NORTH HOLLYWOOD : Lethal Bait Set for Oriental Fruit Flies

Agricultural officials used the pesticide equivalent of Love Potion No. 9 as lethal bait Thursday for Oriental fruit flies in a 12-square-mile area of North Hollywood, where one of the pests was discovered earlier this week.

The fly was found in an orange tree in North Hollywood, said Larry Hawkins, public affairs officer for the Coordinated Medfly Project in Los Angeles. Sherman Oaks also has been visited by the fruit-destroying pest.

The Oriental fruit fly, found in Asia and the Pacific Islands, is similar to the Mediterranean fruit fly and causes damage to fruits, vegetables and nuts, Hawkins said.

The Oriental fruit fly is a little larger and more orange than its Mediterranean fruit fly cousin. Another difference between the two types of fruit flies--and a boon for agriculture officials--is that the Oriental fruit fly can be contained with a mixture of methyl eugenol, a powerful attractant for the male, and Naled, a pesticide that kills the fly after it is ingested.

“They eat the stuff and that’s it. They’re history,” Hawkins said of the technique that has been used for nearly a decade. “If you can kill off the male population, then obviously no breeding can take place.”

Spraying malathion and releasing sterile flies into the population isn’t usually necessary to wipe out the Oriental fruit flies as it is with Mediterranean fruit flies, Hawkins said. Medflies are not attracted to the methyl eugenol-Naled mixture.

The bait mixture is applied in half-dollar-sized globs that are squirted into utility poles and trees on city property. That way officials don’t have to enter residents’ yards, Hawkins said.

In fact, abatement workers don’t even have to get out of their trucks. The passenger can lean out the window as the truck is moving and fire a squirt gun, leaving the bait and insecticide on the targets.