THERE is a buzz in the air around Sarina Kelly’s garden, and it’s not Queensland fruit fly making the noise.
In fact, the dedicated Swan Hill gardener has grown fruit and vegetables free of the pest and wanted to show other green thumbs how they could have the same success.
Ms Kelly, her husband and children live on the outskirts of Swan Hill and manage a two-hectare property with about a dozen established fruit trees, including citrus, apple, fig, walnut and stone fruit.
“I grew up in a family that produced a lot of their own food, and food for markets, so I love the idea of having my own fresh fruit and veggies that you can just pop out and pick from the garden, knowing exactly how it’s been grown,” Ms Kelly said.
“Growing our own food is also really important from an environmental perspective, and I think it’s a good thing to model for my children.
“But a few years ago, fruit fly really started to become an issue and took the joy out of growing your own.
“For a couple of summers, I spent most of the time dealing with rotten fruit – making sure I picked up everything off the ground and disposing of it properly.”
Concerned by the growing infestation of Queensland fruit fly in the Swan Hill area and her garden’s possible impact on the neighbouring farm, Ms Kelly assessed what she could manage and called on Greater Sunraysia Pest Free Area (GSPFA) to remove some of her trees and educate her more about the pest.
“We are neighbouring a stone fruit property, so it was really important to me to be doing the right thing – we don’t want to be impacting an industry that’s already carrying the extra burden of expenses to control fruit fly and adhering to strict regulations around export,” she said.
“After having about half of the trees removed, it is much easier to manage, although still a big job.
“I’ve developed a great relationship with Tricia (the local GSPFA field officer), who pops out to see me a few times a year. I always have lots of questions for her and she’s full of knowledge and suggests different things to help me manage fruit fly.”
Ms Kelly was one of more than 30 home gardeners that joined the Queensland Fruit Fly Fighters program last year as a way to learn more and connecting with likeminded people.
“It’s been a real journey of educating me around fruit fly and how it behaves, when it’s likely to be active, and the varieties of trees it might target before it moves on to something else,” she said.
“With the knowledge I’ve gained, this year I was able to net my trees and move the nets around to cover other trees as the season progressed.
“Next summer I will invest in some more nets because they made a huge difference.
“It’s a bit more work to prune and cover the trees, and you can’t always access the fruit how you’d like, but it’s a lot better than dealing with rotten fruit.”
Ms Kelly hoped her story would inspire others to play their part in managing Queensland fruit fly.
“It’s really important to educate more people about this issue because not everyone knows the right thing to do, or they don’t have time to manage their garden,” she said.
“But that’s where the tree removal program is great – it doesn’t cost you anything to have fruit trees removed if you can’t look after them properly.
“Gardening can already be quite physically demanding work, and fruit fly has unfortunately added that extra level of difficulty.
“For all those years we didn’t have fruit fly, but it’s not going away anytime soon, so we need to learn how to do our bit to manage it.”
Ms Kelly encouraged other to take up the chance to learn to grow clean fruit by signing up to the Fruit Fly Fighter program at www.pestfreearea.com.au or call 50220 327.
