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Medfly Alighted at Least Dangerous Time for O.C.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

The Medfly has made an appearance in Orange County at a time and place that poses a minimal threat to the county’s $254-million nursery and agricultural industry, county officials said Tuesday.

And agricultural experts said it is fortunate that the trapping of the pregnant Mediterranean fruit fly was in northwest Orange County, where over the past two decades many citrus and avocado groves have given way to housing developments, rather than farther south in the Irvine Ranch area, which has become the county’s farming stronghold.

John Ellis, deputy agricultural commissioner for Orange County, noted that “in the winter there are fewer host crops in production than in the spring and summer.”

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Such crops, he said, are soft fruits and vegetables, including oranges, avocados, tomatoes and bell peppers. The Medfly lays eggs just under the skin of the crops.

Most of the county’s Valencia oranges are at present immature, hard and green--not attractive to medflies who shun all but ripe and nearly ripe fruit, he said.

If the Medfly menace spreads and persists into the spring and summer, however, the county situation could become much more dangerous. All fruit grown commercially in an infested area must be destroyed to prevent the destructive insect’s spread.

Medflies could infest the county’s Valencia orange crop, which was valued at $20.6 million in the 1988 crop year, as well as its peppers, valued at $11.22 million; lemons, $7.4 million; tomatoes, $6 million, and its avocados, $8.4 million.

Even today, if the medflies spread to the Irvine Ranch, they would endanger its 1,250 acres of avocado trees, which include three avocado varieties that are grown and harvested year round.

Also, Murai Farms Vice President Dick Miller said, his company expects to pick tomatoes on the Irvine Ranch until mid-December.

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The next tomato harvest in the area, he said, will begin in June or July.

Peter Changala, manager of the Irvine Co. agricultural operation, said: “We haven’t had any problem so far. We are holding our breath.”

Federal, state and county agriculture officials Tuesday agreed to quarantine about 25 square miles in the county, which include parts of Brea, Fullerton and La Habra. That area will be tacked onto a previously established quarantine area in the San Gabriel Valley. In addition, because October Orange County has had a fruit fly quarantine in place in parts of Buena Park, La Palma and Cypress.

Don Wimmer, regulatory supervisor for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said the new county Medfly quarantine includes about six nurseries that may sell citrus trees and 200 acres of avocados, most from small groves.

Some of the groves, he said, are out of commercial production, with owners simply waiting for property values to rise before selling them to developers.

Wimmer said nurseries in the quarantine area are being asked to strip their containerized citrus trees of fruit and drench the dirt in the containers with pesticide before selling the trees for planting.

Also, he said, supermarkets and fruit stands are being required to screen or sack their fruit so medflies cannot land on it.

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Craig Iwataki, manager of Tokay Garden Nursery in Brea, said Tuesday that he had to pluck the fruit from about 300 citrus trees, most of them the miniature variety that people use to landscape their homes.

“This is the time of the year that people like to buy trees with fruit on them,” Iwataki said. “We hated to do it. (But) we want to do our part.”

Although stripped trees may not sell as well, he said, his loss is small “when you compare the possible damage to the fruit industry” from the Medfly.

Homeowners with back-yard fruit trees, including persimmons and guavas, are being told that they may not move or sell the fruit, although they may give it to friends if they first cook or puree it.

The biggest potential loss will be suffered by commercial growers in the quarantine area, who will not be able to take their fruit to market. But those growers are thought to be few.

“There are no large growers with ripe fruit right now,” Deputy Agricultural Commissioner Ellis said. He said Tuesday that he is identifying people with back-yard groves with the aid of local packinghouses and the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

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Wimmer said the quarantine will last until July, but will be extended if another pregnant Medfly is sighted in the area.

FAVORITE MEDFLY FOODS

Adult Mediterranean fruit flies damage crops by laying eggs under the skin of certain fruits. When the eggs hatch, the Medfly larvae feed on the fruit’s pulp. Here is a list of the major crops in the county that face losses from Medfly infestations.

Acreage Production Value Crop Bearing (in tons) (in thousands) Valencia oranges 3,975 76,042 $20,605 Strawberries 2,336 65,735 43,385 Tomatoes 915 23,520 5,958 Lemons 805 18,032 7,393 Peppers 647 8,159 11,217 Avocados 1,641 5,251 8,402 Grapefruit 370 2,708 812 Navels & Misc. oranges 64 483 137 Other subtropical 27 97 47

Source: 1988 Orange County Crop Report, Orange County agricultural commissioner

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