Resources For Identifying Insects, Plants, & Diseases

Lara Miller    
Natural Resource Agent

Many Florida residents find unknown plants growing in their yard, unknown bugs in their houses or gardens, and apparent diseases on what were previously healthy plants. So what resources are out there to help you turn the unknown into known?

Extension Offices
Your local Extension office should be your first point of contact for helping you identify any mysterious problems or species in your home or yard. You can call, e-mail, or visit the office in person.

Lawn and Garden Help
We offer walk-in Lawn and Garden Help Desk services at the following locations:

• Pinellas County Extension Office
  12520 Ulmerton Rd., Largo, FL 33774
  Walk-In Hours: Mon-Fri 8am-5pm (excluding holidays)
• Pinellas County Master Gardener Plant Clinic
  Palm Harbor Library
  2330 Nebraska Ave., Palm Harbor, FL 34683
  Wednesdays from 10am-2pm, January through mid-November

Lawn and Garden Help Line
Lawn & Garden assistance is also available by phone at (727)582-2100 and then Press 1.
Hours of Operation: Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday
9am-12pm and 1pm-4pm

When you do, have or send the following:

• Photographs (digital or snapshot) or a physical sample if you are making an in-person visit.
• As detailed a description of the organism or disease symptom as possible (e.g., where and when you saw it, behavior, any others present, how long it has been occurring, the type of damage).

Even if your county Extension office cannot make the identification or disease diagnosis, the agents will be able to help you with forms and samples to send to UF/IFAS's diagnostic laboratories.

Insects
There are thousands of insects in Florida, and knowing whether the one you found is harmless, beneficial, or damaging is key for deciding on control measures. The Insect ID Lab can analyze insect samples sent by Florida residents. The Help Desk can provide answers or information on preparing a sample to send to the Insect ID Lab. The lab will charge $8 per sample sent.
Send samples in a crush-proof container with the accompanying submission form (205KB pdf). Sending samples in flat or padded envelopes is discouraged.

Collecting a Sample

1. The more specimens included in a sample, the better.
2. In most cases, you should kill and preserve the insects before sending them. 

• Do this by placing them in the freezer or in a vial with rubbing alcohol.
  Caterpillars will not preserve well in an alcohol solution. Moths and butterflies should be kept dry.
• Take special care if you believe the insect could be a new or exotic species.

Contact your Extension office or read the submission guide for more details.

Plants
You can either bring in a physical specimen of the plant (or blossom, leaf, etc.) or a photograph to the Help Desk. Multiple photographs are best, with pictures of leaves, bark or stem, blossoms, seed pods, as well as the whole plant itself.

In addition to the pictures or sample, pass along as much additional information as possible:

• Size and shape of plant, leaves, blossoms, seeds.
• Growth habit and location.
• Conditions in location (e.g., sun, soil type and moisture, cultivated or forested area).
• Colors of plant and blossoms.

If the Extension agent or Master Gardener cannot make an identification, they will send a sample to the UF Herbarium. All identification samples sent to the herbarium must first go through your county Extension agent, but the herbarium does offer an online database where Florida residents can look at images of plants in the collection.

Diseases
UF/IFAS Extension offers multiple plant diagnostic clinics and labs, which make up the Florida Plant Diagnostic Network. These diagnostic clinics use living-plant samples to make disease diagnoses.
An important note: once a plant is dead, our Extension professionals are unable to make a disease diagnosis. Harmful fungi and bacteria are present in all Florida soils, and many secondary bacteria and fungi will start to grow on a dead plant. These two factors make it impossible to determine what, if any, disease killed a plant.
Contact your county's Extension office for help and information on preparing a plant or turf sample to send to a diagnostic lab. The lab will charge $40 per sample sent. (Certain disease tests are no charge.)
Send properly packaged samples with the accompanying submission form. Sometimes what you believe may be a disease is only a nutrient deficiency. Your local Extension agent can advise you if it would be worth testing your soil before doing a disease analysis. (Find more information from the Extension Soil Testing Laboratory.)

Collecting a Sample
General guidelines include:

• Take samples before applying pesticides.
• Make sure samples are living (green).
• Include a large amount of plant material that covers the range of the symptoms.
• Do not mix different samples in the same submission bag.

Contact your Extension office and read the submission guide for more details.

Other Identifications
UF/IFAS Extension offices are your source for answers to your questions and solutions for your life. Wildlife was not covered in this guide, but any identification questions or problems you have can be answered by our offices if you give them enough information.
An e-mail, telephone call, or visit to your local Extension office is your first step in identifying any plants, pests, animals, problems, or curiosities you encounter.

Adapted and excerpted from:
L. Buss, Insect Identification Service (RFSR010), Entomology and Nematology Department (rev. 3/2010).
N. Williams, Plant Identification and Information Service (RFSR013), Extension Administration Office (rev. 12/2011).
A. Palmateer, et al, Sample Submission Guide for Plant Diagnostic Clinics of the Florida Plant Diagnostic Network (RFSR007), Plant Pathology Department (rev. 9/2012).

Deadly New Diseases Are Killing Our Palms

By Jane Morse, University of Florida/IFAS Pinellas County Extension Agent

There is a new killer in our landscapes and it is called Texas Phoenix Palm Decline. This new disease is caused by a phytoplasma (a type of bacteria that lacks a cell wall). It is very similar to the phytoplasma that causes another fatal disease in palms: lethal yellowing. Lethal yellowing may also be coming into our area.

Texas Phoenix Palm Decline (TPPD) was first discovered in late 2006 in the Ruskin/Apollo Beach area. Phoenix palms were showing symptoms that were very similar to lethal yellowing. Upon further study, a totally new and different organism was found that was causing these symptoms in the palms. TPPD had arrived on our shores from Texas.

Initially, the palm species affected by this disease were the Phoenix species, specifically P. canariensis (Canary Island date), P. dactylifera (date palm), P. sylvestris (silver date palm) and Syagrus romanzoffiana (queen palm). A devastating new PRELIMINARY finding is that it is now also affecting our state tree, the Sabal palmetto (Sabal palm).

The first obvious symptom of this disease on mature palms is a premature drop of most or all fruits (assuming the fruit stalks have not been removed and the palm is old enough to produce fruit). Death of the flowers also occurs.

Secondly, a discoloration of the foliage beginning with the oldest (lowest) fronds is seen. The fronds do not turn yellow (or only briefly) but quickly turn varying shades of reddish-brown to dark brown or gray. This discoloration begins at the leaflet tips. This symptom can also be confused with other palm problems such as nutrient deficiency or Ganoderma butt rot (another deadly disease). There will also be a greater number of dead fronds on a palm than would be normal. When less than one-third of the oldest fronds have discolored and died, the spear leaf (newest frond) dies. If palms are being regularly trimmed, this early symptom will not be seen because these fronds would have already been removed. It is the fronds below the horizontal line of the canopy ( 9 and 3 o’clock) that would be the first indicator fronds.

ALWAYS REMEMBER: Palms should never be pruned above the 9 and 3 o’clock position.

Once the spear leaf dies, no more fronds will be produced and the palm is essentially dead. The remaining fronds will continue to discolor from oldest to youngest and die. Usually, by the time the spear leaf has died, the roots of the palm at or near the soil surface are unusually soft in texture and easily broken. The palm can be easily rocked back and forth in the ground because the root system is rotting. This is now a hazardous palm that can easily topple over.

If the spear leaf has not died yet, the disease can be treated with the antibiotic oxytetracycline HCl (OTC). Injections of this antibiotic will be needed every four months. This antibiotic treatment can also be used preventively to protect palms when this disease, or lethal yellowing, is known to occur in the area. For a self-administered, on-going prevention program the cost based on treating less than 5 trees would be approximately $4.00/tree per treatment. This is based on an ongoing program, the reuse of needles and syringes, and utilizing the casing for 2 treatments. This does not include the cost for drills, drill bits, labor, insurance, etc. The above prices are approximate costs for the OTC and casings only. This antibiotic can be obtained from: http://www.palmtreesaver.com/

If the spear leaf is dead the palm should be removed as soon as possible.

Positive diagnosis must be confirmed by a laboratory test. For sampling and mailing instructions, see this document at: http://flrec.ifas.ufl.edu/pdfs/LY-TPPD-Trunk-Sampling.pdf

A second deadly new disease to hit our area is the Fusarium Decline of queen palms and Mexican fan palms.

Symptoms of this fungal disease on queen palms begin on the oldest 2 to 3 fronds which turn brown but do not break or hang down. The next 2 to 3 younger fronds will turn varying shades of yellow and then brown. This will continue up the canopy until the entire palm canopy is brown. As the fronds are dying, there will be a brown stripe on the rachis (frond stem). Initially, there may also be one-sided death of the frond, with leaflets on one side of the frond turning brown while the leaflets on the other side are still green. The palm dies within a few months of infection.

Symptoms on Mexican fan palms also follow this same general pattern. However, be aware that Mexican fan palms can get a petiole blight disease that is not normally fatal and is different from the Fusarium decline which is always fatal. Only a laboratory test can determine which disease is present.

Palms with Fusarium decline should be removed immediately and the canopy destroyed. There is no cure once a palm is infected, and no preventive fungicide treatment is recommended. The disease is probably spread by wind into new sites and could also be spread by contaminated pruning tools. Always make sure pruning tools are sterilized after each palm is trimmed or use a new saw blade.

All you can do at this point is to keep a sharp eye on your palms, stop trimming them so you can see early symptoms, and keep your fingers crossed that we don’t lose all of our palms to new and old diseases.

For more information contact the Extension Service Horticulture Helpline Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, 9 AM to noon and 1 to 4 PM, by calling 582-2110. Or visit the office M-F, 8 AM to 5 PM. You can see a narrated presentation about TPPD at: http://pinellascountyextension.org/ (select the commercial horticulture link). The presentation is located in a box on the right-hand side of the page that says ‘presentations’. You can also visit (Google) the Ft. Lauderdale Research and Education website and follow the links to palm diseases.

Information and pictures for this article were provided by Dr. Monica Elliott, Plant Pathologist, University of Florida/IFAS, Ft. Lauderdale Research and Education Center.