Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
fruitgirl

Spotted wing drosophila--new pest

fruitgirl
14 years ago

Hi all,

Thought you might want to know about a new insect pest that affects all berry crops and a number of tree fruits (the "softer" ones like cherries and nectarines). It's scientific name is Drosophila suzukii, with the common name being spotted wing drosophila. It was first found in the US in September 2008 in California, and has become a major pest this year in California. It's since been found in Oregon, Washington, and Florida, and give that California fruit is shipped all over the US, my guess is that it's highly likely it's everywhere by now.

Unlike other drosophila species, the SWD can oviposit in undamaged (even not all-the-way-ripe) fruit due to the female's serrated ovipositor. So the big risk is crop loss. For backyard gardeners, if you don't mind eating some little maggots, it's likely not too much of a big deal. But if there are enough maggots in the fruit, it might damage it enough that you won't want to eat it.

They're still working on control measures, but many people figure that the "standard" insecticides will control the adults. The tricky part is that these suckers have a *really* fast life cycle, and the sprays won't kill the pupae or larvae. The biggest thing to be aware of is that resistance can build up VERY quickly, so be sure to rotate your chemistries.

Below is a link to the UC blog about SWD. It's got information on how to monitor for the little buggers and how to identifty them. The common name comes from the spots on the males' wings.

If you decide to do some trapping, don't freak out if you see a lot of drosophila...many of them look a lot like the SWD (even though only the SWD males have wing spots...no other species have these). The only real way to ID the SWD females is to loook at her "business end" under a dissecting scope.

http://ucanr.org/blogs/strawberries_caneberries/index.cfm

Comments (2)