POLK COUNTY, Fla. - Agricultural experts from the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) held an online workshop Friday about pasture mealybug, a tiny white insect that feasts on grasses.
Tracking the Florida pasture mealybug
What we know:
The bug was first officially reported to state officials at the end of May. But, experts believe it’s possible the bug was here in Florida earlier after some ranchers noticed their pastures looking abnormal last fall.
The tiny white insects eat grasses. Right now, experts say the bug targets sugarcane, weedy roadside grasses and agricultural pasture grasses, including Bahia and Bermuda.
And while those two grasses are also common in residential yards, experts have not found this bug in any residential turf in Florida yet.
"There are reports from Texas that it has attacked St. Augustine grass," Dr. Erin Powell, an FDACS scale insect taxonomist, said. "So that is something that we're keeping an eye out for."
Pasture mealybugs can damage crops and lead to widespread die-offs of entire pastures or fields, threatening Florida's cattle and sugarcane industries.
"These just seem to kind of cause the plants to lose their defense mechanisms and really affect their immune system," Powell added.
The bug has already been reported in fields in Polk County.
Pest control prevention strategies
What we don't know:
Experts are still trying to figure out the best insecticides to use against the pests.
"We don't know much about insecticide efficiencies," UF/IFAS forage extension specialist Dr. Marcelo Wallau said. "So we're putting together a lot of trials, put in the field so we can inform you better about insecticides to be used."
Officials said these tiny bugs can spread quickly, hitching rides on farm equipment, clothing, and even the wind.
What you can do:
While farms are the main focus right now, experts advise homeowners to keep an eye on their lawn for symptoms like yellowing, reddening, or browning.
But don’t assume all brown grass is due to the pasture mealybug: Southern chinch bug activity is still the most likely cause of browning in a St. Augustine lawn in Tampa Bay, Dr. Adam Dale, associate professor in the entomology and nematology department at the University of Florida, told FOX 13.
He said homeowners should look on the leaves and at the base of the grass to see if they actually find any pasture mealybugs.
"Most likely, if you have a lawn that's under a commercial pest control program — you've got a lawn service managing pests in that turf grass — I think it makes sense that their program would be helping control or preventing pasture mealybug infestation," Dale told FOX 13. "We don't have any data to support which chemicals might control pasture mealybug and which ones don't. But I'd say that's certainly likely that pest control service will help prevent or suppress pasture mealybugs."
If a homeowner spots a suspected pasture mealybug, they are encouraged to report it immediately.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from an online workshop hosted by UF/IFAS and FDACS on Friday. Additional details came from a one-on-one interview with University of Florida’s Dr. Adam Dale.