If you have ever seen what looks like clumps of dirt ascending your walls, you are actually seeing an insect. The “dirt” is actually a case that surrounds a household casebearer caterpillar (Figure 1), which is the larval stage of a Tineid ... READ MORE
Category: Pests & Disease, Pests & Disease, UF/IFAS, UF/IFAS Extension, Work & LifePlease see caption below story. GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- When Kenny Coogan, a seventh-grade science teacher at Orange Grove Middle Magnet School, took an airboat ride on Lake Tohopekaliga and saw the devastation caused by invasive plants, he ... READ MORE
Category: Agriculture, Invasive Species, UF/IFAS, UF/IFAS Extension, UF/IFAS ResearchShade for small scale Florida food producers (both backyard and market gardeners) can be both a blessing and a curse. For many situations, the optimum conditions most vegetables prefer — eight to 10 hours of full sun — just aren’t ... READ MORE
Category: Agriculture
Though it sounds like the new craze in carbonated beverages, tropical soda apple is not refreshing or fun. A prickly shrub from the nightshade family, tropical soda apple is known scientifically as Solanum viarum. It’s native to South America, ... READ MORE
Category: Agriculture, Pests & Disease
The word arbovirus is an example of a portmanteau, a word that was created by mashing together portions of other words. It’s a noun that means “arthropod-borne virus,” but takes less time to say. The word was created by taking “ar” ... READ MORE
Category: Agriculture, Pests & Disease
When you have an infestation of bed bugs (Figure 1), bleach should not be used as a control method. Bleach can be harmful to people if not used carefully, and it will not work effectively to completely eradicate bed bugs from your ... READ MORE
Category: Pests & Disease, Pests & Disease, UF/IFAS, UF/IFAS Extension, Work & LifeAuthor: Dr. Mathews Paret Caused by: Rose rosette virus (Currently not present in Florida; but previously discovered in three counties in Florida in 2013 and 2014 led to the successful destroyal of the infected plants) Vectored by: An eriophyid ... READ MORE
Category: AgricultureAPOPKA, Fla. --- If you’re browsing plants in a nursery or home-improvement store, labels such as “pollinator friendly” will likely influence which plants you end up buying, according to a recent study by University of Florida Institute ... READ MORE
Category: Agriculture, UF/IFAS, UF/IFAS Research
The twospotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae, is a total glutton. Infamous for eating just about everything – more than 200 species of ornamental, vegetable and fruit crops – the twospotted spider mite is the most economically important ... READ MORE
Category: Agriculture, Pests & Disease
Entomopathogenic is a long adjective that simply means, “capable of causing disease in insects.” Most commonly, the term refers to nematodes, fungi or bacteria that cause potentially fatal diseases in insects. Entomopathogenic organisms ... READ MORE
Category: Agriculture, Pests & Disease