8.20.13 Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD)

This summer appears to be a bit different than last year, the first year that we experienced SWD. It does appear that SWD is starting to build, evidence being multiple captures of two to seven flies/trap with a few males being captured. However, the buildup appears to be slow and there are still several fields that have NOT captured any SWD yet. As far as blueberry growing regions go, SWD captures have occurred everywhere at this point with the highest numbers in the southern coastal area. Because of the evidence of reproduction in the field, resulting in fruit infestation, I suggest monitoring and if you have caught a single male SWD or multiple females then you should harvest that field immediately or protect it with an insecticide. I still believe we are safe from fields having significant damage as we have not been finding SWD larvae in fruit samples as of yet.

As I stated last week, please continue to monitor and protect your fruit if necessary from this pest. Also, it looks as if the early harvesting that has been taking place all over the state will certainly pay dividends this year if we can get much of the crop in before significant damage starts to be detected. Just remember that based upon last year’s monitoring, this pest can explode in numbers very quickly from just a few flies to hundreds/trap… so do not relax too much!

NOTE:  Please refer any questions, comments or concerns to Frank Drummond, 1.800.897.0757 (Maine only) or 581.2989, fdrummond@maine.edu or to Dave Yarborough, 1.800.897.0757 or 581.2923, davidy@maine.edu.

SWD updates will only be sent out and posted on our blog when we have trap captures.