Around Arkansas
Conditions vary across the state. Choose your city below, then describe what’s happening around your home or business.
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Local fruit fly information
Fruit Fly control in Arkansas
Learn what to look for around your property, explore your city, and ask about an inspection or a quote.
Fruit Flies in Arkansas: what to know
What to note
Where you see fruit flies, how long it has been going on, and anything you’ve already tried are the most useful details to mention.
A useful next step
Ask about an inspection, what treatment would involve, and whether follow-up visits are included. You don’t need to identify the problem yourself before getting in touch.
Local research
Fruit Flies in Arkansas: what the public record shows
Before you compare quotes, it helps to know which fruit flies actually live in Arkansas, when they are busiest, and what the state figures look like. Everything below links to the agency or university page it came from.
Spotted wing drosophila was confirmed in Arkansas in 2012, after first being found in California in 2008 and spreading across the Southeast and Midwest in 2010 and 2011
Spotted wing drosophila confirmed in Arkansas
Unlike ordinary vinegar flies, SWD lays eggs in intact ripening fruit, so Arkansas home berry and stone fruit growers can lose fruit that looks perfectly sound.
University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension ServiceA female lays up to 350 eggs, one per fruit; eggs hatch in 12 to 72 hours and a full generation can be completed in as few as 13 days
Reproductive rate
A small infestation can escalate within two weeks, which is why Arkansas Extension emphasizes removing and destroying infested and fallen fruit rather than waiting.
University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension ServiceOverwintered adults emerge as spring temperatures exceed 48 F and are most active near 68 F, with trap counts peaking in fall
Temperature thresholds and peak trapping
Arkansas's long warm shoulder seasons give SWD an early start and a late finish, so fall-bearing raspberries and late blackberries are the highest-risk fruit in the state.
University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension ServiceWhen fruit flies are busiest in Arkansas
Arkansas Extension reports overwintered spotted wing drosophila emerging once spring temperatures exceed 48 F, with trap counts peaking in fall; indoor vinegar fly pressure follows the same late-summer-into-fall produce peak.
The University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service's SWD guidance centers on host removal and monitoring with apple cider vinegar traps, and lists blackberry, blueberry, grapes, raspberry, strawberry, apricot, cherry, nectarine, peach and plum as hosts. Its separate drain fly page stresses that no insecticide is registered for drain or sewer use and that mechanical cleaning must be sustained for three weeks or more.
For context, nationally
- 8 to 10 days egg to adult — Life cycle length. University of Maryland Extension
- As few as 8 days — Fastest life cycle under optimum conditions. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension
Sources: University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service; University of Maryland Extension; Texas A&M AgriLife Extension. Figures are quoted as the source prints them. How we check our sources
Explore Arkansas cities
Bentonville
Humid Subtropical · suburban setting
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Conway
Humid Subtropical · suburban setting
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Fayetteville
Humid Subtropical · urban setting
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Fort Smith
Humid Subtropical · urban setting
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Hot Springs
Humid Subtropical · suburban setting
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Jonesboro
Humid Subtropical · suburban setting
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Little Rock
Humid Subtropical · urban setting
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North Little Rock
Humid Subtropical · urban setting
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Paragould
Humid Subtropical · rural setting
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Pine Bluff
Humid Subtropical · urban setting
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Rogers
Humid Subtropical · suburban setting
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Springdale
Humid Subtropical · suburban setting
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Texarkana
Humid Subtropical · urban setting
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Benton
Humid Subtropical · suburban setting
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