Researchers Find Natural Way to Control Fruit Flies

There is an old saying about fighting fire with fire and now researchers at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada have finished a study in which they give farmers and grape growers an insect that will fight another insect and give them a natural way to control the pesky fruit fly.

Their research shows that a common parasitoid, which is an insect that kill the insect that it lives in, is an excellent way to control fruit flies in vineyards. These minuscule little creatures are so effective at killing off the fruit flies, that they greatly reduce the need for any supplemental chemical pest control agents, which is beneficial for the health of the consumer who finally gets the product.

The parasite, Muscidifurax raptor, has been successfully used to control other types of insect pests, which gave them a high probability factor that they would be able to work the same way with the fruit flies, Ceratitis capitata and a good reason to focus a study on them.

The study focused on using the Muscidifurax raptor in vineyards, but a fruit fly is a fruit fly no matter where they are, so it will work on farms and orchards as well. Until this study showed good results with the Muscidifurax raptor, the accepted methods for controlling the fruit flies were chemical insecticides as well as certain natural fruit fly enemies, but the farmers were not happy with the choices available to them because of the obvious reason of the effects of putting chemicals in the fields where they not only get on the crops, but in the soil as well and then up into the crops themselves when they get their nourishment from the soil. And the hit and miss level of success that they got with the flies natural enemies.

On the other hand, the Muscidifurax raptor is easy to produce, in insectaries, which are commercial plants that produce and sell the insects and can produce as many of the little critters as they need. They are also easy to use and very effective at getting into the fruit flies and doing them in and it benefits the environment.