Oriental Fruit Fly (OFF) in Miami-Dade County!

There is a new Oriental Fruit Fly Detection in Miami-Dade County confirmed on August of 2015 by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS). Education on prevention, monitoring and eradication once is detected is the key to keep this new detection under control.

If you want to see where is the Oriental Fruit Fly Program Redland Quarantine Zone: Click HERE and go to MAPS section

What plants they like? These flies infest a broad range of host plants including fruits and vegetables wherever they occur. The exact host range varies by area of infestation, so for those operations that grow tropical fruit in conjunction with fruiting ornamental plants, this is an alert to be on the lookout for this pest.

This fly prefers fruit and vegetables over ornamental plants. Oriental fruit fly is a destructive insect pest of innumerable commercial agricultural crops. Fruits (including berries), many kinds of vegetables, and the fruiting bodies of many wild and ornamental plants are known to be hosts or possible hosts of the Oriental fruit fly. Some ornamental plants are listed:

  • Areca palm: Areca catechu L
  • Benjamin fig: Ficus benjamina L.
  • Cactus: Cereus aethiops Haw
  • Creeping fig or climbing fig: Ficus pumila L
  • Chinese banyan: Ficus microcarpa L. f.
  • Coco plum: Chrysobalanus icaco L.
  • Date palm: Phoenix dactylifera L
  • Pond‐apple: Annona glabra L

If you want to read the entire list of host Click HOST HERE and go to HOST LIST section

About the fly (Bactrocera dorsalis): Oriental fruit fly eggs hatch in 1 – 3 days. Ideal conditions for incubation are 80 ⁰F. and 70 % relative humidity. Eggs are laid within the host fruit or vegetable. Cool weather prolongs the life cycle, which would probably be about 30 days in Florida during the warm months. The larvae feed and develop inside the host material, making it unfit for human consumption. Larval feeding usually results in premature fruit drop.

The larvae drop from the host fruit or vegetable, burrow into the soil (½ to 2 inches deep) and enter the pupal stage for 10 to 12 days until the adults emerge. Ideal conditions for pupae are 75 to 80 ⁰ F. and 70 to 80% relative humidity; below about 50⁰F. no development takes place.

The adult oriental fruit fly emerges from its pupal case and digs its way through the soil, usually in the early hours of sunlight when the relative humidity is high. During their first week as adults, flies search out food sources such as honey-dew, nectar, decomposing fruit, or bird droppings. During this stage the adult flies frequently disperse away from the area where they emerged from the soil, often several miles. More about the fly. Click HERE and go to RELATED LINKS

If you suspect your grove/nursery could be in danger or would like to know more about the current

Oriental Fruit Fly (OFF) program in Miami-Dade

Please attend the next informative workshop by The University of Florida Tropical Research and Education Center (TREC), USDA-APHIS and Division of Plant Industry (DPI) specialists. More info CLICK HERE

Date: September 9th, 2015 (Wednesday)

Location: University of Florida/IFAS Extension Miami-Dade County.

18710 SW 288th St. Homestead, FL 33030

Time: 2:00PM – 3:30PM

Agenda

  • Current Oriental Fruit Fly (OFF) Program – Abbie Fox, Dir. Fla. Fruit Fly Prog., USDA-APHIS
  • OFF Program Treatments within the Treatment Area – Matt Brodie, Envir. Supervisor, FDACS-DPI
  • Postharvest Quarantine Treatments – Daniel Carrillo, Entomologist – Tropical Fruit Crops, UF/IFAS TREC
  • Thirty-day pre-harvest bait spray and OFF trapping program – Jonathan Crane, Tropical Fruit Crop Specialist, UF/IFAS TREC and Daniel Carrillo, Entomologist – Tropical Fruit Crops, UF/IFAS TREC
  • Questions and Answers

Source: http://www.freshfromflorida.com/Divisions-Offices/Plant-Industry/Pests-Diseases/Exotic-Fruit-Flies/Oriental-Fruit-Fly-Information

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Posted: September 8, 2015


Category: Agriculture, Crops, Horticulture, Pests & Disease, UF/IFAS, UF/IFAS Extension, UF/IFAS Research
Tags: FDACS, Florida Pest Alert, Fruit Pest, Miami-Dade, Mosca Oriental De La Fruta, OFF, Oriental Fruit Fly, Pest, UF/IFAS Miami-Dade Extension, Vegetable, Workshop


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