Apple Maggot Larvae Discovered

Apple Maggot Discovered. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

They may be small but they are powerful. Hector Castro with the State Department of Agriculture talks about the recent discovery of an apple maggot and the aftermath.

CASTRO: Apple maggot is one of those pests that a real concern to any apple grower. In Washington State there are quarantine areas and there are parts of the state that are considered pest-free where apple maggot has not gained a foothold. We learned sometime last year that there were a few composting operations that were transporting material from the quarantine zones where fruit like apples and so forth are not supposed to be moved out of.

The material is known as “green waste” and is used to make compost. WSDA has been working with these companies on a mitigation strategy.

CASTRO: One of the companies is PacifiClean. it’s a company that has a facility in Quincy. One of our measures is to have our inspectors actually visit the facility and it was during one of the visits within the first week of them moving this material that our inspector noted apple maggot larvae some off the green waste.

PacifiClean’s permit to transport the waste was suspended pending additional mitigation measures.

CASTRO: The company is actually now working on a building that would allow them to house any material brought into their facility to reduce any of the chance any of the larvae or apple maggot could move off their property.

Some facilities will grind the waste before transporting negating the chance the pest would survive. PacifiClean transports, then grinds the waste.

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network of the West.