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nafex - [NAFEX] Fwd: Monitoring for Fruit Maggots in Aronia.doc

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  • From: mIEKAL aND <qazingulaza@gmail.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Fwd: Monitoring for Fruit Maggots in Aronia.doc
  • Date: Thu, 18 Feb 2010 09:32:05 -0600

May be of interest to anyone thinking of jumping into the newly
forming Aronia industry in the midwest...


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dale Secher <carandal@chorus.net>
Date: Wed, Feb 17, 2010 at 7:12 PM
Subject: Monitoring for Fruit Maggots in Aronia.doc
To: aronia network lists <aronia-network@lists.wisc.edu>

Monitoring for Fruit Maggots in Aronia

We are not aware of any published reports about fruit worm maggots in
aronia, but during the aronia harvest at Star Valley Flowers last
fall, Reed Fitton, one of the volunteers, cut open one of the larger
berries and found a small white worm inside.  After finding this, (he)
“started looking for more evidence of maggots, and found quite a few
contaminated berries in a short period of time.”  He took some suspect
fruit back to Luther College, made images with a microscope and
consulted with an entomologist who identified the worm as “some sort
of fly larve.”

Reed sent the images to us and we forwarded them to John Aue.  John is
an entomologist and private consultant specializing in fruit.  He is a
member of the aronia team and has been working with us since we
started the unusual fruit crops test plot in 2003 (and now is also an
aronia grower).  John consulted with Extension experts at the
UW-Madison, and together they determined the worm was one of a large
family of fruit maggots that usually specialize in a particular fruit
and seldom cross over (i.e., an adult apple maggot would usually not
lay eggs on cherries, etc.).

We were hoping that the adult maggot fly had been attracted to the
area by some other preferred host and would not normally be attracted
to aronia, but were simply being opportunistic.  I found out earlier
today Charlie Caldwell (who grows aronia in far western Iowa) has seen
“little white worms’ in his aronia as well.  This would suggest that
some variation of fruit maggot has adopted aronia has a suitable host.

It is too early to speculate on how serious of a problem this could
become.  The first step will be to identify the particular maggot
involved by setting out a series of pheromone traps to catch adult
flies.  John will be doing this at Star Valley Flowers.  He will also
be advising growers on how to scout for this potential pest and
suggest treatment options if necessary.

Dale



  • [NAFEX] Fwd: Monitoring for Fruit Maggots in Aronia.doc, mIEKAL aND, 02/18/2010

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