I have a big problem with fruit flies attacking main crop figs in late Sept when weather is cooler. Any one has this problem. These pests seems to arrive at the same time when my Italian prune plum ripens. Any solutions on control before they arrive

It seems to me that a nylon sock or organza bag might protect the figs if you are able to apply them before any eggs or larvae are laid:

Disposable Nylons: http://www.amazon.com/Disposable-Foot-Socks-DISPOSABLE-Gross/dp/B0084DWAQW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1414338964&sr=8-2&keywords=foot%20sox&tag=viglink20276-20


Organza Pouches: http://www.amazon.com/Eyelash-Organza-Drawstring-Pouches-Jewelry/dp/B00B99JFC0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1414339051&sr=8-2&keywords=organza+pouch

That sounds like spotted wing drosophila, SWD. If so bagging won't help. Malathion works and has short preharvest interval but not what most want on their figs.

You need to figure out if it is SWD.

What do you refer to as a "fruit fly?"  As a kid I knew "fruit flies" as the ones that bit when picking strawberries.  They look similar to house flies in shape and size but are typically dark colored, and they loved to bite!

http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/cropprot/swd.htm

I got fruit flies only in my hoophouse where the humidity is higher when I close the side vents, they didn't seem to cause any problems, if it was swd, then I ate a bunch of larvae already so I guess I will  be getting protein with my figs.

Paully,

Check this link: http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/cropprot/swd.htm

Spotted wing drosophila (SWD). Drosophila are the common Fruit Flies, also called Vinegar Flies, and have long been the subject of genetic studies in Biology.

Ain't no use fighting it! Thanks to "Globalization" and Climate Change, the SWD is here to stay :(

As I understand the history, it was identified in Japan in the late 1930's as a soft fruit pest by a guy named Suzuki (hence also called Suzuki Fly). It was sighted in California some time in 2008 and had made it to Abbotsford BC by 2009. It also arrived here at my place in Seattle in 2009 affecting my blackberries and caused me to wonder why the Fruit Flies were swarming on the berries on the vine when they had only worked on rotting fruit for all time prior to 2009! SWD is apparently one of only two species out of over 200 species of drosophila that affect fresh fruit, in the case of SWD for the female to lay its eggs.

Do the math: apparently SWD females are capable of laying about 350 eggs and are on a 7-10 day life cycle depending on temperature so a single fertilized female unleashed at the start of a growing season lays her eggs, if 100 females emerge and get fertilized then lay their eggs... by the end of a growing season there will be about one TRILLION SWD in the area!

SWD affects pretty much all soft fruit including berries, plums, cherries, smooth skinned Kiwis, and of course Figs (both Breba and Main crop)! Some folks use traps made from clear plastic bottles with caps on, filled with apple cider vinegar and poke a few nail sized holes in them so the female SWD can enter, then drown in the vinegar. Hang those traps away from the fruit you want to protect and empty the dead flies daily. I don't do anything because I understand the math and realize it is futile!

So what's to say about SWD: Got Protein?

You do now ;)

Keep on Growing, kiwibob, Seattle

Nylon footies  keep SWD out of the figs for me. Actually, SWD don't bother my figs unless the eye is open or the fig skin has been comprimised my cracking or a wasp. Blackberries and raspberries are what they go after at my house. But I'm with Ed, they aren't completely gone but with the cooler weather their activity is substantially decreased and the common fruit fly and fungus gnat activity has greatly increased. The common/native fruit fly activity seem to always coincide with all the rotting apples that fall to the ground throughout the neighborhood in the fall.

Paully, I had a bad year last year with fruit flies and sour beetles. It rained so much there was nothing to do and I threw in the towel. But before I did, I tried an experiment since the figs were all ruined or would not ripen that late in the season. I sprayed the orchard with Malathion, neem oil and bleach. My thinking was that the Malathion would kill the active flies and beetles, the neem oil would interrupt their breeding, and the bleach would kill of any of the yeast that the bugs brought to the fruit to turn it sour. After 4 days 90 percent of the bugs were gone and the few left were acting a little looney. I sprayed them again on the 5th day. A week later there were no bugs to be found and hardly any soured fruit.

This year at the first sigh of a bug I sprayed my concoction. That was the only spraying I did. I only saw a few flies or beetles all season. I have figs now that are spitting wide open and not one bug on them. I don't know if it will work for you but it seems to do the trick for me. Well I also have my guards under the trees, my 6 hens. They peck and scratch all day long and I know they remove a lot of them before they can leave the ground. 

I hope this helps,
"gene"

Paully,
  Well, I'm glad you brought this up.  I was thinking about it, but I was on the fence due to the yuk factor.
I haven't identified the adult fly that is the culprit of my problem.  Actually, I haven't really even seen them on the figs to even suspect there's a problem.  But something like SWD seems to be doing a number on my figs.  I find that everything is fine up through, say, late September.  If the weather is warm and the figs swell and ripen quickly, there's no issue.  But any fig I harvest from late September on, I have to check, double check, triple check, then quadruple check to see if it has any "worms" in it.  I have to at least cut it in half.  If it looks at all suspicious, I have to cut it in quarters.  I have to pay close attention to the end near the ostiole and to any section that looks overripe.  The larva/worms are really camouflaged pretty well -- they look a lot like part of the structure of the fig, except they move!  I haven't been growing figs all that long, but I can say that I've seen this problem in the Fall of 2013 and 2014.
  FYI, I'm at the point where if it is only just 1 or 2 or 3 I can just pick them out and I'll still eat the fig.  If I start finding more like 4 or 5 then it has to be a good fig for me to finish it.  (e.g. if it bland or too overripe then it isn't worth it.)  There have been one or two occasions where I've picked out 4 or 5 or 6 and then figured there were bound to be more, so I just chuck it.  I'm not lucky enough to be harvesting figs by the plate-fulls yet.  So when you only get one or two every week or so, I guess you start pushing the envelope on some things...
  Growing up I've eaten tons of wild/fresh blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, mullberries, etc. that I'M SURE (in retrospect) had worms.  So, I know I've eaten them in the past and I'm just fine -- that's why I rationalize that even if I pick some out, I may miss one or two.  (...extra protein...) But if I have to pick a whole bunch out...well, then I have to make a judgment call!!!
  It will be good to get a positive ID that it is SWD (or whatever it ends up being) -- so at least I'll know what I'm eating ;-)

I just did a quick search:  The SWD larva goes through 3 different stages of development...and at least one stage (the earliest) looks a lot like what I'm seeing in my figs.

I just did a second quick search:  It looks like there are traps you can make to try to lure the flies away from your fruit:
http://www.oregonblueberry.com/update/new.html

Here's a nice YouTube for a DIY trap (from Oregon State Extension Service): How to Make a Trap to Catch the Spotted Wing Drosophila Fly

They wreaked havoc on my figs too Paul. Any fig with small holes in it got tossed. I also had fig beetles which were another problem. This was the first year that I had ever seen these pests.

Another similar trap or distraction I figured out this year. Take a cup and put a drizzle of the same unscented soap in it, put your ruined berries or figs in the cup and fill with water until about 2/3 full. Put these around the base of your trees and bushes that have fruit flies. The fruit ferments more and many of the flies waste their time and eggs there. Not to mention that they fall in and drown. You can get some bonus wasps and yellow jackets too. Only drawback you could have is if your pet takes interest in it, our beagle didn't. Sometimes tree rats will knock them over also. I used vinegar traps and these, it didn't cure the problem, but it did mediate it enough for me to get some berries again.

Here the wasps bite the eye and open it and then the fruitflies enter.  I have not seen any SWD yet.  The problem has diminished greatly now that the weather has started to cool a bit.

Are fruit flies and fungus gnats the same?

Gnatrol is an water soluble organic larvacide bti compound that I use for gnats rather well. You can get it on Ebay cheep.

Dave,
  They are both small, annoying flies...but that's about where the similarities end.
Fungus Gnat larvae like to eat our little fig cutting roots and bark.  Fruit fly lavae like to eat the ripe figs!
Maybe the BTi would have the same effect on the SWD larvae that it does on the Fungus Gnat larvae, but I'm not what delivery mechanism would get the BTi in place to be ingested by the SWD larvae...
  I think one thing they have in common is that the best defense is a good offense -- get rid of the adult flies that lay the eggs that hatch into the larvae that do the damage.
Cheers,
Jim

Hi,
This year, I had such worms in raspberries. awful ! I'm about to weed all the raspberry bushes if the situation
is the same next year.
So far no problem on figs ... May I suggest that you plant raspberries for the #$$# flies to play there and leave the figs intact ? That's the technique of "the honey pot" .
Men ,gals, on the raspberries, the sight was really disgusting ... Especially for the really ripe ones... It was like the berries were moving on their own when you looked inside the raspberry .
I ended cutting the heads of the canes to remove all fruits and kill the flies because of no food left. Now with the cold weather, the problem is solved .

Jdsfrance, that sounds pretty bad.  I'm glad my figs haven't gotten that bad yet!  It is definitely a turn off to find even one, though.

The funny thing with me, though, is that I seem to have the problem more as the weather gets colder.  I don't seem to have a problem when the figs are ripening quickly in the heat.  It only seems to be a problem when the weather cools down and the figs take longer and longer to ripen.
  I may have to put out a few vinegar traps near my few remaining figs in hopes of attracting the flies away...
Jim