News And Advice From The Leading Thousand Oaks Tree Trimming Company
If you live in Thousand Oaks, we have some news for you: there’s a quarantine in place for your fruit trees. That’s right, a few weeks ago the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) detected two adult Queensland fruit flies (QFF) at a home in Thousand Oaks. The quarantine area in Ventura and Los Angeles Counties measures 76 square miles, bordered on the north by Tierra Rejada Golf Club; on the south by Las Virgenes Reservoir; on the west by Wildwood Park; and on the east by Agoura Hills.
To see if you’re in this area, click here for a map showing the area.
The fruit fly can damage the fruit in your yard, but the far more serious threat is to our area’s commercial crops. The fly is known to target over 175 different fruits, vegetables and plant commodities. Important California crops at risk include numerous fruits (including grape, strawberry, fig, citrus, avocado, apricot, peach, cherry, nectarine, plum, pear, and apple) and vegetables (including tomato and sweet pepper).
If you’re in the quarantine area, the CDFA urges you to help prevent the spread of fruit flies by not moving any fruits and vegetables from your property. You may consume fruits or vegetable at the property where they were picked. If they are not consumed or processed, the CDFA advises you to dispose of them by double-bagging in plastic bags and putting the bags in the garbage bin for collection, not green waste.
If you have any questions about the quarantine, you may call CDFA’s Pest Hotline at 800-491-1899.