Post-Medfly Report: L.A. Still Battling Insects : Agriculture: A host of exotic, destructive species have made their home in the county. An inviting climate and lack of inspectors for international travelers and cargo are blamed.

While agricultural officials have been consumed for the last 16 months with eradicating the Mediterranean fruit fly, a host of other exotic pests--some as big a threat to agriculture as the Medfly--have quietly invaded Southern California.

With little fanfare, at least four other crop-destroying fruit flies from around the world have been discovered in Los Angeles: the Mexican fruit fly, the Oriental fruit fly, the melon fly from Asia and even the rare and notorious Indian peach fly.

Around Los Angeles International Airport, county agricultural inspectors reported finding a record number of Japanese beetles, which attack about 275 different species of plants. Thirteen of the Asian insects have been found since the beginning of the year--as many as in the five previous years combined.

Ash whiteflies, three gypsy moths and scads of eugenia psyllids, an Australian bug that has probably caused more crop damage locally than any other bug since its introduction two years ago, can also be added to the list.

Los Angeles has become the unofficial exotic insect and quarantine capital of the nation. The only area more infested is Hawaii, where the insects invaded decades ago--and established themselves.

Out of California’s list of 10 most unwanted insects, six were found in Los Angeles County this year--the Medfly, Mexfly, Oriental fruit fly, melon fly, Japanese beetle and gypsy moth. The invasions have gotten so bad that for a brief time this summer, part of Compton and Lynwood had three insect infestations going on at the same time--Medfly, Mexfly and Oriental fruit fly.

At least 400 different types of banned pests were found at the airport and Los Angeles and Long Beach harbors--more than any other city in the nation. Agricultural officials figure they got about a quarter of what actually made it in.

“It’s just a product of our globe-trotting ways,” said UC Riverside entomologist Robert Luck. “In the long haul, we’re going to have a lot of interesting insect problems to come.”

The blame, agricultural officials say, lies partly with Los Angeles’ Mediterranean climate, where everything from tropical mangoes to desert cacti grow with abandon. Not only can an insect find a smorgasbord of delights to munch on, but also a lack of natural predators to keep their populations in check.

“For an insect, this is like Eden,” said Robert Atkins, deputy agricultural commissioner for Los Angeles County in charge of pest prevention.

But the major problem is the enormous amount of international traffic into Los Angeles and the inability to screen out the waves of unwanted pests with just a few agricultural inspectors.

James S. Eddy, the officer in charge of pest exclusion in Los Angeles for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said 41 inspectors and two fruit-sniffing dogs handle close to 5 million international passengers a year and all packages to the post office, as well as cargo at the airport and the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.

“I have a feeling we’re bailing with a tea cup when it’s coming in by the gallon,” he said.

Eddy, a burly 30-year veteran of the bug wars, said the inspection of cargo and passengers has deteriorated so badly over the years that only about 2% of all luggage is now opened and checked. A package is rarely opened unless it is marked as containing agricultural products or “it’s oozing fruit juice.”

“To stop every person who wants to sneak a litchi to grandma, there’s no way in hell,” he said. “It’s just like if you want to bring in a pocketful of cocaine.”

The number of arriving international passengers at the airport has increased dramatically from 712,000 in 1970, but Eddy said his staff is still the same size.

“I come to work every day hoping the phone will ring and someone will tell me that they’ve approved 40 more people for me,” he said. “It’s going downhill.”

The number and frequency of exotic pest outbreaks throughout the county has paralleled Los Angeles’ rise into becoming a major hub of the Pacific Rim.

The vast majority of exotic fruit flies has been discovered in Los Angeles only in the last 15 years. The Medfly made its first appearance in the state in Santa Monica in 1975. The peach fly, Queensland fruit fly, African pumpkin fly, guava fruit fly and even one fly that scientists have never quite been able to identify have all been trapped for the first time in just the last five years.

Los Angeles County Agricultural Commissioner E. Leon Spaugy said when he began his career as a state inspector in 1956, the discovery of a single melon fly near UCLA touched off a near panic. It has now been found in the county five of the last six years, including the latest trapping last month near the airport.

“I don’t think the infestations have reached epidemic proportions yet, but it certainly has become routine to find these bugs,” he said. “The only thing to our credit is that we have been able to put out the fire, but I’m not sure how much longer we will be able to do that.”

Some scientists, such as UC Davis entomologist James R. Carey, argue the state already has failed to stop some pests, such as the Medfly and the Oriental fruit fly, which he believes have become established in Southern California.

Once established, the insects are extremely difficult to root out. Consider the case of two tiny pests that invaded Los Angeles and have not only gained a beachhead, but appear to have won the war.

The most damaging of the two, the eugenia psyllid from Australia, stormed into Los Angeles two years ago through some unknown pathway.

While more than $40 million was poured into the eradication of the Medfly, the state spent nothing to control the eugenia psyllid, which has now wiped out the eugenia shrub market. The pest attacks the leaves of the eugenia shrub, leaving clumps of tiny boils all over the plant.

Owen Shiozaki, a manager at the White Flower Nursery in Gardena, used to sell about $40,000 worth of the shrub each year. Now, he doesn’t even bother with them.

“It’s all over,” he said. “We quit growing them this year. No one wants to buy a scraggly looking plant.”

The eugenia psyllid has spread beyond Southern California and is now infesting the northern half of the state.

“The market has essentially died,” said Glenn Tachibana of Pacific Nursery in Gardena. “Some are hoping we’ll see it come back, but basically it’s dropped off to nothing.”

Despite the millions spent to eradicate the Medfly, the pest is not the hardest to wipe out.

The Japanese beetle is notoriously difficult to destroy. This year, a record number were found near the airport, although the numbers were still too small to warrant an eradication campaign.

Agricultural Commissioner Spaugy said if an active breeding population is eventually found, the county would be in for at least a three-year battle of intensive ground pesticide spraying. He said the most effective pesticide against the bug has been banned for years, forcing the eradicators to rely on weaker and less thorough pesticides.

“You have to go door to door, back yard to back yard,” Spaugy said. “It’s really, really hard work.”

The eradication effort against other pests has been just as annoying as the weekly flights of malathion-bearing helicopters that infuriated Southern Californians this year.

About three months ago, Linda Russo of Canoga Park was in her kitchen at about 1:30 a.m. when she heard a loud rumbling slowly coming up her street. She stepped outside and saw a convoy of three trucks accompanied by a crew of workers in protective, rubberized orange suits. A floodlight on one of the trucks lit up the air and a powerful sprayer unleashed a torrent of insecticidal soap at the trees.

“It was like the ‘Twilight Zone,’ ” she said.

As the trucks neared her house, a worker told her to go back inside because they would be spraying to control the ash whitefly, a tiny bug first spotted in Van Nuys in 1988, one that has since spread to Sacramento in the north and the Mexican border to the south.

The crew let loose a stream of the soap mixture into the trees, but also managed to drench her house, car and most of her front yard.

“It just tore the trees apart, leaves were flying, it was like the parting of the Red Sea,” she said.

The crew slowly sprayed its way down the street and then left. Russo ran outside and saw the block littered with tree branches and leaves. Insecticidal soap was dripping from everything.

“I’d rather live with the fly any day,” she said.

THE 10 MOST UNWANTED AGRICULTURAL PESTS Like the FBI, the California Department of Food and Agriculture keeps its own list of the “10 most unwanted” pests and plants diseases. The Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata , originated in the Mediterranean region, although it has now spread through parts of South America, Central America, Europe, Africa and Asia. The Medfly attacks over 260 type of fruits and vegetables.

The Oriental fruit fly, Dacus dorsalis , attacks more than 150 kinds of fruits and vegetables. It traces its roots to southern Asia.

The Mexican fruit fly, Anastrepha ludens , is established in Mexico, Central America and portion of Southern Texas around the Lower Rio Grande Valley. The Mexfly attacks 64 types of fruits and vegetables, primarily citrus.

The Caribbean fruit fly, Anastrepha suspensa, is native to the West Indies and is a threat to a number of tropical and sub-tropical fruits.

The melon fly, Dacus cucurbitae, is indigenous to India, Southeast Asia, the Mariana Islands and the Hawaiian Islands. The reddish-yellow fly is a threat to more than 125 species of plants.

The cotton boll weevil, Anthonomous grandis , came from Mexico and has now spread to Texas and Arizona. The pest invaded Imperial and Riverside counties from western Arizona in 1982. An eradication effort started in 1985 is now nearing completion.

The gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar, now infests most of New England. The pest defoliates more than 500 varieties of trees, shrubs and garden plants.

Citrus canker is an incurable plant disease caused by the bacterium, Xanthomonas campestri pathovar citri , that attacks most varieties of citrus. The disease is believed to have originated in India and Java.

The Khapra beetle, Trogoderma granarium , is native to India and is now found on all continents except South and North America. The beetle attacks most varieties of grain.

The Japanese beetle, Popillia japonica , is native to Japan and is now common in Europe, Asia and much of the U.S. Atlantic Coast. The pest attacks 275 different varieties of fruits, vegetables and trees.

SOURCE: California Department of Food and Agriculture.