SWD earlier than expected

by Alan Eaton, George Hamilton, and Linda Kuhnhardt; UNH Cooperative Extension

We captured our first spotted wing drosophila (SWD) on June 22, 2017 in Hillsborough County.  This is about 2 weeks earlier than expected.  If you grow early varieties of blueberries or brambles, consider setting up traps to monitor for SWD now. More info about this pest, as well as details on pesticide choices and trapping are at our website.

Update in July 5, 2017: Another result of this earlier appearance is that we found 3 SWD’s in a trap in ripe CHERRIES this week (July 3-7, 2017).  That is enough for me to consider applying an insecticide.  I’d want to consider how much longer cherry harvest would continue, and also the days to harvest intervals. Details on the pesticide options are here. SWD has been reported attacking cherries in other states, but this is the first time that it has been early enough for flight to coincide with the period that ripe cherries were available.

SWD on blackberry fruit