Around Idaho
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 Idaho
Learn what to look for around your property, explore your city, and ask about an inspection or a quote.
Fruit Flies in Idaho: 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 Idaho: what the public record shows
Before you compare quotes, it helps to know which fruit flies actually live in Idaho, when they are busiest, and what the state figures look like. Everything below links to the agency or university page it came from.
"In the summer of 2012 Extension entomologists at the University of Idaho confirmed the first discovery of SWD in the state. The insects were discovered by a homeowner in Latah County who observed them in cherries on his property." SWD was also found in Nez Perce and Canyon counties later in 2012 and confirmed in Payette County in 2013
Spotted wing drosophila first confirmed in Idaho
Idaho's first record came from a homeowner's backyard cherries, not a commercial orchard, which is a useful reminder that residential fruit trees are where most Idaho residents will first meet this fly.
Idaho State Department of Agriculture"Unlike most other vinegar flies that require damaged or rotting fruit to allow larval feeding, SWD causes its own damage when the female fly cuts a slit and lays eggs in healthy fruit." It is smaller than a grain of rice with a tan body and red eyes; males have a single spot on each wing
SWD damages sound fruit, unlike other vinegar flies
For an Idaho homeowner this distinguishes the outdoor orchard pest from the ordinary kitchen vinegar fly, which still needs fermenting material to breed.
Idaho State Department of AgricultureHome-built trap: a clear plastic cup with four or five 3/16 to 3/8 inch holes, a yellow sticky card suspended over 1 1/2 inches of apple cider vinegar; one trap services one acre. "Begin monitoring when the daily temperature reaches > 50 degrees F for several days." Replace the sticky card and vinegar once a week
Idaho trapping guidance
The same apple cider vinegar attractant Idaho recommends outdoors is what makes an open vinegar or wine bottle indoors such an effective accidental fruit fly trap.
Idaho State Department of AgricultureWhen fruit flies are busiest in Idaho
The Idaho State Department of Agriculture advises beginning SWD monitoring once daily temperatures exceed 50 degrees F for several days in spring, and pressure continues through the cherry, berry and grape harvest; indoor vinegar fly complaints follow the same late-summer and fall harvest window.
The Idaho State Department of Agriculture recommends that all home gardeners and growers do their own on-site monitoring using a home-built cup trap baited with apple cider vinegar or sweet white wine, checked and rebaited weekly, with one trap per acre.
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: Idaho State Department of Agriculture; University of Maryland Extension; Texas A&M AgriLife Extension. Figures are quoted as the source prints them. How we check our sources
Explore Idaho cities
Boise
Semi-Arid Continental · urban setting
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Caldwell
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Coeur d'Alene
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Idaho Falls
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Lewiston
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Meridian
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Moscow
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Nampa
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Pocatello
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Post Falls
Humid Continental · suburban setting
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Rexburg
Warm Summer Continental · rural setting
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Twin Falls
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Jerome
Semi-Arid Continental · rural setting
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