Posts Tagged: Oriental fruit fly

First-ever Queensland fruit fly quarantine restricts moving homegrown produce

QFF quarantine in LA, Ventura counties among seven fruit fly quarantines statewide Residents in...

First-ever Queensland fruit fly quarantine restricts moving homegrown produce

QFF quarantine in LA, Ventura counties among seven fruit fly quarantines statewide

Residents in multiple Southern California and Northern California counties should not move homegrown fruits and vegetables from their properties to help contain several species of fruit fly that can destroy crops and impact the livelihoods of local farmers.

With sharing and gifting of food integral to the holiday season, the California Department of Food and Agriculture is reminding people to heed the seven active fruit fly quarantines aimed at controlling the Mediterranean fruit fly, Oriental fruit fly, Tau fly and Queensland fruit fly. The links below describe quarantine zone boundaries:

• Mediterranean fruit fly: Los Angeles County, Leimert Park Area
• Oriental fruit fly: San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, Redlands and Yucaipa Areas 
• Oriental fruit fly: Sacramento County, Rancho Cordova Area 
• Oriental fruit fly: Contra Costa County, Brentwood Area 
• Oriental fruit fly: Santa Clara County, Santa Clara Area  
• Tau fly: Los Angeles County – Stevenson Ranch, Valencia, Santa Clarita Areas
• Queensland fruit fly: Ventura and Los Angeles Counties, Thousand Oaks Area

People within these zones should consume or process (i.e., juice, freeze or cook) their homegrown fruits and vegetables at the place of origin and not move them off their property. Uneaten produce should be double-bagged in plastic bags and disposed of in the landfill bin – not compost or green waste.

Queensland fruit fly threatens California citrus, other crops

The Queensland fruit fly (Bactrocera tryoni) quarantine is the first of its kind in the U.S. Although QFF was first seen in California in 1985, the recent detection of two adult males triggered the unprecedented quarantine action by USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and CDFA. 

“This pest has earned a bad reputation for wreaking havoc on fruit production in Australia, where it is native,” said Hamutahl Cohen, University of California Cooperative Extension entomology advisor for Ventura County.  “Adult flies lay their eggs in fruit, and the eggs hatch into larvae that then feed on the fruit, causing damage.”

And while females of other fruit fly species live for only two or three months, QFF females are unique in that they can live up to a year, according to Cohen.

“Once QFF populations take root, they're challenging to manage because females can each lay up to 100 eggs per day,” Cohen said.

In addition to being highly adaptable to a variety of environmental conditions, QFF has more than 170 host plants – including a wide range of California commodities such as citrus, grape, strawberry, fig, avocado, apricot, peach, cherry, nectarine, plum, pear, apple, tomato and sweet pepper.

The threat to citrus is especially concerning, as Southern California growers continue to grapple with the specter of spreading huanglongbing (HLB) disease, which kills citrus trees. Cohen said residents of citrus-growing regions can do their part to help their neighbors and local economy by respecting quarantine restrictions.

“Growers are already dealing with other invasive species like Asian citrus psyllid [vector of HLB pathogen], so we as homeowners need to prevent the spread of fruit flies to reduce the burden on them,” she explained.

While a spike this year in the detections of multiple fruit fly species was likely caused by a host of factors, Cohen speculates that increased post-pandemic travel is helping to move the flies. And with holiday travel in full swing, she said it's important to practice “Don't Pack a Pest” principles.

“Invasive species often hitchhike on fruits and vegetables brought into California by travelers – that's why we often first find invasive species in urban and suburban backyards, and not on farms,” Cohen said. “Travelers entering the U.S. can visit dontpackapest.com to learn about which products they can and cannot bring back with them.”

To report a suspected infestation of fruit fly larvae in homegrown produce, call the CDFA pest hotline at 1-800-491-1899. Growers with questions and concerns are urged to contact their local agricultural commissioner's office.

Two new fruit flies being battled in L.A. area

Who could forget the famous news conference in 1981 when Gov. Jerry Brown appointee B.T. Collins drank a cup of the pesticide malathion to prove it was safe? That was at the height of a long-running Southern California controversy about nighttime malathion treatments to eradicate the Mediterranean fruit fly.

Now, some southland residents may hear the thwap, thwap, thwap of helicopters overhead once again - two new fruit flies have been found in eastern Los Angeles County, according to an article in the Riverside Press-Enterprise.

The story said a chemical rain of pesticide to eradicate Oriental fruit fly and white-striped fruit fly isn't out of the question. The pests pose a serious threat to California's $33.89 billion agriculture industry and, as UC Riverside entomology professor Joe Morse told reporter Kimberly Pierceall, "There's nothing like biting into a fruit and getting half a maggot."

The reporter also spoke to UC Berkeley agriculture professor David Zilberman.

"The key in invasive species is monitoring," he said. "You spray only when you must spray."

In the case of the medfly infestation of the 1980s and 90s, "no doubt about it, we needed to spray," Zilberman was quoted, comparing it to a dose of heavy medicine to reduce the severity of a disease early. Today, the medfly is largely under control, the story said.

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