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Those Oriental fruit flies are worrisome, and they are here

Orlando Sentinel – July 2, 2008

Fly away flies

Driving home recently, I noticed a faint, odd but not totally repulsive odor wafting into my sunroof. It was raining, and there was a bit of a Twilight Zone steaminess to the street, so I chalked it up to an unseen dead critter of some sort. I drove one more block, and the culprit emerged from a foggy trail. It was one of those bug-spray trucks that pretends to keep mosquitoes at bay in Florida.

I rolled up the car windows and closed my sky portal quickly. But I figured my boomer immune system was shored up long ago by exposure to red dye, saccharin and generic baloney.

So when the news broke that two Oriental fruit flies were found in a trap last week in Winter Park, I thought: “Isn’t this what we need the bug fog for?” Indeed it is.

The Oriental fruit fly is considered one of the most serious of the world’s fruit-fly pests because of the economic harm it can cause. The flies attack more than 100 different fruits, vegetables and nuts, including citrus, apples, guavas, mangoes, tomatoes and peppers. The fruit flies lay their eggs in the fruits and vegetables. In a few weeks, the larvae hatch and render the fruits or vegetables inedible.

An aggressive program has been implemented to trap and eradicate the pests. State officials say they are using “the most environmentally friendly and least-intrusive fruit-fly-eradication strategy available.”

Twenty-four hours before the application of insecticides or other treatment, notification and treatment area maps are published in newspapers, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture. Let’s pause for a gratuitous plug to extend your subscription to this publication.

Florida needs an infestation of this type like we need a Cat-4 hurricane. So roll up your windows, call the kids inside and support a Florida farmer.

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