Viewing post #265661 by dyzzypyxxy

You are viewing a single post made by dyzzypyxxy in the thread called Florida gardening pests, Idenity and/or solutions..
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May 31, 2012 7:00 PM CST
Name: Elaine
Sarasota, Fl
The one constant in life is change
Amaryllis Tropicals Multi-Region Gardener Orchids Master Gardener: Florida Irises
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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.
Elaine

"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." –Winston Churchill

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