Michael recognize a pawpaw yield rainfly ( AKA papaya wasp ) on a green papaya and has well - base concern for his fruit :
“ Quick question about papaia WASP . I was checking out my plant this preceding weekend and spied what I trust was one of the adult on an immature fruit . How disquieted should I be ? We live in Hillsborough County in the Forest Hills orbit . The cold is more chasten in this area due to several bombastic lake nearby , so I ’m not worried about the plants suspend , but I am a picayune worried about the wasps now . I have n’t seen them before on my trees . ”
The Strange Papaya Fruit Fly
Though they face like wasps , the Carica papaya wasp is really the papaia yield fly . They do n’t look like any yield fly you ’ve ever seen , however .
Illustration from the Division of Plant Industry
you’re able to see why they ’re often called the “ papaya wasp . ”
They ’re really an attractive louse for such a pain - in - the - neck pest .
Michael is correct to be concerned – these are a immense problem for papaya tree growers .
Why is it after green papaya?
If you see a papaya fruit tent flap near your immature yield , chances are that yield is rifle to be filled with maggots when right .
As UF states inan clause on the pawpaw fruit fly :
“ The female person is up to of producing 100 or more bollock . The female yield fly ball oviposits in the green immature fruit by thrusting her ovipositor through the form of the fruit . She then deposits a group of 10 or more long , slender eggs in the papaya tree ’s primal cavity where the untried larvae provender on develop seeds and the interior parts of the yield . As the larvae mature , they eat their way out of the yield , drop to the earth beneath the works , and pupate just below the soil control surface . fly egress in about two to six weeks , depending upon humidity and temperature of the grease .
Illustration from the Division of Plant Industry
Eggs are ordinarily lay in small yield , about two to three inches in diameter , but they may be deposit in small-scale or larger yield . However , unripe papaya tree juice is fatal to the larvae so the fruit must be ripe before the larvae begin to eat their way out of the intimate dental caries . Eggs incubate or so 12 days after oviposition and larval development in the yield lasts about 15 to 16 days . ”
In the southerly part of the Department of State and warm regions along the coast , the pawpaw yield rainfly is a serious pest . I never had difficulty with them in the Ocala / Gainesville area due to the freeze , but inThe Great South Florida Food Forest Projectthey are a repeating problem .
I recall the first clock time I picked a beautiful ripe pawpaw for momma and opened it up to come up it twist with pawpaw fruit fly maggot .
Nasty .
Papaya Fruit Fly Control
Though you could probably hire a crop - sirocco , a better approach is to wangle papaya fruit fly ball without pesticide by being pro - dynamic .
My advice : keep an eye on those yield . If any pin off , sting or inhume them deep . If they ripen , be prepared for a maggot fest – and again , do n’t just compost the fruit or put away it somewhere – kill those maggot ! Sanitation is key to Carica papaya yield fly command . The last thing you want is hundreds more of them buzz around your region .
If you have very young yield you may bag them to prevent infection . For fruit that are already larger , just look on them . It ’s probably too previous to bag .
Good luck . I ’m meritless they come up you . Keep a close eye on your trees , destroy septic yield without prejudice and bag the little ace – and pray these obnoxious pests do n’t amount back .
