Figs and Fruit Flies

[hoosierbanana]

The best way to combat all insects is to not leave any figs past ripe. With wasps, bees and ants, they will increase over time as long as there is a food source for them. Fruit flies will find their way in regularly from the outside environment, it seems like they tend to move more during rainy periods too and will increase no matter what as their populations peak at the end of summer. But collecting any spoiled figs and sealing them in a bag is very important to prevent an explosion locally. SWD and vinegar flies can both attack ripe figs (SWD tries stinging unripe figs sometimes, but I believe the drop of latex smothers the breathing tubes on the eggs and they never hatch… except cracks expose the interior which does not bleed latex, although cracking only begins happening when near ripe), but AFF lays it’s eggs in the ostiole of unripe figs, which causes premature softening and spoilage before ripe if the larvae can make it into the center of the fig.

AFF is a much more serious problem, SWD and vinegar flies have been in with the figs since they started ripening. But as long as I picked them at tree ripe, or only a day or 2 past that, and then finished ripening them indoors until jammy I was getting perfect figs. But after leaving spoiled figs out when I got overwhelmed I am in the same boat.

So now I get to see which varieties do better, what I was thinking about figs having a solid interior, and also having syrup seems to be true. Adriatic JH for example will often have some tiny dead fruit fly larvae floating in the syrup at the eye, but usually remain unspoiled, or only spoiled around the eye so still useable. Unfortunately, the Etna types are vulnerable because they will often have a partly open eye, the larvae can make their way to the center easily. They don’t actually eat the fruit, AFF eat yeast, which they help grow by chewing up the insides to release juice. That is what causes the premature softening I believe, ethanol or possibly ethylene from the yeast.

So my plan is to begin collecting all the spoiled figs again as soon as I can, probably after this next rain, and use them as a trap for adults by leaving the bags open overnight and then quickly closing to seal them in. And also hope for a good wind event to redistribute them into the environment, a cool spell followed by a warm fall would help also.

[TNHunter]

@hoosierbanana — I went to Colorado for 8 days… got back late Saturday.

I had a neighbor come over and harvest figs while I was gone…

It was dry most of the week here in TN… and he harvested several nice figs… but late last week it was nice and dry in Colorado, but he let me we were getting heavy rain in TN.

When I got home late Saturday evening, 15 or so figs had split, and there were swarms of yellow jackets, wasp, fruit flies after them.

It was nice and dry for a couple weeks before we went to Colorado, and as long as I kept the figs bagged, I had no pest… well a few ants on the outside of the bags wanting in, but no real pest, got lots of nice figs.

Rain for a couple of days and splitting figs hanging on the tree (for only a day or two) changed all that, into a mess of swarming pest trying to get my figs.

I cleaned all of that up, and bagged a few more that were showing color but not bagged or split yet.

This evening, 4-5 more had split, and I just got rid of them. (it is still raining, rained all day today).

The pest level had gone down considerably already… and now that I have removed all the split figs, I expect that to get even better.

Below are a few pics of a fruit fly of some kind that I got a few good pics of… nice that he or she was on the outside trying unsuccessfully to get in.

I don’t see any spots on the wings, but I think on SWD only the males have spots.
Not sure if that is SWD… anyone know for sure ?

Thanks

TNHunter

[hoosierbanana]

SWD have red eyes, doesn’t look like one to me.

[LarryGene]

Wrong overall color for SWD.

[TNHunter]

I was hoping it was not SWD so good… but still a fruit fly… and after my figs, so glad the bags are working…

I have not had a fig since we left for Colorado on 9/11… we got back on 9/18 but SO MUCH RAIN…
Split so many… The last couple days it has been mostly dry… still had one fig to split today and tossed it. 3-4 more are looking good… and are bagged. Hopefully I will be back to eating figs in a day or two.

I think Surges of Rain and splitting are the real problem for figs… Pest are not too hard to deal with if you don’t mind bagging… and perhaps if you only have one or a few fig trees.

TNHunter

[JeremiahT]

@hoosierbanana

AFF is a much more serious problem

Brent, you are right about the African Fig Fly (and those of you who have not familiarized yourselves with this nasty invasive should do so now; it’s very easy to identify, with its characteristic stripes); in my corner of Kentucky, they seem much more numerous than the SWDs right now, though of course we’ve got both. I’ve been spraying spinosad every week or so for a while. But whenever we get a rainy spell this time of year, and figs crack and split, it seems like the fly population just explodes regardless of all previous spraying; and I’m beginning to wonder whether I’m just wasting time, money and energy. It’s been raining for much of this week, and I’ve got a lot of ruined figs to remove later today—which I don’t look forward to, because they’re also crawling with bees, hornets, yellowjackets and wasps!

I’ve also observed AFFs in large numbers on fall-bearing raspberries, most of which have been ruined. Either the AFF is invading intact raspberries (as has been reported) or the SWDs are serving as a “pioneer” species, making oviposition holes which the AFFs then hijack (which is apparently a favorite trick of theirs). Cracked/ruined tomatoes are also an AFF fave; I’ve seen them in swarms in my tomatoes this month.

I hope the garbage bag trick helps some. I’ve been putting my ruined figs into buckets of soapy water, which I also spray a time or two to kill those that don’t go into the water, and, after a couple of days, I bury the gross contents in a deep posthole. Can’t tell whether that’s having any impact or not, but at least I kill some of them.

@hoosierbanana

So now I get to see which varieties do better, what I was thinking about figs having a solid interior, and also having syrup seems to be true. Adriatic JH for example will often have some tiny dead fruit fly larvae floating in the syrup at the eye, but usually remain unspoiled, or only spoiled around the eye so still useable.

Great observation! Though many Unk. Italian Yellow Westfield Figs have been ruined post-rain, I found one recently that had produced a drop of syrup at the eye (which this fig seems to do more consistently when it ripens in good, dry, warm weather). There were tiny maggots around the eye—and probably in the syrup—but the interior was okay. I had another that was only spoiled in the region of the eye; apparently the interior was too syrupy for them to penetrate. But yes, any that crack are toast, because the egg-laying flies/larvae then have direct access to the flesh.

I think we need to be on the lookout for more crack-resistant figs with self-sealing eyes!

@TNHunter

Pest are not too hard to deal with if you don’t mind bagging… and perhaps if you only have one or a few fig trees.

Bagging tightly does help exclude the bugs (though ants and other things will sometimes chew access holes), but, yes, the more figs and fig trees you have, and the more established and productive they become, the harder it gets to keep up with thorough, daily bagging. Bags also became another type of problem for me in that the they started to serve as a come-and-get-it flag for the birds, letting them know there was a ripe fig inside. Even when I’d tie the bag to a limb to prevent complete theft of bag and fig (which was beginning to happen on a regular basis), the birds would often peck at the secured bag, battering the fig inside to pieces!