots? They hammer anything from cherry guave size up though.

Surinams and grumichamas are not usually stung by fruit flies here either. I think they have some type of fruit fly in Florida we're yet missing here? 
Don't think it has anything to do with fruit size as very small strawberry guavas here every single one will have maggots in them.

[HMHausman]

Don't think it has anything to do with fruit size as very small strawberry guavas here every single one will have maggots in them.

Agree.  The smaller guavas  (strawberry, lemon, catttley or whatever  you call them) here are absolute fruit fly magnets and they are quite tiny in relation to other fruits that are also fruit fly favorites.

[BMc]

Aren't your strawberry guavas larger than pitanga and the like? I seem to remember them being larger than the cherry type tropicals but could be wrong as I got rid of mine due to the flies. Yellow cherry guava was much larger. I was noting that these seem to be the smallest fruit they attack. I'm probably wrong, but I can't think of any smaller than those that get attacked here.

[murahilin]

I enjoy "bantering" with/about my good friend Murahilin.  However, in this case it isn't banter.  He really does est them green.  He says that's the best way to eat them.  I am serious!

I eat them green because they taste better green. Same goes for june plum.

Acerolas also taste good when they are starting to change color to orange but once they are fully ripe, they arent that good. Another benefit of eating them green is that you can eat the seed as well.

A lot of fruit taste better the less ripe they are. I prefer to eat mangos before they ripen as well. Ripe mangos are okay compared to an unripe mango.

[fruitlovers]

Aren't your strawberry guavas larger than pitanga and the like? I seem to remember them being larger than the cherry type tropicals but could be wrong as I got rid of mine due to the flies. Yellow cherry guava was much larger. I was noting that these seem to be the smallest fruit they attack. I'm probably wrong, but I can't think of any smaller than those that get attacked here.

The strawberry guavas ripen in different sizes on same tree, but many will be a lot smaller than pitanga (surinam cherry).

[fruitlovers]

I enjoy "bantering" with/about my good friend Murahilin.  However, in this case it isn't banter.  He really does est them green.  He says that's the best way to eat them.  I am serious!

I eat them green because they taste better green. Same goes for june plum.

Acerolas also taste good when they are starting to change color to orange but once they are fully ripe, they arent that good. Another benefit of eating them green is that you can eat the seed as well.

A lot of fruit taste better the less ripe they are. I prefer to eat mangos before they ripen as well. Ripe mangos are okay compared to an unripe mango.

You would fit right in here because most Hawaiians like to eat their fruits green: green bananas, green mangos, green ambarellas. They don't seem to like sweet fruit, and would rather pickle them green. I think this has to do with their Asian roots as a lot of people in Asia also have this preference for green fruit.