ONTONAGON COUNTY, Mich. (WLUC) - A relatively unknown garden parasite is coming to the attention of local farmers and the Michigan Tech Forestry Department.
The spotted wing drosophila originates from southeast Asia, but has been a pest in the us since 2008. They reached Michigan in 2010 and has spread to the whole mainland united states. Not many in the area have heard of it, but these past few years it’s been causing serious problems for fruit farmers.
“They’ve just devastated everything,” lamented Don Harris, a farmer whose crops were ruined by all the stone fruits, including all the wild cherries, June berries, which is a service berry. I’ve got mulberries here and they ruined those. Blackberries, raspberries.”
The major problem posed by these new bugs is that they can get inside the fruit as its ripening, making it more difficult to harvest before it’s ruined. The main solution besides insecticide is quicker harvesting.
“The number one thing, then, is just human management; going out there and monitoring the crops more frequently, harvesting a lot more frequently, because this fruit fly gets into the fruit and causes it to ripen faster and fall off the plant faster. If you’re able to pick more frequently you can reduce the loss down the road.”
The bugs tend to go after sweeter crops and will not make a host inside something like corn or wheat. And while you might not have seen them, they’re likely still in the fruit on a microscopic level.
“If you pick them and have a bowl of berries on the counter, they’re probably going bad a lot faster than you expected or maybe from what you remember a couple of years ago. And that’s probably a good indication that there are larvae in the fruit and causing some damage and the fruit are just ripening and breaking down faster over time.”
Farmers are advised to check their crops.
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September 02, 2020 at 06:15AM
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