New Spraying Plan Is Unveiled : Infestation: Revised strategy against Medfly calls for three more malathion treatments around Garden Grove.

State agriculture officials, offering the first details of their stepped-up attack on the Mediterranean fruit fly, on Monday ordered three more malathion treatments around Garden Grove as part of a plan to respray about half of Southern California’s infested areas.

Under a new schedule that tones down overly optimistic predictions about the Medfly battle, about 250 square miles of existing spray zones around Southern California will be hit at least once more from the air during May, officials announced.

A 36-square-mile area that includes virtually all of Garden Grove, half of Westminster, and parts of seven other neighboring cities and is home to about 400,000 residents is scheduled to be sprayed three more times this month--more additional treatments than any other area.

The frequency of the sprayings will also be stepped up to once a week. Sprayings for the Garden Grove region are set for May 16, May 23 and May 30.

With fewer sterile flies available from Hawaii production facilities than anticipated, agricultural officials looked for ways of conserving them. The Garden Grove region offered that opportunity, officials said, because it appears that its treatment may be completed with just a few more sprayings--and without using the sterile flies at all.

“Our hope,” said Pat Minyard, deputy director of the Medfly Project in El Monte, “is that we can make three treatments (in the Garden Grove area), keep trapping and find no more flies, and be able to declare the fly eradicated there by December.”

Until last week, state agriculture officials had promised to end the 10-month-old malathion campaign in most parts of Southern California by Wednesday. But a series of widespread Medfly finds and a potential shortage of sterile Medflies prompted officials to retreat from that plan.

The war, they conceded, had not been won.

An eight-square-mile spray zone around Brea, which last November became the first area in Orange County to receive aerial malathion treatments, will not get any more applications under the new schedule.

Instead, crews of agricultural workers will release millions of sterile Medflies in the North County area to try to breed the crop-attacking pest out of existence. That process will likely start around Brea on Thursday, officials said.

In all, spraying will be ended by Wednesday in about 225 square miles around Southern California, officials said.

However, new finds anywhere in the Southland could prompt more sprayings, they said.

Barring any more discoveries, the end of May “should be the end of it” for all Southern California spray zones outside of the new treatment areas in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, where flies have been discovered in recent weeks, Minyard said.

But critics of the state’s controversial, $30-million battle against the Medfly were, at the least, skeptical.

“Obviously, we’re not happy with this at all,” said Bob Taylor, a Garden Grove resident who has helped organize anti-malathion protests in the area and is now trying to gather signatures for a statewide ballot initiative to ban such sprayings.

“No one’s going to have any confidence in whatever date (state officials) say is going to be the end because they just don’t seem to know what they’re doing. Things are out of control,” Taylor said. “It’s becoming increasingly evident that they’re really beating a dead horse--that the process just doesn’t work.”

David Moore, president of the Irvine-based Western Growers Assn., said the new strategy put in place Monday has his “100%” backing. But he conceded that the announcement will do little to help the already-damaged image of the agriculture industry, seen by some as having a stranglehold on state decisions through its powerful financial interests.

“I’d like to think that we in agriculture wear the white hats, the good guys,” said Moore, whose group represents 1,300 fresh produce growers and shippers in California and Arizona. “But I just hate to see what’s happening to us in the public eye because it just seems like we’re getting pounded.”

However, pointing to the threat posed by the Medfly’s spread to the Riverside area and the prospect of export quarantines, Moore added that malathion spraying “is the only proven thing that will work, and I still say we’re going to win this battle. . . .”

Isi Siddiqui, the assistant director of the state Department of Food and Agriculture, who two months ago predicted an end to the infestation by June, said the situation is now too unpredictable to say when the state will be able to eradicate the pest.

In addition to the extra sprayings announced Monday for some areas, 34 square miles in the City of San Bernardino will have to be repeatedly sprayed with malathion through at least June because of the limited supply of sterile flies.

The Riverside County community of Woodcrest will be sprayed during the summer, but only because of the commercial citrus groves in the area.

But with the hot summer months approaching, offering ideal breeding conditions for the Medfly, the infestation could grow dramatically in the next few months, experts said.

Times staff writer Ashley Dunn contributed to this report.

THE MEDFLY INFESTATION

More treatments have been scheduled in some Southern California areas in the battle against the Mediterranean fruit fly. Map shows the numbered zones that have received malathion spraying to date, the area that has been treated with the release of sterile flies only, and the Medfly quarantine areas.

Text below details the status of each area, including plans announced Monday for future spraying and release of sterile flies. 1. Brea / La Habra: Previously sprayed nine times. Last treatment was April 30. Sterile flies scheduled to be released this week. 2. Downey / Norwalk: Previously sprayed nine times. One additional malathion treatment scheduled for Monday. 3. Eagle Rock / South Pasadena: Previously sprayed nine times. Two additional malathion treatments scheduled for tonight and May 17. 4. Glendora: Previously sprayed seven times. Last treatment was April 30. Sterile flies scheduled to be released this week. 5. North Hollywood: Previously sprayed eight times. Last treatment was April 28. 6. Panorama City: Previously sprayed seven times. Two additional malathion treatments scheduled for May 16 and 23. 7. Rosemead / Monrovia: Previously sprayed 10 times. One additional malathion treatment scheduled for Wednesday night. 8. South Gate: Previously sprayed nine times. One additional malathion treatment scheduled forMay 15. 9. Sylmar: Previously sprayed five times. Last malathion treatment was April 2. 10. Irwindale: Previously sprayed six times. Last malathion treatment was April 30. Sterile flies scheduled to be released this week. 11. Verdugo Hills: Previously sprayed five times. Last time sprayed was April 26. Sterile flies scheduled to be released this week. 12. Garden Grove: Previously sprayed six times. Three additional malathion treatments scheduled for May 16, 23 and 30. 13. Pomona: Previously sprayed four times. Fifteen square miles were phased out on May 3. Sterile flies scheduled to be released the week of May 14. An 11-square-mile extension that includes the northern part of Phillips Ranch, the western part of Pomona and all of Puddingstone Reservoir are scheduled for treatment Thursday night. Sterile flies scheduled to be released the week of May 21. 14. Diamond Bar: Previously sprayed two times. Fourteen square miles were phased out on April26. Sterile flies scheduled to be released this week. A 24-square-mile extension that includes most of Walnut, the southeast corner of West Covina and portions of Los Angeles County is scheduled for treatment Thursday night. Sterile flies scheduled to be released the week of May 14. 15. Upland: Previously sprayed two times. Fourteen square miles were phased out on May 4. Sterile flies scheduled to be released the week of May 14. 16. Woodcrest: Previously sprayed two times. Spraying will continue into June. 17. Hancock Park: Previously sprayed two times. Last treatment was May 7. Sterile flies scheduled to be released the week of May 14. 18. San Dimas: Previously sprayed two times. One additional malathion treatment is scheduled for Thursday night. Sterile flies scheduled to be released the week of May 21. 19. San Bernardino: Malathion spraying scheduled to begin Friday night and will continue into June. Compiled by Times editorial researcher Cecilia Rasmussen