The Fresno County Agricultural Commissioner’s office is announcing that a single male Peach Fruit Fly has been detected on a trap that was placed in a peach tree of a residence in East Fresno.
The identity was confirmed by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) lab in Sacramento this morning. Peach Fruit Fly is native to South and Southeast Asia, where it attacks a wide variety of fruits. It is considered a serious pest to agriculture and the residents of Fresno County. Damage occurs when the fly larva feeds on the insides of fruits and vegetables such as:
• Peaches and other soft stone fruit
• Citrus
• Tomatoes
• Cucumbers
• Eggplant
A single fly does not trigger a quarantine action. Delimitation trapping will occur in an 81 square mile area around the trap location. If during the delimitation trapping 6 adults or 1 mated female are found, then a quarantine action is warranted.
Delimitation trapping has already begun; and over the next few days, nearly 500 traps will be deployed- followed by daily checks of those traps over the next 2 weeks. If no additional flies are detected, then the traps will revert to bi-weekly checks for the next 3 life cycles as determined by accumulated heat units.
The public’s cooperation in allowing these small traps to be placed in host trees on their property is very important to successfully locating the source of the infestation and the eradication of this potentially devastating pest. In 2006, Fresno County successfully eradicated a Peach Fruit Fly infestation.
For more information on this pest, please visit CDFA’s website at:
http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/plant/pdep/target_pest_disease_profiles/peach_ff_profile.html.