I've been hearing and reading about SWD in Western Oregon, and today I see it on the front page of the Sunday newspaper. I've never had any insect pests on my blackberries or blueberries, nor my peaches or plums. Are those days gone? Is the PNW's berry industry in for tough times? Have any of you ever had a problem with SWD yet? Ever seen one?
From everything I've read, the PNW is heaven for these guys. This seems to us like the Mediterranean Fruit Fly was to California.
These flies are a bigger threat than any California med-fly of years past. Most fruit flies just seek out rotting fruit to lay eggs. This new fly has a sharp jagged ovipositor that it uses to puncture perfectly intact fruit skin and then lays its eggs.
Fruit fly from hell, supposedly.
I didn't get any blackberries at all last summer. Seemed the bees and yellow jackets got all them. But now I am wondering if it was the fruit fly that really got there first, making the fruit spoil...
Tough apple skins might be somewhat a barrier.
What it means to me is that I'll probably be able to open up a bunch of space in both my front and back yards that is planted with or planned for blueberries.
Has anyone heard if "they" are looking for natural predators of this thing? We'll import them, get a little control of the drosophila scourge, and create a different problem.
Spotted Wing Drosophila
“Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD), an exotic vinegar fly species, has rapidly emerged as a threat to NW berry crops, causing major economic damage to late season caneberries and blueberries in SW Washington and Western Oregon. It has also been found in strawberries, grapes, cherries, peaches, and other thin skinned fruit and is a threat to those crops as well.
Given our limited knowledge of the pest and its lifecycle in our region, the impact on the 2010 crop cannot be predicted; therefore, the coordination of accurate and timely information is critical to growers. Mistimed/unneeded pesticide applications and/or direct pest damage to crops could lead to economic losses.
A ‘working group/task force’ of research, extension, and industry personnel from California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia is forming. A high level of coordination and cooperation of many people are going into this effort. For the time being, we’ll be using this site (berries.com) to give NW berry growers and the industry SWD updates and links to the many sites and people getting involved with helping all of us address this issue and prepare for the coming season.â€
http://www.berriesnw.com/
Interesting that only one of the 3 fruit flies in the picture has spotted wings. Is that a mutation or is it sex difference or something?
Last year I had a ton of flies on my red raspberries at teh end of the season. Perhaps on my figs too which are right next to them. This really sucks. I'm just getting ready to reap the fruits of my labors of 3 or 4 years ago when I really got to planting things and now this.
I didn't but I attended a better living show in Portland on Sunday. The lady was talking about Integrated Pest Management. She said that one of the best things you can do for natural protection is to have a truly 3d vertical yard with ground cover, small shrubs, big shrubs, and trees, so spiders can catch bad bugs. Also, small birds can then shelter and get away from hawks. Guess what small birds eat? Insects.
She said people are in a furious information gathering phase right now and interested gardeners can get trained and be data managers for the state ag departments if they are interested, or just put out apple cider vinegar to see when they come, and be prepared to deal with them. Knowing their mating dates in your yard is cruciall to effective fighting. She said they only mate within like a week every year. They are tiny and destructive.
John S
PDX OR
I attended the March 30th meeting and can share a bit about what I learned. If anyone else out there took home different messages, please chime in.
"I thought they could breed up to ten times a year"
True, but in our region they're more likely to have 3-5 generations per year.
"...one of the best things you can do for natural protection is to have a truly 3d vertical yard with ground cover, small shrubs, big shrubs, and trees, so spiders can catch bad bugs. "
Also true, but while they're promoting the creation of habitat for benficial insects, bats, etc. one of the things the experts are preaching to the commercial growers is sanitation - no fruit on the ground (burn or bury), no fruit left on the trees (harvest the good AND the bad), etc. And a LOT of spraying. So where does that leave those of us who want to minimize spraying and create a "3d vertical yard"? Time will tell.
"Interesting that only one of the 3 fruit flies in the picture has spotted wings. Is that a mutation or is it sex difference or something?"
Spot on (see, that was a joke... about spots... e-hem...). The males develop spots. The females do not, but they've got that hardcore ovipositure so they don't need any stinkin' spots.
"Egads, what next? Are we gonna have to start bagging our berries now?"
Keep checking in with OSU's SWD website - http://swd.hort.oregonstate.edu/. You can even subscribe to an 'SWD Updates' email list.
"What it means to me is that I'll probably be able to open up a bunch of space in both my front and back yards that is planted with or planned for blueberries."
One of the other things they emphasized at the meeting is that they still know very little and a calm, focused approach is really important. Larger than life front page photos don't really help much in this regard. Bottom line is everyone's waiting to see how this season shakes out before they decide the only crops anyone will be able to grow will be potatoes and nettles.
"Has anyone heard if "they" are looking for natural predators of this thing? We'll import them, get a little control of the drosophila scourge, and create a different problem."
They are. I asked about the potential for some of our local parasitic wasps as predators and was told that they're not considered candidates at this point. Our wasps are too big, but they're related to the wasp being considered as an "import".
"I've been hearing and reading about SWD in Western Oregon, and today I see it on the front page of the Sunday newspaper. I've never had any insect pests on my blackberries or blueberries, nor my peaches or plums. Are those days gone? Is the PNW's berry industry in for tough times? Have any of you ever had a problem with SWD yet? Ever seen one?
From everything I've read, the PNW is heaven for these guys. This seems to us like the Mediterranean Fruit Fly was to California."
The bullet points I took away from the meeting - which was geared toward commercial growers:
1) Early detection (trapping, monitoring) is critical. Supposedly there's a web page out there somewhere with instructions to build traps, but I haven't found it.
2) Provide habitat for beneficial insects, birds, bats, etc.
3) Sanitize your fields
4) Based on detection, follow recommended spray regimes (eg, the program for cherry growers was a different spray every 7-10 days over the course of ripening-harvest). And if you don't detect, don't spray.
5) Get involved. There are a couple sites where you can enter trapping and monitoriung data that provides real-time data to the researches and growers
6) Don't panic.
How little do they know? Consider Himalayan blackberry. On the one hand, there's a fear that the ubiquitous fruit will provide habitat, breeding ground and launch pad for the SWD. On the other hand, some researchers think the blackberries might actually act as a trap crop because they've seen 'clumping' behavior where one field/orchard is completely infested while a neighboring block of fruit in the same area is more or less pest free.
Hope all this is helpful. Personally, if/when the spots really do hit the fan, we'll figure out how to cross that bridge. For now, we're pressing forward with plans to grow - and eat - more fruit.
Apologies for the delayed response. One of the presenters was sick, I used his hand lens, then ended up with the worst cold I've had in a decade and totally out of commission for 4 days. Went to learn about a fly, brought home a bug...
Mitch
I came across this youtube site and found it intriguing.....
What was the "exotic fruit fly" they were talking about?
What was the Spinosad treatment? Was it this new GF 120 NF Naturalyte Fruit Fly Bait that I have been hearing good things about?
In my opinion we need to be learning more about this GF 120 NF and what it can be used for.
Last year I had a lot of fruit flies around my raspberries by the end of the season and I was really worried that they may have been this monster.
Well, I'm getting a bunch near my raspberries and strawberries again. Yesterday I got a look at 3 or 4 of them and they didn't have any spots. Hopefully these are run of the mill fruit flies.
With the rainy weather its been difficult to keep all of the ripe berries picked. Also its the first bearing season for the alpine white strawberries so I failed to recognize when they were ripe. I should have made a narrower bed for my raspberries. Two feet is too wide. I'll remember that next time.i
I hadn't tasted any differences or seen any tiny squiggly worms on the strawberries or salmonberries I had eaten so far.....and I hoped the cool wet weather in Seattle had kept these drosophilias at bay.
But I just received an email from a reliable source in the Seattle Tree Fruit Society that the Spotted Wing Drosophilia was seen to be doing damage to a sour cherry tree yesterday......
So, I guess they are here....and they are coming....and we will have to see just how much damage they will do to our unsprayed fruit.
(But man, what a year: apple maggot fly was late and is just now starting to make an appearance.....egg laying still not yet)
Idyllwild
simplepress
jafar
Marsha H
Viron
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