The adult flies, which are approximately 6 mm in length, emerge over a period of a month or two in the summer. Eggs are laid in the ripe berries and the maggots eat the pulp of the fruits, causing many fruits to drop, spoiling the sale of others, and creating difficulties in postharvest care. Rotenone, a botanical insecticide, can be used by organic growers. However, this product is toxic to beneficial organisms, swine and humans. This material, as well as other pesticides, should only by used if monitoring efforts have determined that an economically damaging population exists.
Monitoring can also facilitate the proper timing of pesticide applications.
Yellow sticky cards can be used to determine when the flies first begin to emerge. The large population of wild plants in his area serves as a reservoir for these pests, which move into domestic plantings. Dr. Elsner mentions that clean cultivation is a cultural technique which may reduce blueberry maggot populations. This is because the fly pupae seem to survive better in moist areas that are covered with grass and other weeds. Another pest that may cause serious problems in blueberries is the red-banded leafroller.