Residents, growers join fight against apple moth

Sandra Lowe had to alert her west Sonoma neighbor this week that state law now prohibits them from taking cut garden flowers to church.

Lowe, a Sonoma Valley school board member, explained that their homes off Fifth Street West lie in an area that recently came under quarantine because of the discovery north of town of two light brown apple moths.

As such, residents can't take flowers or fruit off their property.

"It's Sonoma," Lowe said in explaining how widespread the quarantine's impact will be. "Everything grows there. We all have flowers and things."

Grape growers, nursery managers, a vegetable farmer and at least 15,000 residents are learning the rules that come with fighting an invasive pest from Australia. The quarantine's full impact may not be known for months or years.

"It really depends on whether we're really infested or if this was just two fluky finds," said Diane Kenworthy, who manages a 120-acre vineyard. There are 2,500 acres of grapes in the quarantine area.

Kenworthy expects extra work this harvest in order to get grapes inspected and cleared for shipping to wineries that lie outside the quarantine area.

The state this week formally established the moth quarantine and released a map showing a 15-square-mile area that falls under the special rules. The quarantine area includes west Sonoma and the unincorporated communities of El Verano, Boyes Hot Springs and Agua Caliente.

The quarantine is part of a $75 million state and federal program to eradicate the apple moth. Officials have estimated the insect could cause $160 million to $640 million in crop damage annually should the state become infested.

The quarantine action already has caused a reaction. The Sonoma City Council on Wednesday voted to formally oppose aerial spraying of a synthetic pheromone that disrupts moth mating, the state's preferred method of eradication in California's more-infested areas.

Agricultural officials stress that they currently aren't considering aerial spraying in Sonoma County. Instead, the likely treatment around Sonoma will be to use special twist ties infused with the pheromone, which attracts the male moth and is designed to keep the males and females from finding one another.

Under quarantine rules, affected residents are prohibited from moving any host plant material, including fruits and flowers, from their properties. The exceptions are dumping such materials in the regular yard waste bins, hauling them directly to the county landfill or hiring landscapers who properly dispose of them.

No schedule is yet set but state officials intend to directly contact all affected residents by letter and to alert them to a future meeting on the local eradication program.

County and state officials stress that their goal is to keep the moth from spreading while permitting farms and nurseries to get their produce and plants to market.

"If that can be achieved, we'll allow it," said Steve Lyle, spokesman for the state Department of Food and Agriculture.

For vegetable grower Paul Wirtz, that means monthly government inspections of the produce harvested on a 10-acre farm off Arnold Drive.

Wirtz, produce manager for Oak Hill Farms in Glen Ellen, on Wednesday stood beside row crops including basil, eggplant and radishes. Besides the farm store, the produce goes to Sonoma Valley restaurants and caterers and the Sonoma farmers market.

The moth isn't much of a threat to the crops, Wirtz said, but he worries about the prospect of not being able to ship the produce. And he admits his doubts that California can defeat the apple moth.

"I just don't think eradication is a possibility," he said.

One of the main nurseries in the area, Sonoma Mission Gardens, will have county inspectors visiting at least twice a month. Inspectors were on hand Tuesday to check an insect trap, said nursery manager Lydia Constantini.

"They literally beat the bushes with a stick, looking to stir up any moths," she said of the inspectors.

The quarantine means more paperwork, she said, but nurseries are used to dealing with pest inspections and the monitoring of plant shipments.

While a moth was trapped in the vicinity, Constantini stressed that it wasn't found on the nursery.

A county official Wednesday emphasized that all nurseries and landscapers in the quarantine area are cooperating in the battle over the apple moth.

"The public does not need to be concerned about buying from those gardens," said Stephan Parnay, the county's chief deputy agricultural commissioner.

You can reach Staff Writer Robert Digitale at 521-5285 or robert.digitale@

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