SWD hits Maine fruit growers

All farmers could do was watch, because they didn’t have to wait long before the spotted wing drosophila, a fruit fly native to northern Asia, made its way to Maine.

“It has been creeping across the country for the last five years so,”stated Earl Bunting, owner of Doles Orchard in Limington. “All the researchers knew that it was coming, we just didn’t get a lot of notice.”

Late last September, a trap on Bunting’s farm caught the first one. Now, they are being caught by the thousands everywhere traps have been set in the state.

What makes spotted wing drosophila different from its native cousins? These invasive insects lay their eggs in fruit when it is still green, ruining the fruit when it ripens, as opposed to laying their eggs in fruit that already is over ripe. WLBZ

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