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Are Fruit Flies a Problem?

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Carbo:
About three years ago I planted several papaya trees and the fruit was attacked by fruit flies.  Each papaya had to be individually bagged to create a physical barrier.  Pain in the butt, to say the least.
Now that I have some mangoes growing for the first time, I'm wondering if this is going to be a repeat problem here in central Broward County?  If so, how do you recommend fending off these pests?

Cookie Monster:
Caribbean fruit flies don't attack the mango. The mediterranean fruit fly (which thankfully has not become established here) will attack the mango and a wide array of other fruits. FL dept of Ag has been vigilant about eradicating the medfly.

fruitlovers:

--- Quote from: Carbo on March 07, 2012, 01:38:33 PM ---About three years ago I planted several papaya trees and the fruit was attacked by fruit flies.  Each papaya had to be individually bagged to create a physical barrier.  Pain in the butt, to say the least.
Now that I have some mangoes growing for the first time, I'm wondering if this is going to be a repeat problem here in central Broward County?  If so, how do you recommend fending off these pests?

--- End quote ---

Fruitflies only sting papayas that are ripe. We don't bag commercial papaya plantations here in Hawaii. You just need to pick them when first starting to show a bit of yellow, but still hard green. The fruit will continue to ripen off the tree. Case is the same with mangos. If you let them ripen totally on the tree they will have plenty of fruit fly maggots. You need to pick them hard but showing color.
Oscar

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