Aussie moths invading California vineyards!!

In February, an invasive moth species was discovered in nearby Alameda County and has now infested numerous areas including Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, Marin and Santa Clara counties. The Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) is a native of the southern Australia states of New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. It is believed to have been brought into California recently on infested plant material by private passengers on airlines.

The LBAM doesn’t look particularly threatening - unless you’re an apple tree or a grape vine. This moth spends its life sucking the nutrients out of the leaves of many commercial and horticultural crops. In fact, it attacks nearly all types of fruit crops, ornamentals, vegetables, greenhouse crops, and occasionally young pine seedlings, causing leaf roll and damaged fruit. It’s classified as a noxious insect in these United States, and must be controlled by integrated pest management practices which can include biological controls, pesticides, and mating disruption.

Whoa, I sure hope the State of California opts first to find a predator that will feast on these pesky varmints. Perhaps a marketing campaign to attract insect-eating birds that don’t eat grapes.

~winehiker

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 8th, 2007 at 1:43 pm and is filed under grape squeezins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.