Feared Pest Found In Rich Fruit-Growing Area
May 5, 2010 The USDA’s Systematic Entomology Laboratory has confirmed the capture of two European grapevine moths (EGVM), Lobesia botrana, trapped on April 28, in two separate traps about ½ mile apart and placed in vineyards southeast of the city of Fresno. The discoveries come just months after the first find of the pest in the U.S. It was initially found in Napa County in late 2009.
These traps were part of a statewide program to detect the invasive moth, according to the Fresno County Department of Agriculture. As a result of the finds, additional traps were placed in an approximately 80 square-mile area around the discoveries by Fresno County and California Department of Food and Agriculture staff. An additional EGVM was found May 1, in the Kingsburg area, approximately 11 miles from the original find site.
County, state, and federal officials are developing an agriculture quarantine to prevent the human-aided movement of the moth. Treatment options for the EGVM include traditional and organic ovicides and larvicides as well as mating disruption. These activities are designed to give both domestic and foreign trading partners confidence that products moving in commerce are free of EGVM.
The Fresno County Department of Agriculture and the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) currently have over 5,000 EGVM traps in place throughout the county. Fresno County will continue to monitor traps in the county and in the quarantine area to determine the area where the pest is present.
Since the original September find in Napa County, EGVM has been found in Sonoma, Solano and Mendocino counties, where eradication efforts are on-going. While the Napa/Sonoma region is commonly known nationally as “Wine Country,” by far the bulk of the state’s wine grapes, and nearly all the table grapes, are grown in the San Joaquin Valley.
EGVM is a grape pest of economic importance in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, southern Russia, Japan and recently Chile. The larva feed on grape flowers and developing fruit. Second and third generations cause the most damage by direct feeding on mature grape berries and indirectly by predisposing the crop to grey mold, a fungal infection caused by Botrytis cinerea. Damage is greatest in grape cultivars with compact clusters or sensitive to rot.
Growers who find a suspect moth are asked to call the Fresno County Department of Agriculture at (559) 456-7510.
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