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Spotted wing drosophila (new fruit fly to Westman?)

Spotted wing drosophila (new fruit fly to Westman?)

Adam

Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

Adam
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

Spotted wing drosophila (new fruit fly to Westman?)
8/1/2015 at 11:42 PM

Curious if anyone out there with fruit still on trees/bushes have run into these pests recently. New to North America in 2008 and it sounds like much newer to Westman. The link below from a Friday story gives the impression this might be the first year for Brandon, with reports of them last week.
http://www.manitobacooperator.ca/news-opinion/news/spotted-wing-drosophila-an-unwelcome-visitor-to-fruit-farms-this-summer/

More at:
http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/cropprot/swd.pdf

Based on timing and pictures my guess is we've dealt with a few cases in cherries on our tree recently that we'll have to prepare for next year.

Edited by Adam, 2015-08-02 08:18:00
nat.
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 77

nat.
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 77

...
8/2/2015 at 12:53 PM

husband was *just* looking up info on these yesterday...we may have them in our raspberries but I'm not sure that it's not just regular fruit flies...either way, finding tiny worms/larvae in your fruit is not the most pleasant discovery. how will you prepare your plants for next year?
Adam

Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

Adam
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

SWD
8/4/2015 at 8:47 AM

Link below from the NDSU Dept of Ag from when they started being a real issue in that area in 2013 seems to say that weekly insecticide spraying is the only way.

https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/carringtonrec/documents/northernhardyfruitevaluationprojectrd/docs2013/2013-canadian-dwarf-sour-cherry-update

Very much out of my element and learning about this sort of stuff... What's safe, what's effective, what's even allowed, how far into ripening one could expect to start seeing them show up, etc etc. Then there's not knowing 100% that it was these guys or something else. Imagine I'll be doing a lot of asking, listening and Googling over the winter!
Adam

Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

Adam
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

SWD
7/26/2016 at 3:10 PM

Looks like they might be back again this year.... added a picture from cherry tree this afternoon that seems to match what comes up on a Google search. No larvae sightings yet (it was a few days later than this last year) but some fruit showing signs of damage a la the link below.

Coukd just be the new reality for fruit in Westman. Supposedly effect at least some varieties of blueberries, raspberries, strawberries along with cherries and possibly grapes. Not sure which varieties locally but they seem to at least like Evans cherries, didn't seem to have any issues with Valiant grapes last year.

There's some info on how to recognize damaged fruit at:
http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1957/19525/em9021.pdf

Would be interested to hear from someone more horticulturally inclined than myself on effect locally on types of fruit that grows in Westman along with control methods.
Adam

Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

Adam
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

Larvae
7/31/2016 at 1:51 PM

Looks like its larvae time this weekend. Interestingly the Evans is effected but so far Romeo, Crimson Passion Cherry arent at our place at least. Believe they also like the big Evans down the street. Have picked what's left on the tree clean to prevent from developing further and hopefully get a jump on next year. At least we got quite a bit of a usable crop before before things got to this point, but next year's going to have to be spray time!