Identifying and deciding what this thing is driving me nuts. Found him (or her) on top of my water barrel Yesterday! At first I thought it was an iguana, then I thought it was a Jesus lizard, I can't find any on google that have those white stripes on it's belly. Anyone know for sure what this is? It's important to me that if it is an iguana; that I get rid of it. It resembles a Jesus lizard except the Jesus lizard is more brown. It's over a foot long with most of it's length a tail. It allowed me to get within two feet of him b-4 jumping in the hedge. HELP PLEASE.

Here is another South Florida pest that I'd like to know if anyone else is having a problem with, it's called a Sri Lanken Weevel , I'd like to know how you are getting rid of it! It attacks citrus trees almost completely striping them of leaves. I've started using beneficial nematoids which seem to help a lot.

Jim, I don't know what your lizard is but I DO know whatever it is, it's NOT NATIVE! And as such, should be captured & taken to a wildlife place where they can keep it contained so they don't end up being the next big invasive problem in Florida.

I hope you can catch it. A Have A Heart trap with cat food in it? Some raw veggies too.???????

I agree with Ann on the lizard. Catch it and take it to a zoo or somewhere. It looks like somebody's pet that has escaped or been let loose.

I'm pretty familiar with the Sri Lanka weevil, too. Here it is lunching on my yellow Knock Out roses. It's another exotic from (obviously) Sri Lanka. There's not an effective chemical that slows it down, although the Ag experts are working on it. But for home gardeners, some foliar sprays like insecticidal soap seem to not appeal to it. Spray the tree with the soap and the weevils move elsewhere. They like my lychee tree, too. I sprayed it with my liquid lavender hand soap, 2 tablespoons to a gallon, and that was fairly effective - NOTE it doesn't kill them, just makes them look for greener pastures. I planted 7 cheap landscape roses next to the tree to attract them away from it. Then I sprayed the roses, too. In both cases, after spraying the damage stopped almost immediately. I think I've chased them away to my neighbor's loquat tree . . .

The secret to keeping them under control is to break the life cycle if you can. Eggs hatch underground and the larvae grow and metamorph then climb up onto the host plant du jour and munch away. Adults mate on the plants then drop to the ground to lay eggs again. Spreading a dark colored tarp or piece of fabric under the plant and shaking the branches makes the adult bugs drop. In the normal course of events they'd then burrow down to lay eggs. Gather them up in the fabric (some people use a big golf umbrella) and dump them in a bucket of soapy water to kill them.

I bought a thing from Harbor freight that looks like a tennis paddle it's battery driven and push button controlled. I hold this thing under a branch while pushing the button and as the weevil fall on to the racket they are executed If you can stand the stench of burning weevils it works great. Also great for gnats if you sit out doors a lot.

Here is another lizzard that got loose in Tampa:

I love it!

They shure grow em big in them parts!

Those white weevils are a menace to my macadamia nut tree and lychee nut tree. I spoke to an ag agent with the state of Florida about what to do and bad news is that their larvae stage is more damaging than the white, leaf chomping, adult. The larvae eat the roots then they climb up the stems and trunks of plants to munch the leaves as adults. He says there is nothing that will wipe them out but that grub worm poisons that contain the chemical dynex at a heavy dose will slow the down and help control them. Sevin dust is useful to help control them also on small plants. I've seen some damage on my avocado plant but not like the mac and lychee nut trees. Hope this helps.

RobertB

I can assure you that beneficial nematodes have protected my orange tree so far this year. They are a bit of a pain to mix, has to be done after sundown, but I'm delighted with the results, no bugs this year so far, but just about every other plant is loaded. I keep going on to the Florida ag site but so far no recommendations.

Just be really careful what you use on things that produce edible crops. Possibly you could use the dynex after a tree has had its fruit harvested, same with the Sevin powder, but within the time your trees have fruit ripening, don't use noxious insecticides on them. Read the cautions on the labels, they all say if they are safe for edible crops.

This morning, I found these on my still small lime tree:



It looks like something out of science fiction!

And excuse my ignorance, but what the heck is it? It *looks* like a caterpillar, but with the face of a gecko? All this time I thought geckos hatched from eggs, whole. So I'm not really sure... gecko? caterpillar?



Enlighten me please.

kinda....cute......

Ive, I can't remember the name of it but it's OKAY. It is a cat. The cats look like bird poop. I read an article or posting about it on here --- right here on ATP --- just a few weeks/month or so ago AND it was talking about them on citrus esp. lime trees. It will eat some leaves but it really won't hurt the tree. I'll see if I can remember where I read it. If I can find it I'll come back & post the link. I'm sort of thinking it was something Sharon wrote.

Ah ha! I found it! Thank goodness for our lovely search feature on ATP! I put lime tree into the site wide search box & viola'!
The creatures from mars on your lime tree are Giant Swallowtail Butterfly larvae.
Don't kill them please.

http://garden.org/ideas/view/w...

THANK YOU for letting me know... I've been wanting to attract this type of butterfly to my little backyard for some time but I had not seen its caterpillar before.

My garden is butterfly friendly, so don't worry!

After reading the thread, I realized how, inadvertedly I ended up with a friendly environment for the giant swallowtail. You see, I have a dwarf bougainvillea, two rue plants, and the little lime tree side by side.

I am worried about two things: I was spraying the lime tree with Bayer 3 in 1 (I've had a battle with mites and whitefly this summer)... I didn't spray the cats directly, but now I'm worried that it might hurt them.

Do these cats have natural predators? I know that the monarch cats are pretty much left alone, but what about the swallowtail cats? Would it be a good idea to raise them on a butterfly cage to increase their chances of survival?

Gee, Ive, I really don't know. Let's see - let me find the butterfly forum --- they will be able to answer those things. BRB!
Here is the entire forum:
http://garden.org/forums/view/...

And I think you would just start a new thread there asking your questions OR try posting those beautiful photos on the butterfly photo thread & you might attract more attention.

I'm so glad you have a butterfly friendly garden! And isn't it cool that you have attracted the lovely Giant Swallowtail & have all the right plantings for it? I just love stories like that!

Just a little update on the Sri Lanken Weevel and the dynex I used... they have been all but eradicated from my back yard. I do find one here and there but nothing like before, the mac and lychee nut trees have new untouched growth and that looks good to me!

RobertB