Hi to all, I am new here and hope to learn all about my garden . I haven't had much time for gardening in my life but now that I am retired I have all the time in the world. The hot humid weather here in Queensland, Australia and the bugs! make it very difficult for a learner gardener to produce veges, herbes and flowers, however, I am learning, albeit very slowly. I am trying to grow zucchini at the moment but the fruit flies are stinging the tiny fruit before they are even pollinated. They lay their eggs in the fruit, the fruit turns yellow and drops off the plant. I have been covering the new fruit with a "sock" that I made with a fine net to allow the sun and rain through but it stops the bees from pollinating!. Not sure what to do now. I have fruit fly traps around but the little devils are still in my garden buzzing around my zucchini plant. Does anyone have any ideas on what to do, I have tried to self pollinate without success. Cheers Neophyte
If you are sure that you have male flowers, try pollinating by hand, followed by protection of the pollinated blossoms with "socks" made of floating row cover material. Alternatively, cover the entire plant with a floating row cover, well sealed at the edges. I've used the floating row cover material effectively to keep Spotted Wing Drosophila fruit flies off my cherry trees for several years.
Thank you vitog for your reply. Yes I have tried pollinating with a small paint brush, there does not seem to be very many male flowers now but I will continue to try. We are in Autum now so hopefully the fruit fly population will decrease?
