Assessing Damage and Restoring Trees after a Hurricane

Tropical Storm Fay has just passed through the Florida Keys. It was mostly a rain event but in some areas there were lightning strikes, 50 mph winds and standing water. With that happening trees had the potential of being struck by lightning or being blown over. The University of Florida Urban Forest Hurricane Recovery Program developed an informative 16 page document on "Assessing Damage and Restoring Trees after a Hurricane" http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/EP/EP29100.pdf
by Edward F. Gilman, Mary L. Duryea, Eliana Kampf, Traci Jo Partin, Astrid Delgado, and Carol J. Lehtola. It contains six topics: (1) Safety: staying safe during storm cleanup, safely operating a chain saw and hiring the right tree care professional, (2) Assessing Damage and Deciding What to Do: distinguishing trees that should be removed and those that may recover through restoration pruning, (3) Restoration Pruning: pruning trees to restore them back to health, (4) Palms and Pines: dealing with palms and pines, (5) Prevention and Design: selecting the right tree, designing the right location and evaluating trees for potential hazard to reduce future storm damage, and (6) Wind Resistant Species: establishing trees for a healthy and more wind resistant urban forest.

Disponible en Español Evaluación del Daño y Restauración de los Árboles Después de un Huracán http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/EP/EP30500.pdf

For more information visit the trees and hurricane website:
http://treesandhurricanes.ifas.ufl.edu/

• What to do following a hurricane
• Establishing a wind-resistant urban forest
• Managing a wind-resistant urban forest
• Power points
• More solutions
  

Photo Credit: Kim Gabel, Hurricane Wilma 2005

Follow the slime trail

Garden snails, Zachrysia provisoria, can cause devastating plant damage. At night time they are often found on the foliage feeding. They can chew irregular holes in leaves, or create a series of prefect circular holes just by grazing on an unopened leaf. Also snails feed on fruit and nonwoody plant bark.

Not all feeding damage can be blamed on snails.

Look for other evidence of snails (slime trails, presence of snails).

Snail Management relies on a combination of methods. Remove or reduce habitats that they are likely to hide under such as boards, bags, and brush debris. Snails may be a sign of an over-watered landscape. Look for slime trails at night. Handpicking can be effective if done on a regular basis. Water the infested area in the late afternoon and search out the snails after dark. Discard into a plastic bag or a bucket with salty water. Traps can be used to attract snails. For example, slightly elevating a board overnight above the ground near damaged plants makes an attractive shelter. They can then be collected in the morning. Attractive substances such as beer or decaying fruit will draw them out. Take a shallow saucer and sink it into the ground so that the edge is level with the ground. Place some beer and a few slices of banana in the saucer. The snails crawl in and cannot get out. http://ipm.ifas.ufl.edu/pdf/Garden%20Snails.pub%20(Read-Only).pdf

If the use of a pesticide is necessary for snail control then metaldeyde, metaldehyde/carbaryl or iron sulfate (Sluggo or Escar-go) baits are recommended chemicals for controlling slugs and snails. Baits can be hazardous and should not be used where children and pets cannot be kept away from them. Iron Phosphate bait has the advantage of being safe for use around domestic animals and wildlife. Most garden centers sell a slug and snail bait. The bait should be placed on the soil surface in the vicinity of the plants and the treated area can be covered with several sheets of newspaper soaked with water. Apply the bait in the afternoon or at night. If possible, do not use the bait just before a rain, as its effectiveness will be reduced.
Slugs and snails may feed intermittently rather than every day, therefore, distributing the bait at 7 to 10 day intervals until control is achieved is recommended. Read and follow all pesticide label instructions. hort.ufl.edu/gt/slug-snail/slugsnail.html

Colorful native tree snails are found in the Florida Keys on tree trunks and buildings. They do not feed on plants. They feed on algae and should not be killed. One native species called the Stock Island Tree Snail, Orthalicus reses is onthe endangered list.

http://www.fws.gov/verobeach/images/pdfLibrary/sits.pdf
http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/misc/gastro/tree_snails.htm

Photo Credits:
Department of Plant Industry
Dr Bob's gardening Tips, Snails & Slugs
www.toptropicals.com
Kim Gabel

Palm Leaf Skeltonizer

The palm leafskeletonizer, Homaledra sabalella
is a Florida native. The skeletonizer life cycle is egg, caterpillar, pupa, and adult moth. the caterpillar stage is the most plant damaging life stage. It feeds as an individual or in groups under the protection of woven silken tubes mixed with frass (caterpillar poop). The skeletonizer consumes the palm leaf surface leaving behind a the bare bones of veins and midribs.

Mainly the damage caused by palm leaf skeletonizer is considered to be AESTHETIC causing the palm frond to brown out. Healthy palms can survive the damage. http://www.fshs.org/Proceedings/Password%20Protected/1999%20Vol.%20112/247-250%20(WEISSLING).pdf

Management methods include: allow the beneficial insects parasitoids to attack the caterpillars. Keep the palm healthy through proper watering and fertilization practices. If the skeletonizer damage is severe try a strong stream of water to hose off the webbing with caterpillars and pupa. Prune fronds but limit the amount of green frond removal, each frond is a food source feeding the palm. The last resort is using chemical pesticides. Always start with the least toxic product to lessen the depopulation of beneficial insects. At this time research is being done on a variety of products but no one control has been reported to be supremely effective: foliar treatment of neem seed extract (Howard, in Ornamental Palm Horticulture, 2000) Dipel2x, and Sevin (Meerow, Betrock's Guide to Landscape Palms, 1992). Keep in mind that all product labels need to be read and follow all label directions.

For more information on caterpillar control read Dr. Eileen Buss's article printed in the Florida Pest Pro: http://www.flpestpro.com/archive/septoct2005/caterpillars.htm

Photo Credit:
Kim Gabel

Land Crabs - what can you do?

The following information is from a University of Florida Extension publication. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/UW013

Land crabs are by nature shy and pose no threat to humans unless caught and handled. Then they are capable of inflicting a memorable pinch. One of the most unusual features of the giant land crab, its burrowing behavior, also makes it a nuisance to humans living close to the shore. The adult life of the land crab is spent away from salt water. The adult will dig burrows 3 to 5in (8 to 13cm) wide and up to 5ft (1.5m) deep. These burrows can be damaging to lawns and gardens. Control of these crabs by chemical means is dangerous to humans and their environment. No chemicals are registered for control of land crabs because of the possible negative effects on groundwater quality.

Because of state regulations removal of crabs is limited to only the open season from November 1 of each year through June 30 of the following year. No crabs can be removed during the closed season beginning on July 1 and continuing through October 31 of each year. Note, by law (statue 68B-54.002), blue land crabs can only be caught by hand or with the use of a landing or dip net.

68B-54.002 Statewide Open and Closed Seasons for Harvesting Blue Land Crabs.

(1) Blue Land Crabs shall only be harvested during the open season, which is from November 1 of each year through June 30 of the following year.

(2) No person shall harvest, attempt to harvest, or possess any blue land crab during the period beginning on July 1 and continuing through October 31 of each year.

Bag Limit - No person shall harvest in any one day or possess at any time more than 20 blue land crabs.

For more information:

http://marinefisheries.org/recreational/bluelandcrab.htm

http://monroe.ifas.ufl.edu/lawn/lawn_landcrab.shtml

Photo Credit:
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, 1999

Sounds of Summer

The heat and humidity are making the August summer days into a sauna. And all around the islands are the sounds of summer - cicadas. The male cicadas are the noise makers producing their finest song to annoy the humans, and to attract the female cicadas. They have a drum like sound chamber structure called a timbal that creates their unique sound. For a variety of insect sounds, check out the "music of nature".

http://www.musicofnature.com/songsofinsects/index.html

The cicadas of Florida are not part of the periodical cicadas better known as the 13 or 17 year cicada (depending on where you come from). In Florida the cicada species may emerge on an annual basis.

In reading the University of Florida feature creature article on cicadas of Florida http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/misc/bugs/cicadas.htm one species does reside in the Florida Keys; I am sure there are others but I will need to investigate further for an answer.

• Diceroprocta biconica (Walker) - Keys cicada. Keys and Everglades; song is a loud continuous high-pitched buzz.

Female cicadas species vary in their preferred egg laying sites, such as: woody tissue of small branches or onto grasses or forbs. Once the nymph emerges from the egg it drops to the ground and burrows into the soil, and searches for a plant root to feed upon. The cicada nymph will live underground passing through multiple nymphal stages before emerging as an adult.

Photo Credit: UF/IFAS, Lyle Buss