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Sacramento, Yolo counties end Oriental fruit fly quarantine


Backyard fruit no longer is under quarantine from the Oriental fruit fly
in a 123-square-mile area of Sacramento and Yolo counties.
(Photo: Kathy Morrison)


Pest finally eradicated after August find in south Sacramento



The quarantine is over! The dreaded Oriental fruit fly has been eradicated in Sacramento County.

On Wednesday, the state Department of Food and Agriculture announced the eradication of this pest, found last August in the Lemon Hill neighborhood of south Sacramento. A 123-square-mile area in Sacramento and Yolo counties has been in quarantine ever since.

After nine months of trapping and monitoring, officials determined the threat was over. In total, 15 males and one female were found.

The quarantine led to tenting at farmers markets and a ban of transportation of fruit outside the effected area.

"CDFA, the USDA, the Yolo County Agricultural Commissioner and the Sacramento County Agricultural Commissioner acknowledge and thank local area residents and businesses for their cooperation in preventing the movement of backyard fruit and allowing property access to perform critical eradication activities," the release said.
(Courtesy CDFA)

Native to southern Asia, the Oriental fruit fly attacks more than 230 crops, making it one of the worse agricultural pests in the state. The female flies tunnel into fruit and vegetables to lay eggs. The eggs hatch into maggots that feed on the food around them, making it unfit for human consumption.

While this threat is over, ag officials urged residents to stay vigilant.

"The vast majority (of Oriental fruit flies) are found in urban and suburban communities," the release noted. "The most common pathway for these pests to enter the state is by 'hitchhiking' in fruits and vegetables brought back illegally by travelers when they return from infested regions of the world."

For more on the Oriental fruit fly: https://bit.ly/2HJgzxo

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Garden Checklist for week of May 18

Get outside early in the morning while temperatures are still cool – and get to work!

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. Transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.

* Plant dahlia tubers.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Are birds picking your fruit off trees before it’s ripe? Try hanging strips of aluminum foil on tree branches. The shiny, dangling strips help deter birds from making themselves at home.

* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier plants.

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