Calif. Farmers Fear Spread of Apple Moth

[Pastor Dale Morgan]

*Plagues, pestilences and Diseases

*May 25, 8:39 PM EDT
*
Calif. Farmers Fear Spread of Apple Moth*

By OLIVIA MUNOZ
Associated Press Writer

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- Sightings of the light brown apple moth - which
can ruin everything from tomatoes to citrus fruit to alfalfa - have shot
up into the thousands since the insect was first discovered in the San
Francisco Bay area three months ago, agriculture officials said Friday.

The half-inch moth with an indiscriminate appetite has prompted a
federal quarantine, brought together scientists from around the world
and worried farmers in California, where agriculture brings in more than
$30 billion in revenue a year.

Many fear the pesky little moth's habits: chomping on the leaves of more
than 250 plants species and ruining crops from the inside out by
burrowing when it's in caterpillar form.

The quarantine, imposed earlier this month on eight counties in
California's north and central coastal areas as well as the entire state
of Hawaii, restricts the interstate movement of nursery stock, cut
flowers and other plants. The moths usually spread by laying their eggs
in nursery plants, or traveling hidden inside fruit or plant clippings.

About 80 percent of the moths trapped so far have been in Santa Cruz
County, though the first report came in February when a retired
entomologist spotted one in his Berkeley backyard. It was fortunate the
unremarkable-looking light brown apple moth appeared in the yard of an
expert, said Larry Hawkins, a spokesman for the Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"They look like any old moth," Hawkins said. "The average person
wouldn't have been able to differentiate it from a native species."

As of Friday, officials have received 3,348 reports of light brown apple
moth sightings in the affected California counties, which are Santa
Clara, San Mateo, Alameda, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Contra Costa, San
Francisco and Marin.

So far, only one of the moths has been spotted outside the quarantined
area - in Napa - but agriculture officials throughout the state remain
vigilant. From the Oregon to the Mexican border, they're setting out
sticky traps to catch male moths with pheromones.

"None yet," said Sheila Worthley, who works for the agricultural
commissioner's office in Merced County. "We're out here every day, though."

Last week, federal and state agriculture officials assembled a group of
international experts in San Jose to discuss ways to deal with the
insect. The scientists from Hawaii, New Zealand and Australia - where
the insect originated - recommended extermination before the pest
spreads out of control.

One of the methods that's been successful in doing that is the use of
Chlorpyrifos, an insecticide commonly used in nurseries, Hawkins said.
The chemical has been the only one found so far to kill the pest at the
egg stage, though others can kill larvae and adults.

The agency is working on finding alternatives to pesticides, he said.

Possible methods include using pheromones to interrupt the moth's mating
cycle by confusing the males, or releasing sterile moths, a technique
used in California to eradicate another destructive pest, the
Mediterranean fruit fly.

The USDA agency will take the recommendations by the nine-member panel
and create an action plan to take to the state Secretary of Agriculture
and federal officials next week for endorsement and the money to carry
it out, Hawkins said.

"We are trying to move on this quickly, but it will take a few weeks
because the sites where moths were found are not uniform. We have urban
areas, rural areas," he said.

Action can't come soon enough for farmers who fear more than $100
million in damage and the possible rejection of exports.

"It likes to eat everything, so that makes everyone worried," said Tony
Fazio, who grows, packs and ships table grapes in Fresno County, the
nation's top-producing agriculture county. "Everyone stands to lose if
it spreads. It'll hurt us all."

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On the Net:

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service: http://www.aphis.usda.gov