New Exotic May Be Bugging Fayette County Growers Soon

There is a new pest making its way to Fayette County.  You won’t notice when it arrives unless you grow or buy local blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, grapes, cherries, or persimmons.  The new insect is the spotted wing drosophila, a very small fly.  The fly is native to Southeast Asia but arrived in California in 2008.  It has been making itself at home, and now can be found in 27 states, including 20 counties in Tennessee.

 

The insect attacks small fruit by laying eggs in the berries as they start to ripen.  Each female can lay 350 eggs, and then her daughters are ready to lay all of their eggs 20 days later.  The damage looks like a circular sunken in place in the fruit with a very small larvae inside. When the insect finally arrives in Fayette County, fruit growers will have to spray insecticides weekly to keep their fruit free of extra protein from the fly larvae. 

No one can predict when the spotted wing drosophila will make it to Fayette County, but it could be any time.  In fact, this summer we set up traps in a local blueberry orchard and tested ripe fruit for larvae.  None were found, and the blueberries are growing wonderfully without the use of any insecticide sprays.  That’s good news for now, but it is unfortunately only a matter of time. For more information about how to detect the larvae in your fruit, or any other plant and soil science related question, call the UT Extension office at 901-465-5233. Or, visit  spottedwing.org or more pictures and information.