The Maggots are Coming: Understanding the Apple Maggot and the Risks Posed for the Okanagan

The apple maggot, Rhagoletis pomonella, an invasive pest of pome fruit in western North America, is an economically important native pest of pome fruits in the United States and southern Canada, a major trade barrier for Canadian exports of apples, and a serious direct pest of backyard or other unsprayed trees. British Columbia's Okanagan Region is the only significant commercial apple-producing region in North America that remains free of it. In this talk we review the biologosy, distribution, invasive history, plants hosts, and management strategies, for the latest serious invasive insect to arrive on BC fruit trees.