Pest Control Orange County

Alone, it's a thumbprint from eradication, a tiny dark speck scrambling on teeny legs across your kitchen counter. But the Argentine ant has friends--lots of them. United, they create a scourge referred to by one expert as "the Genghis Khan of the ant world." The troops arrived in Southern California years ago, but this season's weather has made the Argentine ant the largest pest-control problem Orange County has seen in years.

Thousands of tiny wasps from Australia will be released this month in Orange County and throughout California to prey on another insect that is bleeding some of the state's eucalyptus trees to death. Local officials and tree lovers are hoping the metallic-green wasps, each about the size of a rice grain, will slow the red gum lerp psyllid. The tiny insect, also from Australia, was discovered in California in 1998 and has quickly worked its way through the state, ravaging eucalyptus trees.

State experts have declared Orange County "colonized" by Africanized honeybees, based on this month's discovery of the Brazilian-bred insects in four county cities, officials said Wednesday. The term means the bee invaders are now considered permanent residents, and people should take special precautions to avoid being stung, said Oscar Hidalgo, spokesman for the state Department of Agriculture.

The agricultural quarantine in Orange County was lifted Friday, with officials hailing the eradication of Medflies. The quarantine, which covered 62 square miles, had been in effect since last August. Pest control officials released millions of sterile flies to disrupt the breeding cycle. A dozen Mediterranean fruit flies were captured in Lake Forest and Mission Viejo between July and September last year.

It's that time of year when those egg-laying, skin-piercing mosquitoes start to multiply in Orange County. Gilbert L. Challet, manager of the Orange County Vector Control District, said the record-setting rains followed by this week's sunshine have created ideal breeding conditions for mosquitoes, which need water in which to lay their eggs. Every time it rains, "we get a new crop of eggs," he said. Moreover, warm weather enables the insects to thrive.

The agricultural quarantine in Orange County was lifted Friday, with officials hailing the eradication of Medflies. The quarantine, which covered 62 square miles, had been in effect since last August. Pest control officials released millions of sterile flies to disrupt the breeding cycle. A dozen Mediterranean fruit flies were captured in Lake Forest and Mission Viejo between July and September last year.

Signaling further spread of the invading fire ant, a state quarantine was declared Thursday in small portions of Los Angeles and Riverside counties where the swarming, biting pest has been detected. The action came just one week after all Orange County was placed under quarantine in hopes of controlling the ant, a South American native that can hurt people, livestock and wildlife. More than 50 square miles of Orange County are known to be infested with the ants.

The discovery of the second Mediterranean fruit fly within a week has prompted state agricultural officials to begin hand-spraying some trees with a mixture containing Malathion, a poison deadly to the flies. "We are not considering this an infestation," said Kevin Herglotz, a spokesman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture. "It does have us very concerned, however. If we find any additional flies, it will be an infestation."

Orange County has been bracing for the invasion of "killer" Africanized honey bees for so long that the dire warnings now sound something like a cheap horror movie trailer. But county officials insist that the pesky insects are on their way--though they have all but given up trying to guess exactly when the bees will arrive. "Everyone who's predicted it so far has been wrong," said Dennis Loughner, who heads the county's three-person "killer bee" response squad.

The quarantined area for the Mediterranean fruit fly has been expanded to include another 300 square miles, about 100 of which are in mostly residential areas of Orange County, officials said Wednesday. * The new quarantine here primarily affects the Brea-Yorba Linda area and the Orange County-Long Beach border. The expanded area also includes parts of Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

State experts have declared Orange County "colonized" by Africanized honeybees, based on this month's discovery of the Brazilian-bred insects in four county cities, officials said Wednesday. The term means the bee invaders are now considered permanent residents, and people should take special precautions to avoid being stung, said Oscar Hidalgo, spokesman for the state Department of Agriculture.

After years of lurid warnings, the news comes almost as an anticlimax: So-called killer bees have finally been sighted in Orange County, agriculture officials said Tuesday. Properly known as Africanized honeybees, the Brazilian-bred insect has been infiltrating the region for years and is becoming well established in surrounding counties.

Last week, you thought Logic was the answer to all your fire-ant-killing prayers. But it's back to the drawing board as state officials confirmed Friday that the pesticide isn't available for sale in California. County officials were surprised to learn that Logic--which resembles freshly grated Parmesan cheese--couldn't be bought in California.

Signaling further spread of the invading fire ant, a state quarantine was declared Thursday in small portions of Los Angeles and Riverside counties where the swarming, biting pest has been detected. The action came just one week after all Orange County was placed under quarantine in hopes of controlling the ant, a South American native that can hurt people, livestock and wildlife. More than 50 square miles of Orange County are known to be infested with the ants.

Orange County on Thursday became the first California county to be quarantined for red fire ants, reflecting growing concerns that the stinging insect could spread beyond the 50 square miles it has infested in the county. The quarantine, announced Tuesday, became official shortly before noon Thursday, and officials at the state Department of Food and Agriculture immediately notified regulators in surrounding states.

A program to combat fire ants with a pesticide and public education will be considered this morning by the Orange County Board of Supervisors. The plan calls for treating fire-ant mounds in county parks and other county-owned properties with an agent known as fenoxycarb that curbs the ants' ability to reproduce. The county is also designing an education campaign about the stinging insect, which has infested more than 50 square miles of county land.

Without fanfare, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved an Africanized honeybee action and response plan to deal with the arrival of the notorious creatures. The board unanimously approved the plan without comment. Public education about ways to live safely with bees is a major thrust of the 27-page plan, which outlines roles for various county agencies in dealing with the bees. It caps about two years of preparation and work, similar to efforts throughout Southern California.

Tracking down a tiny fruit fly in the nearly 950 square miles of Orange County seems a lot like finding a needle in a haystack. But every morning two dozen women and men set out from a storefront in Placentia with just that mission: to catch flies, particularly the destructive ones.

Millions of sterile Mediterranean fruit flies will be dropped from a plane over Irvine, Lake Forest and Laguna Hills beginning today in an all-out aerial assault on the crop-destroying pest. Agricultural officials expect to dump about 80 million insects--dyed pink to distinguish them from fertile medflies--in a 22-square-mile area over the next three months.