Although the California Department of Food and Agriculture has eradicated the oriental fruit fly in Orange County, it has placed portions of San Bernardino and Riverside counties under quarantine due to multiple detections of the invasive species.
CDFA says detections in and around the cities of Ontario and Jurupa Valley resulted in a quarantine zone covering 131 square miles — 57 square miles in Riverside County and 74 square miles in San Bernardino County. The quarantine is bordered on the north by Highway 210, on the south by Norco, on the west by Ontario, and on the east by Rubidoux.
The new quarantine map may be found online at cdfa.ca.gov/plant/off/regulation.html
The oriental fruit fly can target more than 230 different fruits, vegetables and other plants. It threatens the state’s pome and stone fruit, citrus, dates, avocados, tomatoes and peppers, the CDFA says. Female fruit flies lay eggs inside the fruit, which hatch into maggots that tunnel through the flesh of the fruit.
Ag officials use male attractants as part of an integrated pest management strategy to eradicate this invasive species. CDFA says this approach has eliminated dozens of fruit fly infestations in the state. Workers apply a small amount of fruit fly attractant mixed with a small dose of a spinosad, an organic pesticide, approximately 8' to 10' off the ground on trees near the street and on similar surfaces. Male fruit flies are attracted to the mixture and perish after consuming it. CDFA says it deploys the male attractant technique over an area that extends 1.5 miles from each site where oriental fruit flies have been found in traps.
The agency says the majority of fruit flies and other invasive species are found in urban and suburban communities and the most common pathway for these pests to enter the state is through “hitchhiking” on fruits or vegetables brought back illegally by travelers returning from infested regions or in packages of home-grown produce sent from other countries in the mail.
The oriental fruit fly is widespread throughout much of the mainland of southern Asia and neighboring islands, including Sri Lanka and Taiwan and has invaded Africa and Hawaii.
CDFA encourages residents in the quarantine area not to move homegrown fruits and vegetables from their property and to dispose of any produce by double-bagging and placing the discarded produce in regular trash, not green waste receptacles.
