Fruit fly alert: and ditch the fruit and veg if you're travelling to SA

Nectarines, peaches, apricots, avocados, guavas, mango and papaya are just some of the fruits that can be affected.

And with fruit developing during October, now is the time to start baiting.

Queensland and Mediterranean female fruit flies make a small hole in fruit and lay their eggs. The eggs hatch into maggots, which ruin the fruit.

Together with good garden hygiene, which includes removing fallen fruit from the ground and destroying any fruit fly affected fruit, you can protect your crop by baiting with Yates Nature's Way Fruit Fly Control.

It contains a protein and sugar bait, which can be detected by fruit flies from several metres away, and spinosad, an insecticide derived from naturally occurring soil bacteria.

The control should be applied as a band or spot spray onto the trunk or lower foliage of trees or plants while the fruit is still small and before it changes colour.

There is no need to spray the actual fruit.

It is important to respray the plants each week (sooner if there has been rain) to maintain effective protection.

The bait can also be applied onto a 30cm square of plywood hung at mid-height in the tree canopy. The bait should be reapplied every seven days.

The SA government reminds travellers to leave their fruit and vegetables at home prior to travelling into South Australia so they don't put the state at risk of fruit fly.

With school holidays in many states, it's a timely warning.

The last school holiday period saw more than 1400kg of illegal fruit seized and 831 fines issued at the Yamba Quarantine Station.

A random roadblock at Blanchetown in late September resulted in 34 vehicles receiving fines.

"It only takes one piece of infested fruit carried into South Australia to cause widespread devastation to our horticulture industries," said SA Primary Industries Minister Tim Whetstone.

"There is ample notice of restrictions as you travel into the Riverland Fruit Fly Exclusion Zone, including permanent and electronic signage, along with strategically placed disposal bins, so that you can dispose of any fresh product."

More information HERE