Hi Cara,

Thank you for reaching out. There are a few methods you can use to try to control and/or prevent SWD. The first would be to have a regular schedule of harvesting the fruit, and properly discarding and over ripe or spent fruit. Another method is netting the crop. A third option would be insecticide. I would recommend reading through the recources below to find what fits best for your goals and specific situation, with potentially needing to combine more than one method for an integrated pest management approach.

Some folks have reported that they found when they pick the fruit when it is just about ripe, it has helped to reduce the number of larva seen in the actual fruit itself too.

Here are the publications that go over those methods in more detail, as well as our website with multiple links and videos on the subject of SWD.

OSU Extension Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD)

https://extension.oregonstate.edu/collection/spotted-wing-drosophila-swd

Monitoring and Managing Spotted Wing Drosophila in Fruit Crops

https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/ent-0086

Please reach out if we can help any further.