Many different Florida wildlife pass through a home landscape daily in search of food. Possibly the most destructive animal to landscape plants in northwest Florida is the White-Tailed Deer. Extensive amounts of damage can be observed after they have passed through. This damage is not just to landscapes but also impacts agriculture crops at an economic level.
Deer walking through a landscape in Northwest Florida. Photo Credit: Stephen Greer, University of Florida/IFAS Extension – Santa Rosa County
Deer are searching for protein that can be found in many forms that may include acorns from oak trees, ornamental shrubs, flowers, and soybeans. For this article, I will focus on landscape plants. Deer require a significant amount of forages as adults to amass 6 plus pounds per 100 pounds of body mass on a daily basis as they attain muscle and fat. Maintaining this level of growth is needed for quality reproductive rates and surviving the times of year, usually the winter, with less food available. Keep in mind damage is significantly lower from mid-spring to mid-summer with greater damage occurring from late-summer to late-fall.
Deer damage to a loquat tree. Photo Credit: Stephen Greer, University of Florida/IFAS Extension – Santa Rosa County
How to make informed plant decisions before placing them in the landscape and protecting many of these plants is a big question. There are many articles out there on selecting plants that are deer resistant or tolerant. Resistant to deer browsing is often dependent on how hungry they are and the amount of availability of other plants they prefer near by out of your landscape. With deer populations increasing significantly over the last few decades it has increased contact with people and the environments in which we live. To deter feeding and other damage to the landscape, fences have been placed as barriers, offensive smelling sprays have been used, lights and sounds have been used. The attempt is to offend more than one of the deer senses. These tactics work for a while until they adjust to these events and find their way back.
A barrier placed over a raised bed garden. Photo Credit: Stephen Greer, University of Florida/IFAS Extension – Santa Rosa County.
Some of the favored plants for deer include hosta, daylily, holly, and maple leaves and many more. Plants they tend to avoid are poisonous plants that include foxglove, poppies or fragrant plants from sage, salvias and bearded iris. There are publications with extensive lists of plants not to plant as they are a preferred food for deer and much shorter lists of plants they do not prefer. Contact your local UF IFAS Extension office for more information.
Deer, like many of the wildlife, were able to acclimate to neighborhoods and traffic settings. This has created additional dangers for many wildlife animals and people. The point is they are an established part of our communities. Determining how to best manage these growing populations has and will continue to be a big topic of discussion from neighbor to neighbor, community boards, farmers, and the Florida Wildlife Commission.
They are often very prevalent on trees in our area; a strange string of shallow holes drilled in the bark of a tree. Often this is oozing sap, especially on pines and hardwoods with heavy sap flow, and more holes keep appearing as the sap dries up in others. I get calls and questions all the time about this strange phenomenon and what can be done about it. The calls are usually from homeowners with a prized backyard tree, but I get calls from farmers with orchard crops and other settings as well. What is causing this strange attack on these trees? What drills near perfect holes just into the sapwood of a tree? The answer is a bird of all things; and in particular the yellowbellied sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius). This small to mid-sized bird is in the woodpecker family and has the peculiar diet of feeding on sweet and nourishing tree sap; as well as small insects attracted to and trapped into the sap. This little native bird drills and taps trees for sweet sap. Much like we humans do with maple trees up north for syrup production. They then visit their trees and drink the sap until the tap dries up and then drill another hole. This pattern of feeding leaves this banding of holes drilled on the tree, and they drill deep enough that it will be visible for quite a long time often permanently.
Yellowbellied Sapsucker damage on an American Sycamore-Walton County, FL Photo Credit: Ian Stone
The biggest question most people want answered, beside what is doing/causing this, is will this hurt the tree? The best answer to that is mostly no, but with all things tree related it depends. On young and smaller trees, particularly newly planted ones, the feeding can stress the tree and can cause some issues. The biggest risk is that if the sapsucker drills in a complete ring around the trunk, something more common on smaller trees, they could cause the tree to be girdled and killed. Another issue is that their feeding can attract pests and disease, such as bark and wood boring beetles along with some fungal infections of the open wounds. These pest and diseases may then go on to cause severe damage and death, especially if the tree is stressed by drought or other environmental factors. Ultimately, the feeding of the yellowbellied sapsucker rarely kills or severely damages trees by itself. Most of the time it just causes unsightly damage, and the bark damage and subsequent healing over can cause an unsightly area of bark. This is especially true on thin barked trees that have smooth bark, such as beech, magnolia, and birch.
You are probably wondering how to prevent this damage in the first place or stop it once a sapsucker takes a liking to your tree. The best thing to do is to make some changes in your landscape to prevent attracting sapsuckers and/or scare them away if they are in the area. Your first step is to learn to identify the yellowbellied sapsucker, so you can tell if they are in the area. Yellowbellied sapsuckers are a woodpecker and to many they look like several of our other small woodpeckers such as the downy, red-cockaded, and possibly even the red bellied. They look the most like a slightly larger downy woodpecker with more red on their heads. Males are the most brightly colored and have a read crown and throat patch, while females have the red crown only. The back and wings are black and white, and have somewhat of a ladder appearance on the back. They are smaller birds, around 7-8 in. in length, similar in size to a robin or cardinal. They cling to the bark and shuffle up and down the tree like other woodpeckers. The namesake yellow belly is faint and difficult to see at a distance without binoculars or other aids
Yellowbellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) side profile Photo Credit: Johnny N. Dell, Bugwood.org
If you notice yellowbellied sapsuckers in your area, you can watch them to see which trees they seem attracted to. Once you identify the portion of your yard they seem to like; you can put up windsocks or predatory statues to scare them away. This is the most effective method to keep these somewhat pesky birds out of an area and stop the tree damage. It also does not harm the birds or any other wildlife, though it may scare away birds that you would like to stick around. You may see some information about putting up hardware cloth or metal sheeting around the trunk of the tree. This is not a good method and often it does not stop the sapsuckers, who simply find another unguarded portion of the tree or work around the exclusion device. Using hardware cloth or sheeting can also damage the tree worse than the sapsucker’s feeding activity, and if not properly installed and consistently loosened they can even girdle and kill a tree. If you are having trouble with the interesting but pesky birds, use the scare away method consistently until they leave the area. If they believe predators are in the area and regularly startled while feeding they usually leave for a better feeding area pretty quickly.
On occasion, homeowners report being troubled by certain slimy visitors to their gardens. Perhaps not the first pest most people would think about in their landscapes, snails are nonetheless a source of frustration for some. While many species are harmless or even beneficial, some can make a nuisance of themselves by munching on plants, or even just congregating in large numbers.
Just sighting a snail is not always cause for alarm. Snails are gastropods, a type of mollusc that is closely related to slugs. Snails may be found in the water or on land, and terrestrial species are often seen in areas where moisture is plentiful. Many feed on decaying organic matter, doing the important job of breaking down dead material in the environment. Others may eat living plants, and can cause consternation when they chew holes in the leaves of vegetables or ornamentals. A few may even act as predators, such as the native rosy wolf snail, which attacks other snails.
Farmers have found difficulty in dealing with Bulimulus sporadicus, a species introduced from the West Indies. This species is often found in moist areas, and seems to prefer feeding on decaying plant matter rather than live plants. However, it is prolific and gregarious, with large populations appearing on walls, fences, irrigation emitters, and on plants. Peanut growers may have difficulty screening the shells, which are around the same size as a peanut, from their harvest. Growers relying on irrigation to water their crops may find nozzles clogged by snails seeking out moisture. And homeowners may find their homes polka-dotted with dozens of these little creatures.
When snails get together, it may be an alarming sight. Bulimulus sporadicus doesn’t seem to damage plants, but does like to congregate. Photo credit: Danielle Sprague
If you are having trouble with snails, consider trying to reduce areas of higher humidity that they may shelter in. Mulch, dead vegetation, or weedy areas can all hold moisture, making happy homes for slugs and snails. While it may be difficult or almost impossible to control humidity, denying pests their shelter can help to keep them away.
Commercial repellents are available. Copper fungicides may protect plants from fungal diseases as well as leave residues that snails find distasteful. Hydrated lime or sulfur dust at the base of plants can repel snails, though be aware that they may have an effect on the pH of the soil if used in large amounts, or over time.
Traps can be of some help in reducing snail populations. A dish with steep sides, sunk into the ground and baited with something attractive, may be able to trap snails in it. Beer, fruit, or leafy greens like lettuce can work, though they may also attract raccoons or other animals.
Some baits containing molluscicides may also be available, but these may or may not be effective.
In Florida, we have plenty of native critters trying to find their way into our homes – cockroaches, mosquitoes, lizards, squirrels, mice, and even alligators and bears every now and again. So, we don’t really need any more non-native critters to worry about, but we do. The Argentine ant is one of these non-native nuisances that can be quite difficult to control.
The Argentine ant is from South America and has become a pest worldwide. Although these ants don’t sting or bite, they can be a major nuisance in the home as they search for food and water. A unique feature that makes these ants especially difficult to deal with is that they form multi-queen colonies that can form a network of interrelated colonies. Unlike other ant colonies that may compete with each other, Argentine ants are able to spend less time defending their nests and more time looking for resources. These ants are also really small, with the workers only about 2.2 to 2.6 mm (around 1/10 of an inch). The Argentine ant emits a musky odor when crushed, helping to identify it among other small pest ants.
The Argentine ant is a small, nuisance pest ant that readily invades structures, especially during the warmer months. Credit: April Noble, from www.antweb.com.
These minute, cooperative ants can quickly invade a structure looking for food and water, especially when it warms up. At 70°F, it takes 25 days for the pupa to change into an adult compared to only 8 days at 86°F. This ability to reproduce quickly is a trait shared by most invasive species, whether plant or animal.
While not a health threat to humans, they are very annoying pest. In the home, they are attracted to sugars and oils and like to hide in the soil of potted houseplants. Outdoors, they nest in mulch, leaves, and rotting logs. You can often find them “tending” to insects on your outdoor landscape plants. The ants eat the sugary feces of sap-feeding insects, called honeydew, and provide these insects protection in exchange. In citrus groves, the Argentine ant has been known to help the Asian citrus psyllid better compete against predators, allowing this other invasive species to potentially spread citrus greening.
This Argentine ant is “tending” a scale insect. Credit: Alex Wild, University of Texas at Austin, alexanderwild.com
To help control the Argentine ant, you need to start with the perimeter of the home. It’s best to keep a 2’ barrier around the home free of leaves, mulch, woody debris, and landscape plants. This minimizes areas to nest near the home. If they begin to enter the home, place ant bait stations or gel baits along their trail. Argentine ants tend to like sweet baits. Broadcast pesticide spray treatments are not as effective because the nest is usually located far enough below ground where the pesticides can’t penetrate. Pesticide powder formulations are available to treat small crevices. These ants are difficult to control and you may want to consider hiring a professional pest management company for backup. For more information on the Argentine ant, it’s identification and control methods, please see the UF/IFAS Argentine Ant Factsheet. For any questions on ants or other structural pests, contact your local county extension office.
As spring approaches, the time to plan and implement gardens is at hand. If you have wanted to get into this hobby but have been intimidated by the avalanche of information, consider an herb garden. This collection of plants is grown primarily for their aromatic properties and culinary use but are robust making them optimal for getting your feet wet in gardening. They may be grown in a variety of spaces including in-ground, containers, and as companion plants in existing gardens. They are very forgiving with similar growth condition requirements and may be propagated easily from cuttings or seeds. Moreover, herbs have a place in supporting the beneficial insects in your landscape.
What is an Herb, and How do they Grow
Herb is a broad term applied to a group of plants whose leaves or stems are used for various purposes. This is an important distinction as they must be differentiated from spices, which find their origins in a plant’s non-leafy structures. It is important to note that some plants, such as cilantro, may be considered both. In this case, the leaves are a culinary herb, but the seeds are a spice called coriander. These are subtle, but important distinctions.
Many culinary herbs fall into the Lamiaceae family, commonly called the mint family. They run the gamut of life cycles as annuals, biennials, and perennials giving the grower a range of plants from which to choose. You’ll do best by mixing these life cycles to optimize successional plantings to provide a constant supply of herbs for your kitchen.
As with all gardening, everything begins with soil testing. Knowing the pH and texture of your soil will inform your management practices. Aim for a slightly acidic soil with a pH of around 6.5 and a loamy texture. I can hear you all out there, what does loamy texture mean? Soil consists of sand, silt, and clay. Loamy refers to soil with an equal proportion of these particles. It is desirable in gardening as it lends to a balance of moisture retention and drainage while providing nutrient-holding capability. These are desirable traits for any growth medium.
What Herbs Should I Grow
At this point, you are probably getting anxious for me to tell you what the easiest herbs to grow happen to be. Below are three herbs that will make you wonder why you delayed entering into this hobby.
One of the easiest and most useful is rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus). This woody perennial is drought tolerant and pest resistant, making it wonderful for new and old gardeners. It prefers well-drained soil and may need some protection in the winter. This plant is easy to shape and propagates best via cutting. Rosemary flowers in the winter to spring time frame serving as an early season support for pollinators such as bees. Plant this herb in the spring, and be sure not to overwater or use too much fertilizer.
UF/IFAS Photo: J. CrissUF/IFAS Photo: J. Criss
Basil (Ocimum spp.) comes in a wide variety of cultivars. The wide selection is likely due to this herb’s presence in multiple cultures covering at least three continents. This herbaceous annual prefers morning sun with some afternoon shade and well-draining soil. Plant from seed or cutting after the last chance for frost has passed. Harvest leaves for culinary use and keep the plant in vegetative growth by pinching the flower stalks through the summer. Once you’ve had all you need for the year, go ahead and let the flowers bloom. Pollinators will swarm these plants, and you will receive all the seeds you need for next year’s planting.
UF/IFAS Photo: J. Criss
Finally, among the easily grown herbs is oregano. This herb is split into two main cultivars in Mexican oregano (Lippiagraveolens) and European oregano (Origanum vulgare). They differ in taste but are often used the same way. This herb prefers full sun and is a hardy perennial that will self seed. It may be propagated from cutting, seed, or division.
UF/IFAS Photo: J. Criss
Those outlined here are but a few of the options for herb gardens. Herbs are a wonderful way to get your feet wet in gardening. Being easy to grow and propagate, they will provide a masterclass in plant care and flavorings for your dinner. Use herbs in your garden to feed yourself, as a pollinator benefit, or to attract predatory insects to your garden. For more information on herb gardens, see these Ask IFAS documents, or contact your local extension agent for additional information on this and any topic regarding your gardens and more.
