I spoke with Valeh the UCR Scientist leading the charge against this scourge that’s spreading throughout California. I said that I’d spread whatever current information they could give me to help. Please feel free to share on any format or group. So here it is…
Hi Benjamin,
I’m sorry to hear that we’re having trouble with BFF in new areas, but it’s not unexpected since we’ve received similar reports from Kern and Alameda County. As for our monitoring efforts, while using a McPhail-type trap with torula yeast as a lure for BFF is a standard method, it attracts a lot of non-target organisms, which makes sorting and identifying BFF difficult. Therefore, we’ve been experimenting with ammonium sulfate and hexanol as a lure in the McPhail-type trap. We’ve found that this combination attracts a high number of BFF with a low number of non-target organisms, making it easier to work with. However, using liquid traps on a commercial scale is challenging, so we’re collaborating with commercial lure companies to develop an optimal lure based on our research findings for the upcoming season. Hopefully, we can find a lure bag that is more user-friendly for monitoring BFF until the time if anyone wants to use torula yeast and traps they can mix four Torula yeast with 240 ml water in the trap and replace the lure every other week. They can purchase the trap and lure as a kit at this link: ready-to-use-kits/fruit-fly/glms37053k-mcphail-torula-yeast-pellet-kit-3-station . And they can also find more information about BFF on our website: Black Fig Fly - Wilson Lab @ UC Riverside.
As for controlling BFF in commercial orchards, we’ll be using two different rates of GF120 this year based on our findings from last year. Additionally, we’re evaluating two other pesticides, Danitol 2.4EC, and Delegate WG, for conventional products in our spray trials. We’re also testing three microbial pesticides through lab bioassay to find the best option for controlling BFF.
Best,
Valeh Ebrahimi, PhD
Assist. Project Scientist
Department of Entomology
University of California, Riverside
900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA 92521