Category: Pests & Disease

Blackout Compliant Fertilizers and Amendments

by Tia Silvasy

September 1, 2022

The Orange County fertilizer ordinance (and most other counties in Florida) prohibits application of nitrogen and phosphorus because they contribute to degradation of our precious water bodies in Central Florida. In Orange County, 104 of ... READ MORE

Category: Agriculture, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes, Lawn, Natural Resources, Pests & Disease, UF/IFAS Extension
Tags: Blackout, Building, County, Fertilizer, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Landscape, Ordinance, Soil, Water

Tropical Girdlepod (Mitracarpus hirtus)

by Jay Capasso

August 31, 2022

Jay Capasso, UF/IFAS Columbia County. Marc Frank, University of Florida Herbarium. Paulette Tomlinson, UF/IFAS Columbia County. The University of Florida Herbarium recently identified tropical girdlepod (Mitracarpus hirtus) for the first ... READ MORE

Category: Agriculture, Crops, Farm Management, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Lawn, Livestock, Natural Resources, Pests & Disease, Pests & Disease, Turf

What is This? Gall Mites!

by Michelle Leonard-Mularz

August 30, 2022

Visiting different properties around the Keys, I’ve noticed an increased number of Mexican petunia plants, Ruellia simplex, covered in white patches. These aren’t mealybugs or whiteflies, it is caused by gall mites and it's the plants ... READ MORE

Category: , Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes, Natural Resources, Pests & Disease
Tags: Florida Keys, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Gall Mites, Invasive Species, IPM Florida, Native Plants, Ruellia

Could this be Avocado Sunblotch Viroid (ASBV)?

by Jessica M. Ryals

August 30, 2022

Recently, Collier County Extension received an email about strange looking spots on an avocado fruit. A sample was submitted to the UF/IFAS Tropical Research and Education Center Plant Diagnostic Clinic to figure out exactly what was causing ... READ MORE

Category: Agribusiness, Agriculture, Crops, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Pests & Disease, Pests & Disease, UF/IFAS Extension
Tags: Agriculture, Avocado, Collier County, Collier County Extension, Farms, Small Farms, SWFL, TREC, Tropical Fruit, Tropical Plants, UF IFAS Extension

Tips from the help desk…paper wasps, August 2022

by David Austin

August 24, 2022

Tips from the Help Desk... Paper Wasps by David Austin Residential Horticulture Agent and Master Gardener Volunteer Coordinator Friend or Foe? Many Gardeners might believe them to be the enemy. They wait on their paper nest creations ... READ MORE

Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Pests & Disease, Pests & Disease, UF/IFAS Extension
Tags: Gardening, Highlands County, Highlands Horticulture Digest, Hometown Gardener, PolliNATION, Tips From The Help Desk, UF IFAS Extension

Once upon a millipede

by Ralph Mitchell

August 23, 2022

We receive many calls from homeowners having issues with worm-like, several inch long critters that turn out to be millipedes. Millipede populations periodically congregate as they migrate to other sites – maybe your lanai or garage. In ... READ MORE

Category: Home Landscapes, Pests & Disease
Tags: Gardening, Household Pests, Millipede, Nuisance

Tasks and Duties throughout the Life Cycle of a Worker Honey Bee

by Anthony Rodriguez

August 22, 2022

Have you ever wondered where the saying, “busy like a bee” comes from? Well, it comes from the worker honey bee - known to be the most active bee of their species, Apis millifera, as they are faced with many different tasks and duties throughout ... READ MORE

Category: 4-H & Youth, Agribusiness, Agriculture, Camp, Clubs & Volunteers, Community Volunteers, Conservation, Crops, Events, Farm Management, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Forests, Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Livestock, Pests & Disease, Pests & Disease, Recreation, Relationships & Family, UF/IFAS, UF/IFAS Extension, UF/IFAS Research, UF/IFAS Teaching, Wildlife, Work & Life
Tags: Acknowledge, Apis Mellifera, Bugs, Colonies, Colony, Cycle, Drones, Duties, Duty, Eggs, Honey, Honey Bee, Insects, Laying Workers, Life, Life Cycle, Nectar, Needs To Bee Protected, Pollen, PolliNATION, Pollinator, Pollinators, Queen, Save The Bees, Task, Tasks, Worked, Worker Honey Bee, Workers, Working

Better With Butterflies: The Atala

by Wayne Hobbs

August 19, 2022

Welcome back to our monthly blog in which we discuss a few interesting facts about butterflies in general and a specific type of butterfly. Of the six known butterfly families, this month we will address the gossamer winged, also known as ... READ MORE

Category: , Conservation, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes, Natural Resources, Pests & Disease, Wildlife
Tags: Butterflies, Butterfly, Butterfly Garden, Clay County, Florida Friendly, Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Garden, Gardening, Horticulture, Landscape, Landscaping, Master Gardener, Master Gardener Volunteer, Monarch, Native, Pollinator, Pollinators, Wildlife

Tiny and Mite-y

by Alyssa Vinson

August 18, 2022

Stumped is not something we often admit to being. As a new horticulture agent, I am still delighted when I get a chance to learn something. Recently, myself and others in my area, began to notice a fuzzy white growth on Ruellia simplex, a ubiquitous ... READ MORE

Category: Home Landscapes, Horticulture, Pests & Disease, Pests & Disease, UF/IFAS Extension
Tags: Erineum, Featured Hot Topic, Mites, Pest, Ruellia

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