by Matt Lollar | Oct 2, 2017
Over the last month or so, home gardeners and commercial growers alike have noticed what look to be large dust particles floating through the air. It’s probably not uncommon to have inhaled a few or even a few hundred of these mysterious particles. Most likely, these “particles” aren’t dust at all but whiteflies instead. Whiteflies are small (less than a tenth of an inch long), white, soft-bodied insects. They aren’t flies but are considered ‘true bugs’ by entomologists. The most common whitefly species in Northwest Florida is the silverleaf whitefly, also known as the sweetpotato whitefly. Whitefly numbers have exploded exponentially this year because of last years’ mild winter. These irksome insects feed on a variety of annuals, shrubs, vegetables and trees.
Magnified whitefly adults and eggs. Photo Credit: James Castner, University of Florida/IFAS.
Whiteflies typically feed on the underside of leaves. Initially, disturbed leaves will become pale in color, then a sticky substance may develop on the surface of the leaves. This sticky substance is called honeydew. Honeydew is actually a sugary substance excreted by the whiteflies as part of their elimination process, similar to what aphids and scale insects produce. After honeydew is deposited, sooty mold develops to feed on this readily available sugar source. Sooty mold is a fungus that forms a gray to black colored coating on plant leaves. It normally grows on leaves that were previously covered with honeydew. Sooty mold hinders the ability of leaves to absorb light and ultimately limits photosynthesis.
Pale squash leaves due to feeding from whiteflies. Photo Credit: University of Florida/IFAS.
So what should be done to control whiteflies? It depends on what is being grown. If whiteflies are present, the role of beneficial insects should be taken into consideration. Plenty of predatory insects such as lady bugs and green lacewings are around to feed on whiteflies. In fact, leaving the whiteflies alone on your trees and shrubs will attract more predatory insects. Below are some whitefly control methods that produce minimal damage to beneficial insect populations.
Whitefly Control in Vegetables
- Sticky Traps – Yellow sticky traps are a good way to monitor whitefly populations and can help determine when insecticide application is appropriate.
- Insecticidal Soaps – Insecticidal soaps are usually applied as a 1 to 2 percent solution (2½ to 5 tablespoons per gallon of water). It is important to follow the application directions on the label. Insecticidal soap should be applied in the evening, when the sun is low in the sky and the temperature is below 85°F. Some insecticidal soaps available at local lawn and garden centers include: Bonide Insecticidal Soap, Bonide Insecticidal Soap, and Bayer Advanced Natria Insecticidal Soap.
- Horticultural Oils – Horticultural oils should be handled like insecticidal soaps. Like the soaps, they should be applied in the evening. Some horticultural oils available at local lawn and garden centers include: Bonide All Seasons Spray Oil, Southern Ag Parafine Oil, and Garden Safe Neem Oil.
- Other Insecticides – Harsher chemicals are not recommended for the home gardener, because whiteflies have become resistant to most products on the market. Use of broad spectrum insecticides may also contribute to an increase in whitefly populations because they kill beneficial predatory insects.
Hopefully winter will be cooler this year and the profuse whitefly population will be knocked back. Until then, we wish all home gardeners the best of luck with fall gardening!
by Beth Bolles | Sep 8, 2017
Trees are a valuable resource. They add beauty to our community, serve as food and shelter for animals, filter the air, and cool urban environments. Trees can also be a liability when poorly maintained, damaged, or diseased. There are often times when an arborist is needed to help determine the best course of action for the tree.
There are many individuals who are involved in the tree care and removal business. Not all of these people are certified in the care of trees. Arborists are people who receiving training in the planting, care, and maintenance of trees.
Professional arborists have specialized training to create safe, structurally sound trees, even when damaged by storms. Photo by Beth Bolles, UF IFAS Extension Escambia County
Certified arborists go through a voluntary certification process with the International Society of Arboriculture which means that they have at least three years experience and have passed a comprehensive examination developed by tree experts. A certified arborist maintains certification by attending regular training courses.
An arborist may also be a member of another organization which helps professionals stay up-to-date on tree care techniques and information. These include the National Arborist Association and the American Society of Consulting Arborists.
Hiring an arborist to work on your trees is important for several reasons. An arborist can evaluate the tree and determine the steps necessary to create a healthy specimen. In regards to pruning, the professional will determine what type of pruning is necessary and remove branches properly.
Professionals will also perform tree care practices that are recommended by University research. A few practices that the arborist would not perform include topping trees, using climbing spikes on trees which are not being removed, and making flush cuts against the trunk.
Flush cuts are damaging to trees and can create a future hazard in your landscape. Photo by Beth Bolles, UF IFAS Extension Escambia County
Finally arborists have the skills and equipment to safely and efficiently prune or remove trees. This includes personal and property damage insurance and workers compensation insurance.
Next time you need tree work or advice, hire a professional for the job. It will definitely be worth the investment.
by Matt Lollar | Aug 25, 2017
If you’ve attended any of our landscaping classes, then you’ve probably heard the phrase “Right Plant, Right Place”. This phrase is a simple reminder to research plant growth habits and growing conditions before making selections for your landscape. This not only holds true for ornamental plants, but for edible crops as well. A term used to describe the use of edibles as ornamentals is “Permaculture”. Now this is an extremely simplified definition of the term, but permaculture comes from a combination of the words “permanent” and “agriculture”. The thought behind permaculture is to fashion an edible landscape after a natural ecosystem.
There are a number of strategies to becoming a successful permaculturist. Below you will find a few examples.
- Site Observation and Analysis – The slope, orientation to the sun, and sectors of your yard should all be documented.
- Slope – Identifying the slope of your yard can help you determine the natural flow of water and nutrients. For example, if you have a hill in your back yard you may want to install some plant beds between the peak of the slope and your house. These beds will help absorb water and nutrients before they have a chance to reach the house.
- Orientation – Think about the location, relevant to your house, of each of your edible landscape areas. The eastern side of your house receives morning sunlight, which is much cooler than the western side of your house that receives sunlight in the afternoon. A tomato plant will be much happier if it can avoid the afternoon heat.
- Sectors – While walking your property, you will notice differences in soil texture, soil moisture, and the plants and weeds growing in these different areas. You can divide your yard based on these characteristics along with slope, orientation, and shade percentage to develop sectors of your property.
Cover Crops and Living Mulch – Cover crops are planted in areas that you would normally allow to go fallow. Living mulches are plants that are planted alongside edible plants to help fill voids. The benefits of both are listed below.
- Weed Supression
- Erosion Control
- Produce and/or Scavenge Nutrients
- Nematode Supression
- Harbor Beneficial Insects
Clover is an excellent cover crop choice and has a beautiful flower. Photo Credit: University of Florida/IFAS.
- Space Utilization – The third criteria is to mimic a forest. Just like any good forest, your “forest garden” will consist of different layers of vegetation.
- You can start by planting large deciduous trees such as pecans or pears farthest from the house. These trees will allow filtered light to penetrate the layer below.
- Next, you can plant smaller fruit trees such as citrus or peaches along the understory of the larger trees.
- Then, you can plant your vegetable and herb garden around your fruit tree plantings.
- Finish by planting root and vining vegetables such as carrots or sweet potatoes at the edge of the forest.
A mixed vegetable garden. Photo Credit: eXtension.org.
We’ve just scratched the surface of the concept of permaculture, but I encourage you to dig a little deeper. What could be the harm with being able to eat your landscape? Just don’t eat too much or you may lose your landscape entirely!
An “Intermediate Permaculture” class is scheduled for Saturday, September 23 at the Jackson County Extension Office. For more information, please call (850)-482-9620 and ask for Matt.
For more information on permaculture please visit the NC State Permaculture Page.
For more information on “Right Plant, Right Place” please visit the UF/IFAS Florida Friendly Living Site.
by Mary Salinas | Aug 25, 2017
After you have chosen the right fertilizer, fungicide, herbicide or insecticide to apply to your landscape, the question becomes: how much do I buy? Labels on these products will tell you how many square feet it will cover – so that leads to the next question: how many square feet of lawn do I have?
Here’s an easy way to determine your square footage. This online tool from Sod Solutions uses GIS mapping to figure it out from the comfort of your lounge chair.
On this front page, search for your address.
A bird’s eye view of your property comes up. Zoom in by using the + sign in the lower right corner of the screen.
Plot points on the area you want to measure. This makes it so easy to measure those curved and odd-shaped areas!
The calculation of the area in square feet, yards, and acres is displayed on the left side. The perimeter is also calculated; that might be handy for determining the length of a fence line.
For more information:
Your Florida Lawn website
The Florida Fertilizer Label
Interpreting Pesticide Label Wording
by Larry Williams | Aug 18, 2017
A New Yorker cartoon shows a lady shopping a garden center bench for plants. She has three choices at three price points: annuals, $6; perennials, $10; eternals, $749.95.
No matter what the cost, plants don’t live forever. And if they did, what would they cost? They’d probably cost more than $749.95. Even though we know plants don’t live forever, we still don’t want a plant that we purchased, planted and cared for to die an early death.
All too often, I find myself in the position of reminding a person of this fact of life – plants don’t live forever.
Palm in decline.
Credit: Edward F. Gilman, UF/IFAS.
There are extremes, though. The bristlecone pine can live thousands of years. There is one that was named Methuselah, which, at one time, was believed to be the oldest living tree on record approaching more than 4,800 years of age in central California. But in the 1970’s, offspring of Methuselah all died because they were sent to low-altitude locations. The parent tree’s location in the White Mountains is two miles above sea level.
Even though the bristlecone pine can live thousands of years, misplacing it (planted at too low an altitude) results in the tree living a fraction of its potential life. The point is to plant the right plant in the right place. Make sure the plant is well suited for Florida and to the site conditions: that wet site, that dry site, that salty site, that high pH site, that shady site, that sunny site, etc.
The second point is to have realistic expectations based on the plant species. Some plants genetically will live longer than others. One of our longest-lived tree species in Florida is the live oak. There are live oak trees in Florida that are hundreds of years old. But don’t expect a silver maple to make it that long. It’s a shorter-lived tree species. In Florida, a thirty-year-old silver maple is probably in a state of decline due to old age.
The third point is to learn how to correctly plant and maintain the plants you have. For example, most woody plants (trees and shrubs), will live a much shorter life simply from being planted too deep. And an over fertilized centipedegrass lawn will go into a state of decline resulting in the lawn living a shorter life.
Plant the right plant in the right place, learn what it likes and provide it. And when the plant reaches the end of its life, replace it.
Many homeowners spend more than $749.95 attempting to turn a short-lived plant into an eternal plant.
by Gary Knox | Aug 17, 2017
Cuphea ignea
Photo courtesy: Gary Knox
Cupheas are perennials that produce bright orange, red, yellow or purple flowers all summer and fall. Some species are called cigar plants due to their tubular, cigar shaped flowers tipped in red or yellow (like a lit cigar). Others are sometimes called firecracker plants because their cylindrical flowers are bright red or orange (looking like a firecracker). By any name, their nectar-filled, tubular flowers are widely known for attracting large numbers of hummingbirds, butterflies and bees. In addition, young stems of some species are reddish, further adding color and contrast to the usually narrow, lance-shaped green foliage.
As a group, cupheas grow best in full to part sun (the brighter, the better) and well-drained, moderately fertile soil. Cupheas are drought tolerant once established, but grow faster and larger with regular moisture and occasional fertilization. Their origins in warm climates allow them to thrive in heat, but likewise make some species sensitive to cold winters. Those that are frost tender along the Gulf Coast are best placed in a sheltered location in the garden. Cupheas are pest and disease resistant and are not invasive in Florida. They are not truly deer resistant, yet reports suggest cupheas are not favored by deer.
Cupheas are great summer performers in bright, hot and dry locations. Flowering begins in summer and continues through fall until short days and cool weather reduce flowering or frosts cause dieback. Along the Gulf Coast, cool winter weather slows them down, so re-growth doesn’t occur until mid to late spring, and flowering usually doesn’t begin until days and nights are warm. Growth and appearance of many cupheas are improved if plants are pruned or cut to the ground in late winter.
Over 200 species of Cuphea are native to Mexico and the warm-temperate and tropical Americas. Of these and their hybrids, the cupheas listed below are great summer-flowering perennials for the northern Gulf Coast.
Cuphea micropetala
Photo courtesty: Gary Knox
Cigar Plant (Cuphea ignea)
This fine-textured plant produces red to orange tubular flowers about an inch long. This cigar plant is hardy to about 20°F. It grows about 2 feet tall and 3 feet wide along the Gulf Coast, though it would be a larger, evergreen shrub in warmer climates. This cuphea tends to have lanky growth, so occasional summer pruning will stimulate branching which results in more dense growth.
Cigar Plant or Candy Corn Plant (Cuphea micropetala)
Flowers are 1.5 inches long, emerge pale yellow and gradually turn orange from the base upwards, offering a colorful, two-tone effect. Foliage is hardy to 25-30°F and this cigar plant is root hardy to at least 15°F. Stems should be cut back to ground level in late winter to keep the plant tidy. Clumps spread slowly outward by rhizomes, and the plant will reach 3 feet tall and wide along the Gulf Coast.
Cuphea schumannii
Photo courtesy: Gary Knox
Orange Cigar Plant or Schumann’s Cuphea (Cuphea schumannii)
This sprawling, floriferous cigar plant prefers moist, well-drained soil to thrive. Barrel-shaped, 1- to 1½-inch blooms are orange and yellow and sometimes have small purple petals at the tips. Flowers cover the branch terminals in the heat of summer and into fall. This plant is hardy in Zones 8 to 9 (at least down to the mid 20s°F). Unlike many other cupheas, leaves of orange cigar plant are oval- to heart-shaped. Stems grow 2 to 3 feet tall and readily flop or fall over. Plan to give orange cigar plant lots of room to sprawl through the garden!
Cuphea ‘David Verity’
Photo courtesy: Gary Knox
‘David Verity’ Large Firecracker Plant (Cuphea ignea × micropetala ‘David Verity’)
This floriferous hybrid produces flowers that are dark orange with a short yellow-orange flared tip and purple filamentts. Well-adapted to the Gulf Coast, this plant is foliage hardy down to 25-30°F and root hardy to at least 15°F. In Zone 9 this plant will grow as an evergreen shrub up to 4 to 5 feet tall and wide, but it will be smaller in areas where frost or freezes occur. This selection is believed to be a hybrid between Cuphea ignea and C. micropetala that was given in the mid 1970s to David Verity, then the manager of the UCLA Mildred Mathias Botanic Garden. It was subsequently named for him when later brought into commercial production.
‘Vermillionaire®’ Large Firecracker Plant (Cuphea ‘Vermillionaire®’)
This new hybrid appears to be a superior cuphea because it grows as a naturally compact plant that produces more flowers than other selections. ‘Vermillionaire®’ grows about 24 inches or more tall and wide with a compact, mounding habit. Orange tubular flowers are produced continuously until late fall. This cuphea is too new to know the full extent of its hardiness, but it is expected to be a perennial in Zones 8 and higher.
Mexican Heather (Cuphea hyssopifolia)
Unlike the previous cupheas, this plant has small purple flowers, and some selections sport white flowers. Another difference is Mexican heather’s finely textured, bright green leaves. Gulf Coast Zone 8 plants are usually killed to the ground in winter, often recovering by summer but resulting in a compact plant growing less than 24 inches tall and wide. In Zones 9 and higher, Mexican heather is a larger-growing semi-evergreen tropical shrub. Reported pests are leaf-chewing beetles (Altica and Colaspis spp.) and the twig-dwelling lesser snow scale (Pinnaspis strachani). Mexican heather works well for edging beds or sidewalks, helping to define and soften pathways. Cultivars include Allyson, Lavender Lace, Purple Nurple™ and the white-flowered Monga (Itsy Bitsy° White) and ‘White Whispers’.
Bat-Faced Cuphea
Photo courtesy: Gary Knox
Bat Face Cuphea (Cuphea llavea)
Each 1-inch flower consists of a purple tube lipped with two red, upright lobes. By viewing the flower with its tip facing you, it takes only a little imagination to see the two red lobes resemble large “ears” above the purple “face” of a bat, hence the name. Along the Gulf Coast, bat face cuphea grows mound-shaped 8 to 24 inches tall and wide, depending upon the selection. It is very heat and drought tolerant but requires better drainage than the other cupheas. Bat face cuphea is evergreen down to the upper 20s°F and root hardy into the lower 20s°F. Improved forms of bat face cuphea include the cultivars, Flamenco Samba, Georgia Scarlet, Mellow Yellow, Miss Priss, Tiny Mice®, Sriracha™ Pink, Sriracha™ Violet, Torpedo, Vienco° Lavender and Vienco° Red.
