August 2024 First Friday with Florida First Detector

Recap of August 2024 First Friday with Florida First Detector

In August, we focused on invasive pests of ornamental plants. While we covered a lot during our Final Friday webinar, we barely scratched the surface of invasive species as it relates to ornamental plants. Florida has an estimated number of more than 1,500 types of ornamental plants used in its green industries. These include tropical, subtropical and temperate plants, flowering potted plants, vines, ground covers, evergreen trees, palms and more. Florida’s good climate allows for such a diversity of plants across the state. Because there are so many different types of ornamental plants in Florida, there is also a diversity of pests both invasive and native that can be found on them. Some ornamental plants themselves have also been known to become invasive once introduced to Florida too!

In this webinar, we talked a little bit about integrate pest management for invasive species on ornamental plants. With each plant, and location where they are planted, the management may be different, but the basic tools of integrated pest management remain the same. We have prevention, cultural control, physical/mechanical control, biological control, and chemical control. These tools are used for both invasive and native pests.

In all pest management, we consider the economic thresholds to help us make management decisions. This is basically the pest level that it is most cost effective for us to implemental control tools. For ornamental plants, we are always looking to be most cost effective and sustainable. However, we also have to consider the customer’s needs and desires too. Since ornamental plants’ role is to look pretty where they are installed, customers have varying levels of tolerance to any damage or imperfections. Therefore, balancing pest management with aesthetic expectations is crucial in maintaining customer satisfaction. When it comes to invasive species, even pests that cause minimal damage to the plant can be very impactful for the green industry, especially when customers have very low tolerance for damage.

Resources on Ornamental Plants

Want to watch the recording?

What is the upcoming schedule?

We are meeting online via Zoom from 12:00PM-1:00PM on the First Friday of every month from Sept 2022-Aug 2025. This webinar wraps up our 2023-2024 series, but we have good news. We will be back again September 2024 through August 2025, maybe longer too! Please visit this blog for registration information and the upcoming schedule for Sept. 2024-2025.

Questions?

Contact Dr. Morgan Pinkerton, morgan0402@ufl.edu

Visit the Florida First Detector Website