- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
Mark Bolda, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Santa Cruz County, was recognized by the North American Raspberry and Blackberry Association in January for his research and extension work on spotted wing drosophila, reported The Grower.
Bolda received the 2013 Distinguished Service Award at the association's North American Berry Conference, Jan. 30, in Portland, Ore. He first identified drosophila as a new pest for coastal California berry growers in late 2008. Bolda led field trials to...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
One of the newer exotic pests in California, spotted wing drosophila, caught growers and researchers off guard last year, according to a special report by Dow AgroSciences that was published today in American/Western Fruit Grower magazine.
The Asian native pest was first detected in California in 2008 along the coast. By then, it had already established itself to an extent that CDFA deemed it impossible to eradicate. SWP has increasingly been found inland, especially in the sweet cherry districts around Stockton and Hollister, the article said.
“That’s when the wheels came off the wagon and a lot of people got hurt very badly,” the story...
- Author: Jeannette E. Warnert
A fruit fly that made its first California appearance four years ago in Watsonville - spotted wing drosophila - can be managed with three basic common-sense techniques.
"It's going to come down to trapping, monitoring and good sanitation," Mark Bolda, University of California Cooperative Extension farm adviser in Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito counties, told a group of growers in January, according to an article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
"Most of the industry is in this room right...
