What's New on the MG Site?
Fruit fly pest found in berries...
The Spotted Wing Drosophila attacks ripening fruit in many California counties. It infests raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, and strawberry crops, especially in coastal areas. It occasionally attacks other types of fruit with soft flesh, such as plums, plumcots, nectarines, and figs.
This fruit fly attacks healthy ripening fruit as well as damaged or split fruit. The female lays eggs just under the skin of the fruit. Eggs hatch and maggots develop and feed inside the fruit, causing the flesh to turn brown and soft with sunken areas that can exude fluid on the surface of smooth-skinned fruit such as cherries and blueberries. Damage can provide an entry site for infection by secondary fungal and bacterial pathogens, but this is not always the case.
Read more about this pest and how to monitor and control it.