8/24/17

Landscape plants provide benefits

Insects & mites in Florida • Benefit people • Temperature reduction landscapes • Air filtration • Aesthetic enhancement • Recreation Pests reduce these Adam Dale • Benefit the environment Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist • Carbon sequestration Turf & Ornamental Entomology • Air & water filtration UF/IFAS Entomology & Nematology Department • Wildlife habitat

Unfortunately… Landscapes and People

Herbivorous insects are more damaging in cities • Over 90% of ~20 million Floridians live among urban landscapes • The evidence • Urban areas are the most rapidly expanding • Azalea lace bug, Stephanitis pyrioides ecosystems on the globe • White peach scale, Pseudaulacaspis pentagona • Oak lecanium scale, Parthenolecanium quercifex • Gloomy scale, Melanaspis tenebricosa This means: • Others… • Pests & our management practices can have a HUGE effect on people

Raupp et al. 2010

1 8/24/17

The future brings challenges The future brings challenges

• Urbanization-related water use is projected to • Florida’s average temperatures are projected to increase by over 100% by 2070 increase 4-9oF by 2080 • Periods of drought will be come more frequent and severe

www.1000friendsofflorida.org/Florida2070 Misra et al. 2011. Climate Scenarios: A Florida-centric view

The future brings challenges The future brings challenges

• Evidence suggests that some insect pests will • Increasing legal pressures and regulations may become more abundant and damaging with climate reduce management options warming and urbanization • Fertilizer use, water use, pesticide use…

Alachua Co.

Youngsteadt et al. 2014. Global Change Biology

2 8/24/17

My Overarching Objective Urban & residential landscapes

• Most rapidly expanding land-use type in Florida More sustainable solutions • Over 90% of Floridians live here • How can we incorporate ecological principles into current landscape management • Turfgrass and ornamental plants are the practices to reduce non-renewable inputs? vegetation of these ecosystems

• Insect pests that attack these plants can directly affect people and the ecosystem

Emerging insect pest T.J. Walker

John L. Capinera Tuttle mealybug, Brevennia rehi

3 8/24/17

Tuttle Mealybug Tuttle Mealybug (Brevennia rehi) (aka: Rice mealybug)

• Hide between the grass blade and stem • Produce a white wax

Lyle Buss,UF/IFAS • Found globally • Reported in Orange, Lee, Collier, Duval, Walton, Palm Beach Counties; Little is known about Arizona, California, and Texas its biology or natural • Attacks zoysiagrass and bermudagrass enemies • Bodies are <2 mm long, pink; make white wax

Management Options

• Reduce habitat that’s conducive to piercing-sucking arthropods • Minimize thatch (verticut) • Moderate fertility • Product options: Use systemic products • If large infestation, combine with a contact toxic product (e.g. pyrethroid) • Use sufficient spray volume in liquid applications

15 16

4 8/24/17

Chinch bugs & caterpillars are still Value of plant diversity on top • Southern chinch bug is the most damaging insect • Urban landscapes are often dominated by one or a pest of turf in Florida few plants, which may set them up for challenges • Tropical sod webworm and fall armyworm are the • As plant diversity increases, plant-feeding insects most damaging caterpillar pests typically become less damaging • Each pest is targeted with wall-to-wall insecticides multiple times a year per lawn Florida Turfgrass Production 4.4 million acres of Type % No. species turf, >50% of which is St. Augustinegrass 51% 1 St. Aug, of which Bahiagrass 33% 1 >80% is ‘Floratam’ Bermudagrass 7.4% Multiple Zoysiagrass 5.1% 2-3 Centipedegrass 3% 1

More Sustainable Turf Pest What if we increase diversity? Management We propose that mixing turfgrass cultivars may reduce pests like chinch bugs and caterpillars, and their damage

Six St. Augustinegrass cultivars 3 Treatments • Floratam • Monoculture (M1) • Palmetto • Mixture of 2 cultivars (M2) Ethan Doherty, MS graduate • Mixture of 4 cultivars (M4) student • Bitterblue Brianna Whitman, MS graduate student - How does manipulating turf • Classic - How does manipulating turf diversity diversity affect caterpillar • Seville affect southern chinch bug success? success? • Captiva - How does increasing turf diversity - Tropical sod webworm & Fall affect the lawn and its acceptability? armyworm

5 8/24/17

How does diversity affect caterpillars? • Raised fall armyworms on each treatment of St. Augustine: M1, M2, & M4 • Tracked development rate, body size, survival, and more 200 200 A A

150 150

AB AB

100 B 100 B B B Larval Weight (mg) WeightLarval (mg) WeightLarval Larval weight Larval weight Day10 Day10 50 50

0 0 ResistantCaptiva ResistantCaptivaMostFloratam common MostFloratamMix common of 22 MixMix of 2of2 4 Mix of 4 Floratam TRT TRT Figure 1. Figure 1. St. Aug. TreatmentSt. Aug. Treatment

How does diversity affect M1

caterpillars? M4 • Also raised tropical sod webworm on each St. Augustine treatment: M1, M2, M4 M2 • Tracked development rate, body size, survival and more 0.9 P<0.05 0.8 A

0.7

0.6 AB

0.5

0.4 B 0.3 % Survival to Pupation

0.2

0.1

0 Mono M2 M4 St. Augustinegrass Diet Joseph Giuliano

6 8/24/17

Can people tell a difference? Ongoing research

• We surveyed 60 turfgrass and landscape • Stay tuned for more results! professionals to see if they could differentiate mixtures from monocultures • Several experiments underway with chinch bugs, caterpillars, and field plots • Presented them with M1, M2, & M4 • See it in person at the field day this fall! 0.8

0.7

0.6

0.5

of of Respondents 0.4 Percentage

0.3 Percentage

0.2

0.1

0.0 Correct Incorrect Yes Answer No Figure 2. Able to Differentiate Mono and Mixed

Florida’s Golf Industry ~64 square • Over 1,100 golf courses and nearly 525 golf miles in communities Miami, FL • Most of any state in the U.S.

• The average course is over 100 acres

7 8/24/17

Golf courses can provide benefits Another emerging pest…

• Benefit people • Temperature reduction & air filtration in cities • Aesthetic enhancement • Recreation Mitigating pests and • Benefit the environment management inputs is • Carbon sequestration critical! • Air & water filtration

• Potential ecological benefits • Habitat for wildlife

Bermudagrass mite Management options

An eriophyid mite Mow low & remove clippings • Eriophyes cynodoniensis • ~0.2 mm long Resistant cultivars *Golf course use only • May disperse by wind, clippings, or other insects • Tifsport & Tifway*

Chemical control • Dursban • Azadirachtin • Divanem

8 8/24/17

How can golf courses play a role in Habitat on golf courses more sustainable management? • 40-70% of U.S. golf course acreage is out-of-play What IPM strategies can we use to: • Often composed of maintained turfgrass 1. Address wildlife conservation challenges, 2. Reduce pest management needs, • Why not reduce or maintain management inputs, and: 3. Conserve natural resources 1. Make the course prettier 2. Reduce insect pest management needs 3. Reduce irrigation, fertilization, and mowing 4. Increase public relations

September 2016 April 2017

9 8/24/17

Research objectives

1. Conserve pollinating insects by providing habitat and resources

2. Reduce insect pest management needs by increasing biological control of pests

3. Reduce management inputs and increase golf course environmental stewardship

Survey for pollinating insects

Undergraduate student, Grace Cope

• Set up bee bowls and native bee nests to survey pollinators visiting wildflower plots and turfgrass control plots

10 8/24/17

Biological Control of Pests Survey for predators & parasitoids

• Many pollinating insects also attack plant pests Undergraduate student, Rebecca Perry • Wasps, flies • Pitfall traps, yellow sticky cards, and • Predators like beetles benefit from taller, more bee bowls to collect natural enemies complex vegetation

Pitfall traps Sticky traps

Biological control experiment

• Determine if insect pests are less abundant around wildflower plots • Fall armyworms • Mole crickets

• Determine if predation rates are higher around wildflower plots

11 8/24/17

Public Engagement Implications • Signs adjacent to wildflower plots allow golfers & the community to learn and engage • Creating wildflower habitats on FL golf courses is an opportunity to: 1. Reduce costs & environmental inputs 2. Reduce insect pests & pest management needs 3. Increase public relations & gain recognition 4. Keep up & adapt to our changing environment & society

New EDIS publications Stay tuned

ENY-340 ENY-317

Managing Whitefies on Landscape Ornamentals1 Managing Scale Insects and Mealybugs on Turfgrass1 • 2 We should have some great information by the end 2 Eileen A. Buss, Catharine Mannion, Lance Osborne, and Adam Dale Adam Dale of this fall Whitefies are a common pest of many ornamental plants Scale insects and mealybugs are ubiquitous in managed on the same plant material, physically resemble each other, throughout Florida and the world. Tere are more than landscapes. Although they are most commonly managed in and cause similar damage. Mealybugs (Pseudococcidae) 1,500 species worldwide and over 75 reported in Florida. the landscape on ornamental plants, this group of insects and sof scale insects (Coccidae) excrete honeydew as Some of the most economically important species in can also be damaging pests of warm season turfgrasses. To waste, whereas armored scale insects (Diaspididae) do not. • If we see real benefits, even a small percentage of Florida are the sweetpotato whitefy, also called the silver- date, little research has investigated management strategies Terefore, mealybugs and sof scales are ofen associated leaf whitefy (Bemisia tabaci) (Figure 1), the fcus whitefy for these pests in turfgrasses, and few products are labeled with sooty mold while armored scales are not. Scale insects (Singhiella simplex) (Figure 2), and the citrus whitefy or tested for their control. Tis document is intended to and mealybugs are difcult to fnd and control because they (Dialeurodes citri) (Figure 3). Although infestation does provide an overview of the identifcation, biology, ecology, are small, typically infest well-hidden locations or hard- FL courses participating could have a huge footprint not always require treatment, it is important to be able to and management of the most common scale insect and to-reach areas of plants, and live a sedentary lifestyle. In identify and monitor for these pests for efective integrated mealybug pests found in warm season turfgrasses in the addition, most species secrete a waxy material that covers pest management (IPM). southern United States. their body at some point during their life and protects them from environmental conditions and control measures. A generalized life cycle of the whitefy is as follows: Te At least four species of leaf-feeding scale insects and eggs are laid on the undersides of the leaves and hatch in Figure 1. Sweetpotato whitefy, B. tabaci, adult. mealybugs are pests of turfgrasses in the southeastern Scale Insect and Mealybug 4 to 12 days into active, six-legged nymphs (crawlers). Te Credits: Lyle Buss, UF/IFAS United States and Florida: Rhodesgrass mealybug (Anto- nina graminis (Maskell): Pseudococcidae), Tuttle mealybug crawlers move around for several hours, then insert their the leaves. Ofentimes an infestation goes unnoticed until Damage (Brevennia rehi (Lindinger): Pseudococcidae), bermudag- mouthparts into the leaves and stay there. Afer molting leaves turn yellow or drop unexpectedly, or until an infested Landscape managers are generally more familiar with three times, they pupate and then become adults. Te pupal plant is disturbed and small clouds of whitefies emerge rass scale (Odonaspis ruthae (Kotinsky): Diaspididae), and mealybug and scale insect damage to ornamental plants case remains on the plant tissue even afer the adult has from it. Some whitefy species can cause greater damage by Duplachionaspis divergens (Green) (Diaspididae). A ffh than turfgrass. However, damage caused by these pests in emerged. How long it takes for the insects to develop from transmitting plant viruses. group of turfgrass scale insect pests, ground pearls (Dimar- turfgrass is similar. Mealybugs and sof scale insects feed on eggs to adults varies from 4 weeks (summer) to 6 months garodes meridionalis (Morrison): Margarodidae), live in the plant sap, which contains high amounts of sugars that the (winter). Whitefies (as well as sof scales, mealybugs, and aphids) soil and feed on turfgrass roots. Most of these insects are grass needs for growth. Te insects ingest large amounts of excrete a sugary substance called honeydew, and an occasional pests, but all can be difcult to control and may sap, but do not metabolize much of its content. Tus, plant Whitefies have piercing-sucking (needle-like) mouthparts unsightly black fungus called sooty mold grows on the cause extensive damage if lef unmanaged. material turns yellow or brown and dies back while the with which they puncture the leaf and suck the plant fuids. honeydew. Besides being unattractive, sooty mold may insects excrete large amounts of sugary waste, called hon- Te top sides of leaves on infested plants become pale or interfere with photosynthesis, reduce plant growth, and Scale Insect and Mealybug Biology eydew. Tis honeydew makes the turf sticky and provides spotted due to these insects feeding on the undersides of cause early leaf drop. Sooty mold usually weathers away Scale insects and mealybugs are piercing-sucking pests a resource for black sooty mold fungus to grow, which can (Hemiptera, superfamily Coccoidea) that feed on plant sap further exacerbate plant damage. Heavily infested areas of from the vascular tissue or plant cells within plant leaves, turfgrass appear generally unhealthy, resembling drought stems, and roots. Tese insects go through incomplete stress or disease. 1. This document is ENY-317, one of a series of the Entomology and Nematology Department, UF/IFAS Extension. Original publication date October metamorphosis, which means immatures and adults feed 1993. Revised July 2017. Visit the EDIS website at http://edis.ifas.uf.edu.

2. Eileen A. Buss, emeritus associate professor; Catharine Mannion, professor, UF/IFAS Tropical Research and Education Center, Homestead, FL; Lance Osborne, professor, UF/IFAS Mid-Florida Research and Education Center, Apopka, FL; and Adam Dale, assistant professor; Department of Entomology and Nematology, UF/IFAS Extension, Gainesville, FL 32611 1. This document is ENY-340, one of a series of the Department of Entomology and Nematology, UF/IFAS Extension. Original publication date February 2017. Visit the EDIS website at http://edis.ifas.uf.edu.

The use of trade names in this publication is solely for the purpose of providing specifc information. UF/IFAS does not guarantee or warranty the 2. Adam Dale, assistant professor; Department of Entomology and Nematology, UF/IFAS Extension, Gainesville, FL 32611. products named, and references to them in this publication do not signify our approval to the exclusion of other products of suitable composition. The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, origin, political opinions or afliations. For more information on obtaining other UF/IFAS Extension publications, contact your county’s UF/IFAS Extension ofce. national origin, political opinions or afliations. For more information on obtaining other UF/IFAS Extension publications, contact your county’s UF/IFAS Extension ofce. U.S. Department of Agriculture, UF/IFAS Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A & M University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County U.S. Department of Agriculture, UF/IFAS Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A & M University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Nick T. Place, dean for UF/IFAS Extension. Commissioners Cooperating. Nick T. Place, dean for UF/IFAS Extension.

12 8/24/17

For insect and landscape updates & info Questions • Follow me on Twitter • @adamGdale 1. Name one emerging/recently problematic insect • @UFTurfTeam or mite pest of Florida turfgrasses.

• Follow my website 2. What research is my lab conducting to make • www.dalelab.org chinch bug and caterpillar pest management more sustainable in lawns? • Funding sources: • UF/IFAS Research • UF/IFAS Extension 3. Name two objectives of the golf course research • FL Golf Course Superintendent’s Association project being conducted in my Lab. • FNGLA

Photo credits: E. Youngsteadt, L. Buss, A. Dale

13