Strange Fruit

We are trying to keep the garden as organic as possible especially our edible gardens. We have struggled with fruit fly infestations for years. My efforts with homemade bait stations had some results but we still lost a lot of fruit.

This year I got the M3 fruit fly bait stations from a company in Wellington. I hanged these bright yellow square stations through the orchard giving it a feel of trees covered in strange fruit.

Strange Fruit

How the bait station works is that the female fruit fly needs  a protein meal before reproduction and is attracted to the bait station and is killed.

Apricots

This year the problem has been reduced to such an extent that I could harvest the healthiest fruit and what a joy it is to walk in the orchard picking fresh fruit and eating it right there with the sweetness of the ripe fruit bursting into my mouth . 

Plums

The apricots, nectarines and plums are such a luxury to have in a bowl in the house.

Nectarines

Plums

The apples and pears are also promising to be a success this year.

Apples

  

Pears

Haiku for my orchard:

The African sun
captured in your fruit
the taste of happiness