PLANT CLINIC

Adrian Hunsberger
Adrian Hunsberger is the Urban Horticulture Agent and Master Gardener Coordinator at the University of Florida/Miami-Dade County Extension office in Homestead. She has a bachelor's in horticulture from Virginia Tech and a master's in entomology from UF. As the Extension office's resident entomologist, she draws on her more than 13 years of research experience at UF to teach pest management to homeowners with a special emphasis on biological and organic controls.

Write to her at aghu@ifas.ufl.edu.

Top Story

Plant Clinic

Palms need no trimming for hurricanes

No. This practice is detrimental to the long-term health of palms. Palms by design do not provide much wind-resistance and therefore, are able to handle high winds with little damage. The only exception is to remove any coconut “nuts” before an impending storm.

Plant Clinic

Stunning royal poinciana has a natural shape

The natural shape of this stunning flowering tree is usually flat-topped or domed. Therefore, pruning is not needed for it to form its natural shape.
Plant Clinic

Snails just love herbs in the garden

Use a snail bait with the active ingredient iron phosphate, which is available at garden centers. It’s much safer than other baits. Or you can make your own traps to attract snails, which make collecting and discarding them easier. But traps are generally only effective for short distances, so they need to be located where you are finding snails.
Plant Clinic

Important to keep mulch away from trunks

First, it is important to understand the difference between organic and inorganic mulch. Organic mulch refers to organic matter such as bark, wood chips, leaves, straw, etc. Inorganic mulch is made of stones, glass, ground tires and other materials.
Plant Clinic

How to take care of sooty mold

The black mold is sooty mold, which is not a plant disease. It does however indicate that the plant has a sap-sucking insect infestation such as scales, mealybugs or aphids. Once the insects are under control, the sooty mold disappears. A fungicide treatment would not be effective.
Plant Clinic

Plants don’t need as much water as we may think

Saving water is easier than you think! Most people overestimate the amount plants require. Keeping soil constantly moist or wet reduces oxygen in the soil, which is needed for roots to function. It also leaches plant nutrients from the soil, causing nutritional deficiencies (for palms, some deficiencies are lethal). It causes stress, which makes plants more vulnerable to disease and insect infestations. It increases weed problems. And most importantly, it wastes water. Remember, fresh water is a limited resource.
Plant Clinic

How to send samples for identification

To send insect samples, place as many undamaged insects as possible in a hard plastic container such as a pill bottle. You can put the container in the freezer for one to two days to kill the insects before sending the sample. Mail the container in a box (preferably) or padded envelope. Never submit any samples, whether insects or plants, in plastic baggies.
Plant Clinic

When jackfruit is ready to be harvested

Your photo shows the tiny male flowers that are on a fruit-like structure that has rotted. After the pollen has been shed, this structure rots away. So what you are seeing is perfectly normal.
Plant Clinic

Brown patch means lawn likely overwatered

Your great images helped me diagnose the problem. Your lawn is most likely infected with brown patch disease. Read this fact sheet to make sure that the symptoms of this disease match up to the symptoms in your lawn: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/lh044.
Plant Clinic

Rugose spiraling whitefly is a messy nuisance

Based on the photo you sent, your plants are infested with the rugose spiraling whitefly. It used be known as the gumbo limbo spiraling whitefly.
Plant Clinic

Miami-Dade soil hard to test

With very few exceptions, the pH of Miami-Dade County soils is between 7.4 and 8.2 (very alkaline). Because of the nature of our soils, the pH can’t be lowered.
PLANT CLINIC

Live oaks will snap back from cold snap

Q: I have a live oak in South Dade that only grows half the leaves. The leaves at the end of the branches are disappearing rapidly, have small brown spots and are eaten around the edges.