by Beth Bolles | Mar 28, 2016
The mining bees or adrenids are often seen in areas of landscapes that have little ground vegetation and loose soil. After mating, the female bee will excavate a very small tunnel in the ground that has several small cells attached to it.
Beneficial solitary bee mounds in the ground. Photo by Beth Bolles
The bee collects pollen and nectar to add to the cell and then lays a single egg in each cell. The emerging larvae feed on the nectar and pollen until it changes to an adult bee in the fall. There is only one generation a year. Although these solitary bees individually produce small nests, sometimes many will nest in close proximity to each other.
Solitary bee entering ground. Photo by Beth Bolles
Solitary bees are not aggressive and stings are quite mild. Most solitary bees can be closely observed and will elicit no defensive behaviors. Perhaps the most common stings that occur are when the sweat bee, which is attracted to moisture, stings when swatted. Males of some solitary bees, which can not sting, will sometimes make aggressive-looking bluffing flights when defending a territory.
Like the most famous honey bee, solitary bees play a beneficial role in the pollination of plants. Their activity in the spring is short-lived and no management is necessary.
by Beth Bolles | Aug 26, 2015
It would seem that landscapes are filled with pests ready to devour our favorite plants. We can often see evidence of pest damage in the form of leaf curls, stippled leaves, or chewed holes in foliage. How do plants survive with all the pest threats without intervention from people?
Many plants have their own alert system to help manage a plant-feeding insect attack. When tissues are damaged by plant feeders, the plant releases volatile chemicals that serve as signals for many beneficial insects. Predators such as lady beetles, lacewings, and predatory bugs ‘pick up’ the chemical signals and fly to the injured plants to find their prey.
Ladybeetle larvae will eat many soft-bodied pests.
An interesting part of this occurrence is that the release of chemicals by one plant can stimulate other surrounding plants to build up their chemical defenses against future pest feeding.
The key lesson for all gardeners is that there are many natural processes going on without our knowledge. Instead of immediately applying a broad-spectrum insecticide at the earliest sign of pest feeding on a plant, give the predators a chance to provide you with a free and environmentally sound form of pest control.
by Beth Bolles | Nov 4, 2014
Take a walk through the garden or woods this fall and you are sure to pass by a Green lynx spider. Unless you are very observant though, you will probably not realize that this common spider is perched upon flowers and low shrubs, ready to catch an insect meal.
An adult spider blends in well with plants. Photo by Beth Bolles, Escambia County Extension
Even though Green lynx spiders are very large, they are often well camouflaged in plant material. Spiders are bright green with a lighter color on the abdomen including some small red markings. The legs have distinctive black spines.
This spider does not spin a web but actively hunts insects using a dragline as it quickly moves or jumps over plants. It is an opportunistic feeder catching many types of insects that are visiting flowers. It has been noted as an important predator of some crop damaging insects.
Females will normally lay one egg sac in the fall and guard it from predators. It is constructed in the upper portions of branches and has webbing connecting it to nearby plant leaves. This webbing becomes a protective area for the emerged spiderlings until they are able to take care of themselves.
Lynx spiders pose no harm to people and should be considered one of many beneficial arthropods that we see in Florida.
Young spiderlings on a blackberry guarded by the adult. Photo by Beth Bolles, Escambia Extension
