COUNTYWIDE : Pest-Control Release Excludes County
The state Department of Food and Agriculture has begun releasing a breed of stingless wasps in Southern California to combat the devastating ash whitefly, officials announced Thursday.
Ventura County, however, has been excluded from the first wave of releases because of short supplies, said Peter Stoddard, a research scientist with the agriculture department’s pest management branch.
The wasps are harmless to humans but act as a biological control against the ash whitefly.
The wasps are being bred in a UC Riverside greenhouse, but reproduction has been relatively slow, Stoddard said. Twelve counties from San Diego to Fresno are expected to see releases of small colonies of wasps before the summer is through.
The ash whitefly was first detected two years ago by suburban homeowners in the eastern part of Ventura County where large shade trees have been attacked by the pesky insect.
The tiny whitefly attacks a tree by sucking its sap. It produces a sticky fluid that coats cars, sidewalks and patio furniture. Left unchecked, the fly eventually kills all the leaves on the infested tree.
Agriculture officials say they are trying to stop the spread of the whitefly before it threatens commercial crops.
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