Posts Tagged: fruit
It’s Fire Blight Season!
If you are noticing droopy, dried-out flower clusters on your pears, Asian pears, quince, apples or...
Presenting: A Butterfly and a Fly
A gray butterfly and a fruit fly... Each has "fly" in its name but one is a member of the...
A fruit fly, Neotephritis finalis, peers up at a gray hairstreak butterfly, Strymon melinus, in a bed of Coreopsis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Closeup of a fruit fly, Neotephritis finalis, an organism commonly known as a "sunflower seed maggot." Green is reflected in its eyes. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Peach Leaf Curl Control Period
Spring is just around the corner and many types of fruit trees are starting to develop their...
Staying Up to Date on Fruit Flies
Invasive Fruit Flies
California is currently experiencing an unusually high?number?of invasive fruit fly?detections, resulting in quarantines being established across numerous California counties, including Ventura County. These invasive fruit fly species – including Mediterranean fruit fly, Oriental fruit fly, Queensland fruit fly and tau fruit fly – are considered not established in California. The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), in cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and various County Agricultural Commissioners, has initiated local regulatory measures to eradicate and prevent the further spread of these fruit fly species statewide.
Resources:
- CAFruitFly.com
- Invasive Fruit Fly - Guide for Growers [NEW]
- Fruit Fly Quarantine Boundaries and Maps
- Frequently Asked Questions from Industry Members
- Harvest and Crop Movement Requirements for Growers
- Oriental Fruit Fly (Over 300 crops impacted)
- Mediterranean Fruit Fly
- Queensland Fruit Fly
- Tau Fruit Fly
- Residential Treatment Information and Maps (Conducted by CDFA)
While CDFA, USDA and our local County Agricultural Commissioners will be working to educate residents on the issue in the various quarantine areas, we ask you to please encourage nearby residents to avoid moving any homegrown produce from their properties and to cooperate with agriculture officials working in their area.
CDFA Photo: Oriental Fruit Flies
oriental fruit fly five sisters
Praise the Rain, Pass the Fungicide
Although, it's probably too late for the fungicide to correct Citrus Brown Rot
and Septoria on coastal lemons.
In normal rainfall years, a skirt spray of copper is done to prevent rain splash bringing spores of various Phytophthora species in contact with fruit. The spray is done the fall especially if high rainfall is expected that year, and can be reapplied in January/February if indeed rain has arrived. The spray is usually only up about 4 feet from the ground, rarely needed above that. But this year, there has been lots of wind and brown rot has appeared throughout tree. There has been lots of wind to spread the spores and create disease in fruit quite above ground level. Fruit on these trees is going to need to be selectively picked to avoid the infected fruit, adding to harvest costs.
https://ipm.ucanr.edu/agriculture/citrus/brown-rot/
Septoria is less common than brown rot along the coast where a skirt spray is or used to be normal practice. This was before the drought and low lemon prices made the practice less common. In the case of septoria, a whole tree copper spray is recommended in the fall. The disease, although not unseen, is not common, so most growers would apply only a copper skirt spray for brown rot. With this 2023/2024 rain year, the disease has showed up in many orchards, and of course, it is above the brown rot spray line in the canopy.
https://ipm.ucanr.edu/agriculture/citrus/septoria-spot/
Both of these diseases are going to cause problems for growers, because once in the fruit, it's not treatable or salable.