The Daily Garden
  • Home
  • Garden Word of the Day
  • Monthly Chores
  • DIY Chickens

Garden Word of the Day

Mediterranean Fruit Fly

11/22/2017

0 Comments

 
 The Mediterranean fruit fly has reappeared in California!


Periodically, in the world of gardening and agriculture, a cry goes out across the fields, farms, and front porches of California, and the world, announcing that a medfly has been found. This time, a medfly has been found in Half Moon Bay
You might think that a tiny fruit fly is No Big Deal, but this short, squat, orangish flying insect has the dubious title of World’s Worst Agricultural Pest.


​The California Dept. of Food & Agriculture 
estimates that a permanent infestation of the Mediterranean fruit fly, or Medfly, would cost California businesses nearly $2 billion a year!
Picture
Adult medfly (Alvesgaspar)
About medflies

Native to sub-Saharan Africa, medflies (Ceratitis capitata) have slowly been making their way around the globe, usually riding on fruit and other infested crops. Medflies are about 1/4” long. They have a black thorax, marked with silver, and a tan abdomen with dark stripes. The wings are clear, with two light brown bands and gray flecks at the base. Their eggs look like those of other fruit flies: they look like tiny white bananas. Larvae are white, legless, and pointed at the back end. Pupae are encased in a hard, shiny brown puparium.

Picture
Medfly maggots in peach (UFL)

Damage caused by medflies

Medflies lay their eggs in the skins of over 250 different fruit, nut, and vegetable crops. When the eggs hatch three days later, the maggots burrow into what we normally eat, making it inedible. Once maggots have eaten their fill, either the rotting fruit falls, or they drop to the ground where they pupate in the soil. In one week, an adult emerges and the whole cycle begins again.


Crops affected by the medfly

It would probably be easier to list the crops not affected by medflies, but this should give you an idea: apples, apricots, avocados, cherries, figs, grapes, grapefruit, lemons, limes, melons, nectarines, oranges, peaches, pears, persimmons, plums, pomegranates, sweet peppers, tangerines, tomatoes, and walnut.


The ripple effect

Like most things in life, this situation is not limited to bug-infested food plants. Commercial and home growers will end up using more pesticides to counteract this insect, which can lead to more ground water contamination and chemical resistant pests. Also, areas with medfly populations are unable to sell their produce, infested or not, to other states and other countries. Finally, native plants that produce fruit or nuts can also be attacked by this pest.


Medfly controls

The first appearance of a medfly in California took place in 1975. I remember hearing about it in the news - everyone was talking about it. The government declared a “state of emergency” and 100 square miles were placed under quarantine, and 600 million sterile male medflies were released, to interrupt breeding. Malathion was sprayed all over the place. It cost $1 million and took a year, but the medfly was eradicated. For a time.


When the medfly returned in 1981, Governor Brown delayed aerial spraying of malathion, claiming environmental concerns. That was when we learned that medflies reproduce and feed at astounding rates. In that case, the medflies needed only one month to destroy millions of dollars of crops, and to threaten billions more, over an area of 530 square miles. When it was realized just how devastating this pest could be, the California National Guard was called upon to create highway checkpoints to confiscate infested produce.


Now, when a single medfly is spotted, it is checked for gender and fertility, and then all the stops are pulled: aerial spraying, ground spraying, trapping, irradiation, releasing sterile male medflies, public information, and quarantines. Since 1985, medflies have been found in California in 2007 (Dixon), 2008 (El Cajon), and now in 2017. Currently, there are two active medfly quarantines in California: Fairfield (Solano Co., just north of Contra Costa) and Sun Valley (Los Angeles Co.). The Half Moon Bay infestation brings that number to three.


What can you do?

First, never, ever, EVER smuggle fresh produce, plants, or soil from infested areas into California. Do not mail fresh produce into uninfested areas either. For more information, contact the California Dept. of Food and Agriculture at (650) 363-4700.
IF YOU THINK YOU SEE EVEN ONE MEDFLY, PLEASE REPORT IT!
Picture
Adult medfly (UCANR)
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Welcome!

    You can grow a surprising amount of food in your own yard. Ask me how!

    ​~ Kate
    ​

    Sign up for the Daily Garden!

    Index

    All
    Artichokes
    Asparagus
    Beans
    Beets
    Beneficial Insects
    Berries
    Bok Choy
    Broccoli
    Brussels Sprouts
    Bulbs
    Cabbage
    Carrots
    Cauliflower
    Celeriac
    Celery
    Chickens
    Chickpeas
    Children's Activities
    Collards
    Compost & Mulch
    Container Gardening
    Corn
    Cover Crops
    Cucamelons
    Cucumbers
    Currants
    Eggplant
    Endives
    Fennel
    Fenugreek
    Flowers
    Fruit & Nut Trees
    Garden Design
    Garlic
    Grain
    Grapes
    Groundcherry
    Guava
    Herbs
    Hops
    Horseradish
    Irrigation
    Jerusalem Artichokes
    Kale
    Kiwifruit
    Lawns
    Lettuce
    Melons
    Mint
    Native Plants
    Onions
    Parsley
    Parsnips
    Peanuts
    Peas
    Peppers
    Pests & Diseases
    Pineapples
    Plants 101
    Potatoes
    Pruning
    Pumpkins
    Quarantine
    Raised Bed Gardening
    Rhubarb
    Shade Gardening
    Sorghum
    Spinach
    Squash
    Strawberries
    Succulents
    Sunburn
    Sunflowers
    Sweet-potatoes
    Tomatillos
    Tomatoes
    Turnips
    Vines
    Weeds
    Wheat
    Zucchini

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Garden Word of the Day
  • Monthly Chores
  • DIY Chickens