You expected something different from unlicensed plant sellers?
Here was my schedule for 2021:
Annual Fertilizer & Pesticide Calendar.pdf (136.7 KB)
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Hi Richard,
So I only purchase fig cuttings and pretty much nothing from CA in order to reduce chances of disease and pests coming in, especially in soil. Is there any risk of this new pest arriving on cuttings or only in soil? Another strong point in favor of bare-root plant exchanges.
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It’s entirely supplier dependent. There are licensed and unlicensed suppliers who are too cheap to treat their plants with any effective product and so you can end up with mites, scale, spores etc. on or embedded in cuttings.
I understand you’d like to maintain your organic brand. I have the CA agricultural pesticide applicator license and previously held the advisors license as well. I sympathize with the many challenges you have.
The greatest risk is in media - and not just from California. Keep in mind that the infestation started in a plant nursery, then spread to other nurseries, and then into suburbs when the larvae emerged from soil at the various sites.
I don’t know if the larvae can survive hard freezes, such as those in your location. In the eastern hemisphere it is confined to the mediterranean and other semi-tropical regions. In fact it might have arrived from the latter.
Your point about BFF on cuttings is good. I believe it is an extremely unlikely occurrence. Bareroot though … now we’re back to the supplier. A licensed commercial wholesale propagation nursery in CA will have treated the plants and soil with effective pesticides. Others - both inside and outside CA are a concern. I treat all plants as they come out of the box.
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ortho- I have this for other fruits, didn’t even think of using it for the figs. it’ll kill these if any show up? I plan to get one or two figs to add this year and am concerned. would I need to spray twice
Depending on how much you heat the hoop house, they probably wouldn’t survive the winter there.
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35-45° F usually. they go dormant but it’s not freezing
It will kill adults that it comes in contact with either while you spray or within a few hours afterwards. That is true for all pests listed on the label.
Coincidentally, I was reading the label of the systemic “Marathon II” which I have for another purpose and I noticed it can be used as a soil drench to kill gnat and fly larvae in the ground under and around fruit trees. The dosage instructions seem easy to follow.
Marathon II Label
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I guess we’ll find out as they spread northward what temperatures they can handle, but as @Richard mentioned above, this fly’s native range is in warmer areas than most of the U.S. If you did get them in the hoop house, one treatment might be turning the heat way down for awhile over the winter.
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Is there more to the story? Did anything happen to the person who imported it?
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So far, no.
@Richard - Out of curiosity, how do you know that it came from a buyer of overseas cuttings? While cuttings can be the vehicle for various pests, BFF eggs are laid on the fruit, larva drop to the ground and pupate there. I would think basic precautions with cuttings would prevent BFF transmission. Soil and fruit should never be moved around.
I believe there are known BFF infections in various areas in Mexico that supply fresh figs to the US. I’ll need to hunt down that source, but IMO that is probably how BFF was imported into California.
I’d be happy to tell you next time we meet.
Thanks!
I believe I am seeing the black fig fly in San Luis Obispo County. See the images below. Anyone else in this area seeing it too? All of my figs have been dropping before they ripen and I can see a small hole where something has burrowed in.
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Yeah, I think that is Black Fig Fly.
And it’s a small detail, but the holes you’re seeing are where the larvae come out. They’re deposited as eggs at the ostiole by the fly. They grow and tunnel in the fruits and then eat their way out. Good luck!
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Thanks, that makes sense. Such a bummer. I lost all of my breba crop and main crop figs two years in a row (it is a small tree). I am going to try organza bags next year as I am hesitant to spray, but we’ll see how long I can keep at that.
Yeah, this fly is definitely a bummer. I hope it doesn’t spread too far and wide.
I’m not sure how effective spraying is proving to be for people dealing with this pest. From what I’ve heard, there’s been pretty good success with bagging and trapping. I’m hoping that letting chickens roam beneath trees could be effective too as part of the life cycle is completed in the soil beneath trees. After the larvae eat their way out of the fruit, they drop to the ground where they transform from larva to fly.
Chickens, ducks and or turkeys will remove the dropped fruit & scratch up the dirt to eat the maggots.
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There has been some sightings of BFF-like damage in Sunnyvale and Palo Alto. I think they are waiting for ID from county Ag department. If it’s confirmed, this is devastating news but I guess isn’t a surprise given the sightings in So. Cal last year.
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Hi @Richard, I would like to treat my area for black fig fly. I have continued to see it the last two years. What is the appropriate timing to do a soil soaking of WDG to kill larvae? Any advice is appreciated, as I am not very knowledgeable in timing sprays to control different pests.