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Hyacinth Plant

Q.preventing fruit flies organically

Zone Brisbane Australia | Ryan D added on September 22, 2017 | Answered

I’m new to gardening, and I’m growing a couple of cherry tomato plants as well as some chillies and capsicum plants. The cherry tomatoes are starting to fruit. I’m trying to grow them as organically as possible. I’ve read a lot about how to deal with pests like aphids and scale, but my question is how to PREVENT the fruit from becoming fly-blown before it happens.

You can spray plants after you see things like aphids or scale before they do too much damage to plants, but I worry about flies landing on fruit, laying eggs in the fruit and leaving, and then it’s too late for the fruit.

How do gardeners deal with this?
Thank you

A.Answers to this queston: Add Answer
BushDoctor
Certified GKH Gardening Expert
Answered on September 23, 2017

Personally, I prefer to grow indoors. This gets tricky, as there are very few predators that eat insects inside. Luckily, I have already made every mistake to be made, so you don't have to. I am including my recipe, that is natural, and safe. This will not harm you plants, and you can use it anytime you would like. This recipe is also very useful against, and to prevent, fungal and bacterial pests. Don't forget to prime the soil, as I describe. If you don't have all ingredients, then it is ok. I made this mix much stronger than it needs to be, without something that will cause harm to plants. I do recommend, however, not to skip the dolomitic lime. This will cure several problems that you will, absolutely, run into in container gardening. It provides calcium, magnesium, and Balances/buffers pH.

The recipe is as follows: First, you will want to prime the soil with dolomitic lime, then spread wettable sulfur to Kill off any infection in the soil. I Also like to spray the plant itself. Mix a few drops of one or more of these ingredients into warm water with a spoonful of coconut oil: Rosemary oil, lavender oil, neem oil, garlic oil, cinnamon extract/oil and for really bad cases, also add clove oil.

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