Caribbean fruit fly monitoring for 2015

I’m a biologist with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Plant Industry in Sarasota. A colleague in Fort Pierce and I are planning a study on the pest Caribbean fruit fly and Florida-grown peaches for the upcoming growing season. We hope to examine different varieties of peaches grown across the state to learn about the host relationship between this fly and peaches. Caribbean fruit fly larval feeding causes brown, sunken spots in the fruit (see attached photos of cut-open samples).

    If we may have your permission, we would like to collect larvae-infested cull fruit and rear the larvae to adulthood in our laboratories. We are also interested in doing some completely non-invasive visual sampling of both cull and fruit on trees. If your peaches have been affected by this pest and you would allow us to collect some fallen fruit samples, please contact me (georgia.keene@freshfromflorida.com; 941-358-2864) or my colleague in Fort Pierce (Ken Hibbard; kenneth.hibbard@freshfromflorida.com).

Thank you,

Georgia

Georgia Keene

Biological Scientist II, Methods Development

Division of Plant Industry

Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

 

(941) 358-2864 phone

(941) 359-2912 fax

Georgia.Keene@FreshFromFlorida.com

 

Sterile Insect Release Facility

1833 57th St.

Sarasota, FL 34243

 

www.FreshFromFlorida.com

 

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