08/09/06 Containing A Pest

Containing a pest. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. A single male apple maggot was recently discovered in a trap in Washington's Franklin County. Last year a single female maggot was found in the same area. Tom Wilson, coordinator of the Franklin County Horticultural, Pest and Disease Control Board says the event is being taken very seriously. WILSON: They do a high density trapping within a half mile of that area trying to determine if there are more around and of course this year we found another one so that means another year of high density trapping. You've got to go one or two years without finding one before you go back to regular trapping. The idea then is, we'll spray that tree a couple of times here before fall to try and kill any more population that might be in there or in the ground and then we'll take that tree down early this fall and get rid of it. While the WSDA runs the trapping program the costs involved in spraying and removing the tree are taken care of by the pest board through funding primarily from orchardists. Wilson says that the damage done by apple maggot can be devastating since they burrow under the skin and turn the fruit to a brown mush. Wilson also says that home garden owners need to be cautious. WILSON: If he doesn't take care of it or he can't take care of it, it's going to be a host for all sorts of problems. Wilson says they offer an incentive to home fruit tree owners that either don't or can't take care of their trees to remove those trees and replace them with non-fruit bearing varieties. WILSON: We have another program where we offer them an incentive, a $40 certificate they can take to a nursery and buy something else if they take out their tree. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.