US (NM): Apple maggot strikes apples again
"This year's warm spring has brought an unwelcome surprise to Valencia County's apple growers - the early emergence of apple maggot flies."
Agricultural agent at the Extension said that the maggot posed a threat to all growers, whether domestic or commercial.
"It has been verified that there are apple maggots in Valencia County," Tator said. "This is a major problem we must take seriously."
The maggot is native to the Eastern US, though it has been present further west for some years now.
"However, it may have been temporarily forgotten by local growers, since last year many lost their apple crop to a late frost." said Tess Grasswitz, Extension integrated pest management specialist at NMSU's Agricultural Science Center at Los Lunas.
Apple maggot is more difficult for growers to control than the more common pest, Codling moth. This is because the female apple maggot fly lays her eggs beneath the skin of the young fruit, giving them protection from insecticides.
The larvae then feed off the food, often undetectable until the fruit has been harvested.
This means that growers have to time their spraying just right so that they can catch the adult flies before they lay eggs. However, if domestic growers do not do the same their will still be problems.
"Homeowners who do not wish to spray their trees can help by either bagging the small developing fruits with mesh "Maggot Barriers," or collecting and destroying windfall apples as quickly as possible," Grasswitz said. "It is also important not to transport infested fruit to other parts of the state that don't currently have the pest."
Source: krqe.com
