Updated: Fruit Fly Quarantine Ended, Restricted Harvesting and Fruit Sharing in the San Jose Area

Update 6/27 2022: the state and Santa Clara County Department of Agriculture ended the pest quarantine on June 26, 2022 and no additional flies are found. Village Harvest has resumed harvests in the very large affected areas and emailed to home tree owners within the zone about possible harvests after the quarantine is ended.

Because of the discovery of oriental fruit flies, on October 5 the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) imposed a quarantine restricting any harvesting or movement of home-grown fruit and most vegetables from a 100 square mile zone covering most of San Jose, Campbell, and adjacent areas. If you're a fruit tree owner or vegetable gardener living in this zone this applies to you, and Village Harvest is not permitted to do any harvesting within the quarantine zone. Bad news!

Residents are advised not to move home grown fruits or vegetables off their property, but to consume or process at your home.  The state recommends that fruit be disposed of by double-bagging them in plastic bags and putting the bags in the garbage bin for collection. (Do not dispose in yard waste or compost piles as this will spread or multiply the pest from infected fruit.)

It's OK to give processed fruit products to friends - juiced, frozen, or cooked - but not fresh fruit or most veggies from within the zone.

Six flies were found in central San Jose near the fairgrounds this summer; most commonly these pests are imported by a resident who brings fresh but infected fruit into the area from Asia or Hawaii. Agriculture departments have begun biological and pesticide controls and as of 3/21/2022 the quarantine is projected to end in mid June 2022 as long as no additional flies are found.

This fly looks like a large house fly with a bright yellow body, and lays eggs under the surface of most kinds of fruit or vegetables. The larvae go into the fruit and cannot be easily detected from the outside. The CDFA Oriental Fruit Fly Quarantine page links to a 14 page Regulation document including a list of affected plants that covers everything Village Harvest picks and hundreds more.

The Google Map below can be zoomed in, and CDFA has an interactive map which allows users to type in a specific address and find out they are inside or outside of the quarantine zone. Good news is a report of "no results found." Contact Village Harvest if you have additional questions and we'll try to help.