CAMARILLO : 11th Spraying of Malathion Planned

Agricultural officials are set to conduct their 11th aerial application of the pesticide malathion over eastern Camarillo on Tuesday in the continuing battle against the crop-destroying Mediterranean fruit fly.

Barring inclement weather, the now-familiar quartet of helicopters--three spraying and one guiding--will lift off from Camarillo Airport at 9 p.m. The spray mission is expected to last about four hours.

Meteorologists with the National Weather Service in Oxnard are forecasting sunny days and cloudy, cool nights for the next five days. No rain is in the forecast and winds are expected to remain below 10 m.p.h.

State pesticide regulations forbid the spraying of pesticides such as malathion whenever there is a 50% or greater chance of rain within 24 hours after an application or whenever winds are 10 m.p.h or greater over the spray zone.

With good weather, agricultural officials expect the eradication effort to conclude by early May.