The cities of Santa Ana and Garden Grove were placed under lockdown Wednesday because of an uninvited and unwelcome visitor: the eastern fruit fly, an invasive insect that attacks more than 230 crops including fruits, nuts and vegetables.
An order by the California Department of Food and Agriculture prohibits fruit from being distributed outside of the containment zone. The goal is to keep the oriental fruit fly from spreading to more plants while working to eliminate the pest.
The enclosed area of Orange County measures 87 square miles, bordered to the north by Anaheim, to the south by John Wayne Airport, to the west by Huntington Beach, and to the east by State Highway 55.
Residents living in isolated areas can help prevent the spread of oriental fruit flies by not removing those plants from their property. Citizens can eat or process (juice, freeze, cook or grind in a landfill) their own household produce if it is not contaminated. For residents who choose to dispose of their produce, the Department of Food and Agriculture recommends that two bags be placed in the regular trash, not in the green trash bin.
Oriental female flies contaminate the fruit by laying eggs inside it, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture. The eggs then hatch into maggots, which pass through the flesh of the fruit, rendering it inedible.
The attack cycle continues when the maggots emerge 10 days later, descend on the fruit and dig two to three inches into the soil to hatch. At 10 to 12 days old, adults feed for about 90 days on honeydew melon, decaying fruit, plant nectar and bird droppings. The adult fly is a powerful flyer known to travel 30 kilometers in search of food and egg-laying sites, giving it the ability to quickly invade new areas, according to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
The Oriental fly has spread over much of southern Asia and neighboring islands, including Sri Lanka and Taiwan, and has invaded other areas, particularly in Africa and Hawaii.
The type of fly was first found in California in 1960 and has been repeated every year since 1966 for whole fruits and vegetables coming to the state.
Plants at risk of this particular invasive species include pomes and stone fruits, oranges, dates, avocados and many vegetables, especially tomatoes and peppers.
Agriculture officials are working to eradicate the scourge by applying a small patch of fruit fly mixed with a very small dose of the insecticide, Spinosad, about 8 to 10 feet from the ground on roadside trees, utility poles, street lights and other similar areas. . Male fruit flies are attracted to this mixture and die after eating it.
The program was carried out in an area of 1.5 miles from each area where the eastern fruit flies were trapped, according to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
Although fruit flies and other invasive species are sometimes found in agricultural areas, most are found in urban and suburban communities. The most likely way for these pests to enter the state is by being “hauled” on fruits and vegetables illegally brought back by travelers as they return from flooded areas of the world, or in packages of home-grown produce sent from other countries to California.
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