Nov 5, 2003

UF/IFAS Pest Alert Web Site Reports Hosta, Ficus Benjamina ProblemsSource: UF/IFAS

Two items recently posted to the University of Florida/Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Pest Alert Web site involve crops in the floriculture industry. The Pest Alert Web site is a means by which UF/IFAS delivers information on new and recurring pest problems.

One posting concerns the first report of tomato spotted wilt virus in Hosta in Florida. A file posted by M. Timur Momol and Hank Dankers of the UF/IFAS Department of Plant Pathology, North Florida Research and Education Center, and Scott Adkins of USDA-ARS-USHRL, includes details on the symptoms, color photographs and references.

The second posting concerns Cuban laurel thrips into Ficus benjamina nursery crops. Posted by William Schall, commercial horticulture extension agent at the Palm Beach County Extension, the item reports unusual and heavy movement of Cuban laurel thrips in the Ficus benjamina nursery crops. Schall notes that this is the first time that the Division of Plant Industry inspectors and experienced growers have seen the problem, and that an extension agent in Broward County also has seen heavy thrip damage.

Additional information can be obtained through the UF/IFAS Pest Alert Web site, http://extlab7.entnem.ufl.edu/pestalert/.