Oriental Fruit Fly Eradication Underway
State agricultural officials have begun the second of four treatments in the north-central portion of the Valley to eradicate the season’s first Oriental fruit fly infestation of the season.
The county uses a “male annihilation treatment” to combat the flies, said Bob Donley, deputy director of the Environmental Protection Bureau of the county Agricultural Commissioner’s Department. The spraying is done from trucks.
Donley said a spot the size of a half dollar is sprayed onto utility poles and tree trunks eight feet above the ground. The spot contains a combination of methyl eugenol, which mimics the scent of the female Oriental fruit fly, and a pesticide that then kills the duped males.
The area being treated is about 10 square miles, bordered by Glenoaks Boulevard, La Tuna Canyon Road and Tuxford Street on the north, Laurel Canyon Boulevard on the west, Victory Boulevard on the south and Buena Vista Street on the east.
The first treatment n was done July 16 and the second began Friday. Two more treatments will follow at 14-day intervals, he said.
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