Germany: Asian fruit fly causing more and more problems

The Asian fruit fly is originally from Asia and established itself in Southern Europe a number of years ago. Now the vermin has penetrated into the German Hessen. The white or cream coloured larvae are destroying the fruit flesh of cherries, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries in gardens. Wine grapes and other fruits with a soft peel are not being spared either, reports the German website Gabot.de."At the moment it is mainly blackberries that are showing the typical degradation," says Christoph Hoyer of the crop protection service of the government presidium Gießen. Over the last few weeks the number of Asian fruit flies in the south of Hessen has increased rapidly due to the huge multiplication ability of the vermin. This has meant that there is considerable damage to cherries, raspberries and blackberries. The Asian fruit fly has now also been found on blackberries in north Hessen. People in other regions will also have to prepare for damage done by the vermin. With a bit of patience you can find the larvae on affected fruits. To what extent strawberries will be affected cannot be predicted yet. There isn't enough experience with the vermin, which is mainly a threat to professional berry growers, at the moment."Unfortunately it is not yet possible to fight the vermin," says Hoyer. "Suitable crop protection is not available and the minuscule fruit flies crawl right through the very fine mesh of protective nets, which work very well against various vegetable flies." All that can be done at the moment is to wait and see how fast the vermin spreads and if it will appear en masse in the future like it did this year.