Aug 2, 2011

First spotted wing Drosophila trapped in a commercial fruit crop

A single spotted wing Drosophila (SWD) has been trapped in a commercial Michigan fruit crop. This first detection in a crop field for the 2011 growing season occurred a full two months earlier than our first detection last year. This was a female fly trapped in a planting of ripe black raspberries at a farm in Allegan County. The trap was picked up on July 22 and the fly identified on July 27. There have also been detections of single SWD at each of two unmanaged blueberry fields in Allegan County.

Summer and fall raspberry growers and blueberry growers need to be on the alert for SWD on their farm. Trapping for SWD has been ongoing across the state this season. If you would like to learn more about trapping for SWD on your farm, a link to a great website with additional information is available by clicking here.

Many insecticides being used already to control other insects in small fruit crops are active on controlling SWD. In particular, insecticides in the organophosphate, pyrethroid and spinosyn chemical classes are the most active. Additional management information on controlling SWD in caneberry crops is being developed and will be available on the website listed above early next week.

Some additional information on SWD can also be found in the 2011 MSU Fruit Management Guide , a Michigan State University Extension publication E-154. Look for that information in the invasive and emergent pests on pages 58 and 59 of that publication. The fact sheet and blueberry management guide are both available in Spanish on MSU’s SWD website.

by Rufus Isaacs and Bob Tritten, Michigan State University Extension