Fruit flies eradicated from LA county, US
CDFA uses the release of sterile male Medflies at a minimum rate of 250,000 flies per square mile per week as the mainstay of its eradication measures for this pest. Nearly 1 billion sterile flies were released during this incident. Additionally, properties within 200 meters of the detection sites were treated with an organic formulation of Spinosad, which originates from naturally-occurring bacteria in soil, in order to eliminate any mated females and reduce the density of the population.
To further reduce the population, properties within 100 meters of known or suspected breeding populations were subject to host fruit removal to eliminate eggs and larvae. During this incident, over 343,710 pounds of fruit were removed from over 2,500 properties.
source: recorderonline.com
