Fighting Fruit Flies

Fighting Fruit Flies

Susan Allen
Susan Allen
I'm Susan Allen with the Fruit Grower Report. Two tiny little flys can make cherries and stone fruit unmarketable. Native to North America is the western cherry fruit fly, that wrecks havoc in cherry growing regions throughout the west. A North American native it was first reported in Pacific Northwest in the early 1900s. The bug found it's way to Yakima Valley in 1942, then it took seven years to reach the Wenatchee area, probably because the adult cherry fly doesn't fly long distances. Then there is the nasty newcomer, the spotted wing drosophia another type of fruit vinegar fly discovered in California orchards as recently as 2008 . With a more varied appetite, it loves blueberries, strawberries, grapes along with cherries and stone fruit. Bio-control agents which are predatory bugs like wasps haven't worked well against this newcomer. Kevin Cochrane, the PNW a rep for Dupont recommends Exirel for fighting both pests because it doesn't kill the good predator bugs and it works on many other crops like onions

COCHRANE: It's a really nice chemistry that is pretty broad spectrum on the pest but very soft on beneficial bugs out there that are actually predatory that are also going to help you in your insect control problems.

Cochrane says works Exirel works well on both species of flies and leaf minor insects

COCHRANE: It's good for a leaf minor type insect or a fly type insect that's wehre it's really really strong for example in a tree fruit crop you know a spotting wing drosophia it's really really good on.

while it has cost orchardist millions of dollars of damage researchers have invested the same amount to figure out ways to stop it.

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