What's eating your garden?

Touring through the demonstration garden here at the Manatee County Extension office we came across friend and foe.

This dill is almost completely devoured

63 Friends

But look closely because the muncher is the Black Swallowtail caterpillar.  In order to have butterflies we have to support the caterpillars.  Spraying a pesticide to eliminate them would also eliminate their chance to become butterflies.  We soon will be enjoying butterflies. 

 Black Swallowtail Butterfly

As for the dill, we can grow more in another location and transfer any munchers to the plant in the photo above.

We also came upon many of these very attractive grasshoppers

Foe

The Eastern Lubber Grasshopper may often invade residential areas and feast on certain ornamental plants, especially amaryllis and related flowers. Unlike the tolerance we recommend for the caterpillar, the University of Florida's recommendation for the Lubber is "If you cannot control them through mowing, try hand-picking. You can throw them into a bucket of soapy water or a trash bag to kill them."  This is because the occurrence can be large enough to cause serious economic damage to citrus, vegetable crops and landscape ornamental.

Any time you come across a plant or animal stranger in your landscape or garden bring it in for our Master Gardeners to identify.  This is a free service offered through the Manatee County Extension Office, 1303 17th Street West, Palmetto hours are Mon., Tues., Thurs., and Fri. from 9am-4pm.

Manage Yard Pest Responsibly

Due to concerns about health, the environment, and pesticide resistance, pest control practices once taken for granted are now under scrutiny. Regular preventive pesticide applications are still common for some pests but are often unnecessary. Healthy plants can usually defend against or tolerate pest attacks, while beneficial insects, birds and other natural controls often suppress undesirable insects — which makes the preventive and indiscriminate use of pesticides ill-advised.

A better approach to managing pests — Integrated Pest Management (IPM) — emphasizes using a combination of environmentally friendly methods that focus on preventing pest problems.
What are the basic building blocks of IPM?

• IPM begins at planting time, with pest-free and pest-resistant plants and a landscape design that encourages natural controls.

Keeping your plants healthy is the best defense against pests.

Regular scouting, or keeping an eye on your yard’s plants, helps detect pest problems early, before significant damage occurs.

Plants with aesthetic damage don’t necessarily need to be treated.Consider the amount of aesthetic damage you are willing to accept.

If you see a pest outbreak, determine if a problem really exists or if natural enemies are already present and are working on your behalf.

If pest control proves necessary, try the safest alternatives first, such as handpicking insects or pruning infected parts of a plant. If pesticides become necessary, choose the least harmful materials. The “softest” insecticides on beneficials and other non-target organisms (people, pets and wildlife) include insecticidal soap, horticultural oil, and microbials (e.g., spinosad, abamectin, Bacillus thuringiensis ‘Kurstaki’).

Use pesticides only to spot-treat affected plants or lawn, not in blanket applications.

Also check out

http://ipm.ifas.ufl.edu/community/home_gardening/index.shtml http://ipm.ifas.ufl.edu/community/landscape/design/index.shtml http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/TOPIC_BOOK_Florida_Weeds

Consult the Manatee County UF/IFAS Extension office with questions at 941-722-4524 or email michelleatkinson@ufl.edu.