Fruit fly is a devastating blight on our primary industries and as backyard or commercial composters and gardeners, it is in our best interests to restrict its spread. While this involves restricting use of food scraps and other common worm farm and composting feedstocks, there are plenty of ways to ensure your worms have a good, balanced diet while fighting fruit fly.
Fruit fly restrictions have been issued across large parts of Adelaide and South Australia. The details and restrictions can be found on the PIRSA website here.
Here are a few ideas:-
Cook or freeze your food scraps
The PIRSA website states, Home-grown fruit and vegetables at risk from fruit fly must be…prepared in some way (e.g. frozen, dried, cooked, pickled, bottled) before being moved.
Freezing your food scraps is an easy way to avoid spreading fruit fly and also has some benefits for your worms too. Freezing food scraps breaks down the cell walls in the fruit and vegetables, helping the worms digest them more easily.
Cooking food scraps also helps kill any harmful pathogens in the produce before feeding it to the worms.
Try coffee grounds and tea leaves
While many of us rely on food scraps to feed our worm farms, have you ever considered using coffee grounds or tea leaves. These products do not attract fruit fly, and, used in moderation, are a good source of nutrients to your worm farm.
Add more carbon
Adding more carbon-rich material like twigs, paper and cardboard isn’t a bad idea. Corrugated cardboard makes a good breeding ground for worms, while the increased carbon content will help stimulate the growth of beneficial fungi, which help improve soil structure.
