California continues to battle a high number of fruit fly invasions this growing season. The latest invasion comes from the Oriental fruit fly, which has affected commercial citrus operations as well as backyard trees.
Already widespread in southern Asia, the Oriental fruit fly was first discovered on American soil in 1946, when it began attacking crops like avocado, mango, and papaya in Hawaii. It reached California in 1960. Since then, it’s been known to attack more than 230 different crops, including citrus, tomatoes, pears, plums, cherries, peaches, apricots, and figs. In an area that produces much of America’s fruit and vegetable staples, drastic measures are being taken to mitigate the damage to a multibillion-dollar agricultural industry.
Quarantines are already underway in Contra Costa, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, and Santa Clara counties. In the Redlands last month, more than 2,000 homeowners had the fruit stripped from their trees in an effort to contain the Oriental fruit fly’s spread. The mandatory fruit removal was carried out by the CDFA, whose spokespeople commented, “If left unchecked, the Oriental fruit fly could become permanently established and cause billions of dollars worth of losses annually, which would significantly impact California’s food supply.”
If you live in a quarantined area, you are urged to double-bag any fallen produce and dispose of it in your regular trash bin. Do not put it into your green waste or organic bins! Also, any food grown on your property should stay on your property, to help avoid transporting fruit that has already been infected.
FGS can help, too. We have a long history of assisting growers in keeping flies and other pests away from their operations. Composting manure, utilizing fly traps, practicing crop rotation, encouraging the presence of natural predators, and applying nematodes are all ways to keep everyday fly infestations under control. We encourage you to follow all requests from the CDFA, but if you’re looking to further improve your own pest control methods, please give us a call!