Fire Ants, Killer Bees, Other Pests Invade California Irrigated Landscape, Mild Winters Make State Paradise For Insects

First came the redgum lerp psyllids, tiny aphid-like pests sucking life from stands of eucalyptus trees across the San Fernando Valley.

A few months later, Africanized honeybees - “killer bees” - invaded the Valley, their swarms posing serious health risks.

Now come the red imported fire ants, turning up in Van Nuys last week to mark the crop-eating, flesh-stinging pest’s continued march north.

Plagues of the Valley, the troublesome threesome are thriving to varying degrees thanks to the region’s warm climate, irrigated landscaping and mild winters. The killer bees and potentially the red fire ants are particularly bothersome and could forever alter the lifestyles of Valley residents.

“This is paradise for these pests,” said Larry Cooper, spokesman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

A half-dozen or so new pests are identified in California each year.

Valley residents have weathered periodic quarantines and sprayings for the Mediterranean fruit fly and other fruit flies. Still, backyard fruit remains bountiful.

State and county agricultural officials are trying to combat or at least control the psyllids, killer bees and red fire ants. But they concede that the killer bees are here to stay and the red fire ants will be tough to root out with pesticides developed in Southern states with different climates.

So residents need to be wary to keep the pests from swarming and stinging.

The psyllids might be controlled by tiny wasps to be released this spring. But they won’t be eradicated and will remain a nuisance, spreading a sticky honeydew excretion that sticks to just about everything, including pet paws and human hair.

“It does seem like we’re being picked on,” said Cato Fiksdal, Los Angeles County’s agricultural commissioner. “They’re pests that are really going to affect people in an urban environment. It’s different from fighting a Medfly. There’s certainly a much stronger direct connection to people.”

Residents on Cantaloupe Avenue, where the red fire ant find was reported, already are preparing for life with the pest. “I’m originally from Florida. They’ve got red fire ants everywhere,” said Carolyn Lombardo, who lives on Cantaloupe. “It’s like the smog here, you just live with it.”