Oriental Fruit Flies Discovered in Carson Area

State workers are starting an eradication program against the Oriental fruit fly this weekend over a nine-square-mile area in and around Carson after the recent discovery of two crop-threatening pests, Los Angeles County’s top agriculture official said Friday.

Work crews from the California Department of Food and Agriculture will begin applying a sex lure and pesticide to utility poles and trees in an effort aimed at destroying any remaining flies and stemming an infestation that could threaten both commercial and back-yard fruits and vegetables.

“The Oriental fruit fly is a very serious pest,” said Leon Spaugy, Los Angeles County’s agriculture commissioner. “But it’s one that we’ve successfully eradicated many times in the past.”

County officials said the eradication program will not involve any aerial spraying and will cover neighborhoods in Carson, as well as small strips of the city of Los Angeles and unincorporated county territory. The northern boundary extends from 190th Street near the San Diego Freeway to University Drive, while the southern boundary is Lomita Boulevard. The infestation area is bordered on the west by Western Avenue and on the east in a rough line along Central, Vera and Wilmington avenues.

Within that area, workers will use a special liquid formula designed to attract the male Oriental fruit fly and destroy it. The formula will be placed on trees, utility poles and fence posts eight feet off he ground, Spaugy said.

“It’s a small squirt, if you will, from a squirt gun that (contains) a small amount of methyl eugenol combined with a small, minuscule droplet of Naled, a sexual attracter that lures male Oriental fruit flies,” he said.

“They come in contact with it and then die.”

The eradication program was launched after the discovery of two male fruit flies in the last week. The first was found July 25 near the 300 block of West Fiat Street in a trap in a peach tree, Spaugy said. The second was discovered Thursday in an apricot tree, a half-mile away in the 21000 block of South Main Street.

Spaugy said the flies were probably brought from Hawaii by a traveler carrying fruits or vegetables or may have arrived in the mail with similar agricultural products.

A single Oriental fruit fly was found in June in Alhambra, he said, but no eradication measures were needed.

Spaugy said the Oriental fruit fly will attack as many as 240 varieties of fruits and vegetables.