by Matt Lollar | Apr 13, 2017
Most of you plant a spring vegetable garden with a number of different vegetable types. However, you may not realize that you are improving the health of your soil and your crops by planting a diverse garden. Intercropping is a gardening practice of growing different crops in the same field. When planting a mixture of crops in the same field year after year, it is important to rotate the location of each type of vegetable. This is a practice known as crop rotation. Intercropping and crop rotation will help reduce insect pest populations, increase beneficial insect populations, and reduce weed populations.
Crop Diversity
Growing plants in your garden that pest insects don’t like to eat makes the pests work harder to find what they do like to eat. Studies have found reduced whitefly numbers on squash plantings mixed with a crop of buckwheat when compared to squash planted alone. Another crop mixture that may be unintentional, but may work in your favor is a row of crapemyrtles along the edge of your garden. Crapemyrtles will attract the crapemyrtle aphid which will attract predatory insects. When the predatory insects run out of crapemyrtle aphids to eat, they will move to your garden and begin to hunt pest insects on your vegetable crop.
Squash with living mulch of buckwheat. Photo Credit: Oscar Liburd, UF/IFAS Extension
Trap Cropping
A trap crop is a plant that attracts a pest insect away from your food crops. Trap crops work best when planted at the edge of your garden, along a fence row, or in movable containers. A bare space, let’s say 5 feet or so, should be kept between your trap crop and your garden. This will help keep the pests from moving on to your vegetables. When you find a good population of pests on your trap crop then it is time to spray them with insecticide or cut the crop down and remove the debris to a location far from your garden. If your trap crops are planted in containers, then it makes them that much easier to remove from near the garden area.
Cover Crops and Green Manure
Soil organic matter can be increased by the use of green manure and cover crops. Cover crops are generally planted during the off-season, but they can be planted in between vegetable rows and tilled in at a designated time as a green manure. Both cover crops and green manure improve the production of your garden by:
- Suppressing weeds by competing for water, light, and nutrients;
- Holding the soil in place and preventing erosion;
- Scavenging for nutrients that can be utilized in future crops;
- Reducing nematode populations;
- Providing a habitat for beneficial insects.
A mixed plot of cover crops and trap crops. Photo Credit: UF/IFAS Extension
A number of different crops can serve as cover crops or green manure crops. Most are legumes (bean family) or grasses. A few that you might like to give a try are:
- Cowpeas
- Sunn hemp
- Sorghum-sudangrass
- Winter rye
More detailed information on cover crops and green manure can be found at this link: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/aa217.
by Larry Williams | Sep 23, 2016
Mounds of sand made my pocket gopher along roadside. Photo Credit: Larry Williams
Pocket gopher is a furry animal known by many locals as “sandy mounder.” It was given this name because of the sandy mounds of excavated earth that the gopher pushes out of its underground burrows. The name sandy mounder, with time, became “salamander.” This animal is not a salamander at all. Salamanders are slimy amphibians shaped like lizards. Salamanders are often known as “spring lizards” in Florida.
To make this nomenclature problem more confusing, in some areas of Florida gopher means a certain burrowing tortoise – the gopher tortoise.
To simplify things keep in mind that in Florida “spring lizard” can mean “salamander” and “salamander” can mean “gopher” and “gopher” can mean “turtle.”
“Gopher” is a confusing word all over the country. Jeff Jackson, retired wildlife biologist with University of Georgia Extension says, “The Richardson’s ground squirrel of the west is called gopher. So is the thirteen lined ground squirrel of the Great Plains and Midwest. Moles are called gophers in many areas. And voles (certain short-tailed mice) are called gophers in some states.”
Jackson says there are six species of “sure enough, genuine pocket gophers in the United States.” Our pocket gopher is the Southeastern Pocket Gopher, found in north Florida, south Alabama and south Georgia.
The pocket gopher spends its time underground making tunnels and nests, eating roots and bearing and raising young. It may venture into residential areas where it can damage plants by feeding on tree and shrub roots or bulbs and tubers of various plants.
A pocket gopher can make fifty or more sandy mounds in a relatively short period of time. These mounds, which are normally four to six inches high and possibly a foot across, are what get homeowners’ attention. The mounds can “popup” overnight in lines or rows. They resemble fire ant mounds; however, they contain no ants.
The pocket gopher is a rodent that grows to about a foot long, has a short tail and weighs about half a pound. Its name comes from the large fur-lined pouches on the outside of its cheeks.
Even though they do contribute to the formation of soil and provide a food source for some predators, sometimes their damage may justify control measures.
Trapping is the most effective option. No chemical repellents are known to be effective. It’s illegal to use any poison to kill gophers. Vibrating devices have not been proven to repel gophers. A long held belief that Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit gum kills gophers by blocking their digestive system has been proven to be false.
A detailed fact sheet is available online at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/uw285.
by Matt Lollar | May 24, 2016
From time to time I am reminded of how little I know. Honestly, I am reminded on a daily basis. A few weeks ago someone asked me about the purple things hanging from the trees. Luckily, the person gave me some good southern directions on where I could find one of these things hanging around in Marianna. So I drove out to the site to get a better look. What I saw hanging in the tree was a three-sided, purple triangle about two feet tall and a foot wide. It looked to me like someone got a box kite stuck in a tree. Upon further research, it was determined this box kite like thing was a monitoring trap for the emerald ash borer (EAB).
A woman hanging an emerald ash borer trap in a tree. Photo Credit: Texas A&M University
The emerald ash borer (EAB) is a destructive, exotic wood-boring beetle native to Asia. It was first discovered in North America in July 2002 and has made a home in Michigan, Ohio and Ontario, Canada. Millions of ash trees have been killed by the EAB in Michigan and invested ash tree nursery stock in other states indicates the potential for increased spread of the pest. EAB has made its way to the south and has been found in Louisiana and Arkansas.
Monitoring traps are not the only means of EAB detection. A proactive approach utilizing observant citizens can help keep an eye out for potential populations. You can use these tips to monitor your community for emerald ash borers:
Ash Tree Identification – Ash trees are identified by their (1) opposite branching pattern, (2) compound leaves with 5-9 leaflets, and (3) diamond shaped bark ridges on mature trees.
A compound leaf of an ash tree. Photo Credit: FDACS
Woodpecker Damage – Of course, not all woodpecker damage on ash trees is associated with EAB infestation, but woodpecker damage in the upper part of the tree can indicate their presence. The woodpecker damage is usually accompanied by vertical cracks in the bark.
Canopy Thinning – As the attack progresses, bark cracking continues and the canopy in the upper half of the tree begins to thin.
Michigan ash tree showing decline due to Emerald ash borer. Photo Credit: USDA
Tunnels and Holes – The emerald ash borer makes distinctive S-shaped tunnels that differ from damage from other borers.
EAB Damage (left) VS Other Borer Damage (right). Photo Credit: Texas A&M University
This beetle hitchhikes on firewood and infests new areas at an alarming rate. Although the EAB has not yet been detected in Florida, transporting firewood from other states puts Florida ash trees at risk. Your help is needed to detect possible infestations so they can be quickly eradicated. The information available at the following links will help you identify the EAB, EAB host trees, and infestation symptoms.
by Mary Salinas | Nov 9, 2015
Are you plagued with mosquitoes in your yard? Does it seem like you have a greater infestation than your neighbors? There may be some solutions to solve the problem other than using pesticides that negatively impact beneficial insects in your landscape.
Asian tiger mosquito. Photo credit: Susan Ellis, Bugwood.org.
Mosquitoes are not only annoying, they can transmit serious diseases such as: eastern equine encephalitis, dengue fever, dog or cat heartworm, chikungunya, malaria, St. Louis encephalitis and west Nile virus.
Let’s first explore what kind of environment in your landscape and around your home is friendly to the proliferation of mosquitos. Adult mosquitoes lay their eggs on or very near water that is still or stagnant. That is because the larvae live in the water but have to come to the surface regularly to breeze. The small delicate larvae need the water surface to be still in order to surface and breathe. Water that is continually moving or flowing inhibits mosquito populations.
Look around your home and landscape for these possible sites of still water that can be excellent mosquito breeding grounds:
- bird baths
- potted plant saucers
- pet dishes
- old tires
- ponds
- roof gutters
- tarps over boats or recreational vehicles
- rain barrels (screen mesh over the opening will prevent females from laying their eggs)
- bromeliads (they hold water in their central cup or leaf axils)
- any other structure that will hold even a small amount of water (I even had them on a heating mat in a greenhouse that had very shallow puddles of water!)
Mosquito larvae. Photo credit: Ari Farajollahi, Bugwood.org.
You may want to rid yourself of some of these sources of standing water or empty them every three to four days. What if you have bromeliads, a pond or some other standing water and you want to keep them and yet control mosquitoes? There is an environmentally responsible solution. Some bacteria, Bacillus thuringiensis ssp. israelensis or Bacillus sphaericus, only infects mosquitoes and other close relatives like gnats and blackflies and is harmless to all other organisms. Look for products on the market that contain this bacteria.
For more information:
UF/IFAS Mosquito Information Website
Biological Control of Mosquitoes
by Roy Carter | May 26, 2015
The proverbial picnic scene aside, ants are pests all of us have to deal with from time to time. Both inside and outside our homes, they feed on and contaminate our food, they build ugly mounds on our lawns, and some ants can inflict painful bites or stings.
Several species of ants are found in Florida. The most common can be grouped into three categories: House-infesting ants, yard infesting ants, and carpenter ants. In this article we’ll talk about ant biology and behavior and how to control them.
Florida Carpenter Ants. Photo credit: UF/IFAS.
Ants have a life cycle similar to many other insects. They go from egg, to larva, to pupa, to adult. Eggs are almost microscopic in size and hatch into soft legless larvae. The pupa resembles the adult ant, except it is soft, uncolored and immobile. It can take from six weeks to two months from egg to adult.
Ants are social insects. They live in colonies much like bees do. Most colonies have a queen ant, male ants, and worker or female ants. Colonies are started by queens, whose primary function is reproduction. The queen may live for many years and is usually replaced by a daughter queen. Males are produced in very old or large colonies, and their sole function is to mate with the unfertilized female, after which, they die. Worker ants construct, repair and defend the nest, provide food for the colony, and take care of the young ants.
Most ants are omnivorous, which means they will eat anything, through some do have specialized food habits. Ants locate food by random searching; when one ant finds food, she informs the other workers in the colony. The exact method of communication is unknown, but in some cases, ants can leave scent trails that other ants can follow to the food source.
Because ants are attracted to any type of food or food particles, your best bet to controlling ants inside your home is to keep it very clean. Store food in airtight containers. Never substitute insecticides for inadequate housekeeping.
The key to eliminating ants is locating and destroying the colony. Sometimes this can be a real problem, because ants are very adaptable. Outdoor nesting species can sometime nest indoors and vice versa, depending, on the food supply.
To find the ant colony, you have to watch the movement of the ants very closely. Outdoors, many ants are easy to locate, because they deposit earth on the soil surface, and form ant hills. But some outdoor ants build nests under house foundations, in decaying logs, and tree trunks. These can be difficult to locate indoors. Ants may nest in walls, behind baseboards, in cracks, and in decaying wood.
Spray, dusts, granules, and baits can be useful in controlling ants. When using these products, treat baseboards, door and window frames, and cracks and crevices between walls and flooring. Treat all areas where ants appear to have trails. If the nest is located, apply an insecticide to the nest according to the pesticide label.
For more information:
Ants
Fire Ants
Carpenter Ants
