Together, we can keep
the Yarra Valley Thriving
Get involved in the fight against the Queensland Fruit Fly in the Yarra Valley
Home Gardeners
To help reduce the fruit fly risk in your garden, remove unwanted or unmanaged host plants, pick all ripe fruit and vegetables (leave nothing for the fruit fly to find).
Commercial Growers
Report suspect damage and communicate with your neighbours and colleagues. Have a QFF action plan specifically for your crop.
Travellers
If you have fruit that has been grown in areas where fruit fly exists, please leave it behind, eat it all or cook it before travelling into the Yarra Valley region.
Stop the Spread
Join our Battle Against the Queensland Fruit Fly
The Yarra Valley aims to prevent Queensland Fruit Fly.
“Keep Yarra Valley Fruit Fly Free” helps Yarra Valley residents to identify Queensland Fruit Fly, understand the risk in the region, act to reduce the risk, and know what to do in an emergency response if QFF is found.
The Yarra Valley QFF project is based on the knowledge of QFF risk in the Yarra Valley. Each year an action plan is implemented by our Regional Coordinator, local residents, organisations and fruit producers.
Activities are currently funded by the Victorian Fruit Fly Strategy 2021-2025. The work is overseen by Agribusiness Yarra Valley and a volunteer board of advisors from the fruit industry, local council and education organisations.
Queensland Fruit Fly (QFF) Reporting Map
This map provides an overview of Queensland Fruit Fly detections for the 2024/25 season. Detections are recorded based on postcode rather than specific towns, helping to protect residents & growers' privacy while providing valuable regional insights.
- \1-10 Reportings
- \ 11-20 Reportings
- \20+ Reportings
Larvae (2nd instar)
Larvae (2nd instar) are 3-5mm long and are translucent, or can be similar to fruit in colour.
Larvae (3rd instar)
Larvae (3rd instar) are 5-8 mm long, wriggly, and are creamy-white in colour. They can skip or jump. They develop black jawbones in their mouth area.
Pupae
Pupae are QFF inside small hard brown cases. Here, the larvae develop into adult QFF. Pupae are often found underground, in mulch or in cracks in wood
Adult
Adult QFF are 7-8mm long, red brown in colour and have distinct yellow markings.
Eggs
QFF eggs are white, 1mm long and banana-shaped. They can be hard to see under the skin of the fruit.
Larvae (1st instar)
Larvae (1st instar) are 1-2mm long and are translucent or can be similar to fruit colour.
Credit – Horticulture Innovation
Bactrocera tryoni
The Queensland Fruit Fly Lifecycle
The Queensland Fruit Fly (Bactrocera tryoni) is a species of fruit fly native to Australia. The female fruit fly lays her eggs just under the skin of ripening, or ripe, fruit. The larvae hatch and feed on the fruit flesh. The larvae then escape the fruit and develop into pupae in the soil, or in the leaf litter beneath the tree. After a short period, adult flies emerge. They feed and mature, and later mate, laying more eggs in the next available fruit, starting the cycle again. The entire lifecycle can take as little as two weeks during the warmer months, allowing the Queensland Fruit Fly to reproduce quickly and cause significant damage to fruit in season.
Preventing Queensland Fruit Fly from completing its lifecycle is key to controlling the population and minimising crop damage. Some prevention methods include removing and disposing of fallen fruit, using fruit fly traps and baits, and covering crops with bags or netting.
E-Learning Portal
The Queensland Fruit Fly Management Toolbox
Explore everything you need to know about Queensland Fruit Fly (QFF) and effective management techniques in this self-paced online course. Our portal brings together comprehensive fruit fly knowledge in one convenient location. Discover how to implement area-wide management strategies and create your personalized annual plan to keep your fruit and vegetables free from fruit flies.
Click here to register for free and receive instant access.
Queensland Fruit Fly Identification
Queensland Fruit Fly is new to the Yarra Valley and many have not seen it before. You can use this page to help identify an insect or larvae or damaged fruit.
Risks
Queensland Fruit Fly risks exist in the Yarra Valley where there is opportunity for the pest to be imported and where suitable habitat meets breeding opportunities.
Fruit grown in areas with QFF can be infested and unknowingly transported into the Yarra Valley, creating a QFF risk to the Yarra Valley fruit producers. Incorrect treatment and disposal of infested fruit can cause the further spread of QFF in the Yarra Valley, into many types of ripening fruit.
Unharvested and unmanaged fruit crops and fruit on weeds can all host QFF.
Year-round fruit availability, green leafy areas near waterways, and humid weather conditions, enhances the QFF survival from season to season.
QFF risk can be reduced using a suite of QFF management tools and actions.
I’ve found QFF, what do I do now?
Queensland Fruit Fly detections in the Yarra Valley trigger an emergency response when reported to the Regional Co-ordinator. Once reported, alerts are sent to local land managers, encouraging them to act and control QFF using an Area Wide Management approach. All fruit growers, fruit handlers, consumers, gardeners, and public land managers need to check for and control QFF.
Correct treatment and disposal of the QFF infested fruit is paramount. Fruit and scraps must be treated with extreme heat or extreme cold over to effectively kill the larvae. Do not compost infested fruit.
If you suspect you have QFF in fruit or a trap, take photos, keep a sample in a sealed container (refrigerated) and contact our Regional Co-ordinator.
Controls
Queensland Fruit Fly can be both prevented and managed using a suite of tools. There is no silver bullet answer, it requires the application of integrated pest management The QFF TOOLBOX has tools to use for monitoring QFF, prevention and control.
- Hygiene
- Traps
- Male Annihilation Technique (M.A.T.)
- Bait
- Netting
- Cover Sprays
Resources
Queensland Fruit Fly information can be complex and a lot to comprehend as many have not dealt with QFF before. In the Yarra Valley, education is an important part of QFF prevention and management. Everyone can be a part of the solution in their own way. An Area Wide Management approach is crucial to control of QFF.
Resources have been developed for primary and secondary schools, community organisations, and the training of community champions. Notes and detailed explanations of how the multipronged approach works are available for both commercial and home garden fruit production systems.
Connect with expert QFF information using the provided links and find out how to take part in the activities in the Yarra Valley. The Yarra Valley can beat Queensland Fruit Fly using the Area Wide Management approach.
The Queensland Fruit Fly is a devastating horticultural pest
The Yarra Valley has valuable horticultural production properties and great home gardens with edible produce – and this is worth protecting!