L.A. Medfly No Threat to Ventura Agriculture

Ventura County growers should not be alarmed about Tuesday’s discovery of a sixth reproducing Mediterranean fruit fly in South-Central Los Angeles, agriculture officials say.

“I don’t anticipate this discovery has any implications for Ventura County at all,” said Larry Hawkins, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Kerry Bustamante, Ventura County’s deputy agricultural commissioner, agreed that the small infestation 40 miles south of the county line poses no immediate threat.

“Definitely not,” she said. “We still have our year-round detection traps out and constantly monitor them. We’re only finding sterile medflies. The sterile-release program in the L.A. Basin is working.”

The sterile fruit flies that are being detected are all in Simi Valley, which is to be expected, Bustamante added. “They’re good hitchhikers.”

The medfly is one of the most destructive pests known to modern agriculture, and attacks more than 250 varieties of fruits, nuts and vegetables, according to the Cooperative Medfly Project, which is comprised of federal, state and Los Angeles County agricultural officials.

This week’s medfly discovery in Walnut Park near Watts prompted the USDA and state and Los Angeles County agriculture departments to jointly begin additional eradication measures, including a quarantine around Walnut Park and Huntington Park, six miles south of downtown Los Angeles.

The eradication effort also includes limited ground treatments of malathion and bait treatments, plus increased release of sterile medflies and intensified trapping in the affected area.

“We anticipated that we’d find some medflies,” said Hawkins, adding that the find hasn’t triggered any special action in Ventura County.

“Ventura County already has a very aggressive year-round program,” Hawkins said. “All the counties from Sacramento south have year-round detection programs. Many times they’ve detected medflies in L.A. County with no effect on Ventura County.

“There’s a natural barrier--the mountains,” Hawkins added. “They [medflies] also have to go up and over the Conejo Grade. This fly is usually moved by [other] means, anyway. That’s why the quarantine restricts the movement of fruit.”

The only other current medfly infestation in California, he said, is a single detection in Santa Clara County, south of San Francisco. Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner Earl McPhail shares Bustamante and Hawkins’ confidence in the effectiveness of the county’s medfly program. He is more concerned this week with the persea mite, which defoliates avocado trees.

“This kind of weather we’re having, hot and humid, really helps them reproduce,” he said. “The worst area in the county is halfway between Santa Paula and Fillmore. They’re showing up along the coast, too.”

McPhail said the persea mites are not threatening the county’s avocado crop yet. “The growers have been releasing beneficial insects, also called predatory mites, around the county to combat the persea mites.”

He also expects cool weather to help bring the mite problem under control by discouraging reproduction.