6 Oriental Fruit Flies Found; Eradication Program Planned
Six crop-destroying Oriental fruit flies have been trapped in San Bernardino County and state agriculture officials plan to to eradicate the pest before it spreads.
A “male fly annihilation treatment” will begin Friday over a 12-square-mile area encompassing the citrus orchard in the community of Grande Terrace, where the specimens were discovered on Tuesday and Wednesday, said Gera Curry, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Food and Agriculture.
The treatment includes placing a bait mixture containing a sexual lure and a pesticide that is lethal to the insects on vertical surfaces about eight feet above the ground, Curry said.
She also said trapping will be intensified over an 81-square-mile area, including parts of Riverside County.
The Oriental fruit fly attacks 150 varieties of fruit trees and ornamentals.
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