All Posts

HomeAll Posts
June 9, 2025

June 2025 First Friday with Florida First Detector

Recap of June 2025 First Friday with Florida First Detector Snails and slugs are gastropods, a type of mollusk found all over the world. While snails have a prominent external shell, slugs typically lack a visible shell, making them appear quite different despite being closely related. Identifying these creatures depends on different features. For slugs,…

Read more

April 7, 2025

April First Friday with Florida First Detector

Recap of April 2025 First Friday with Florida First Detector In April, we started learning about wood-boring insects—bugs that tunnel into trees! Many of these insects are beetles, especially those in three big families: Buprestidae, Cerambycidae, and Curculionidae. This month’s webinar focused on jewel beetles (Buprestidae) and longhorned beetles (Cerambycidae). Next month, in May, we’ll…

Read more

March 10, 2025

March First Friday with Florida First Detector

Recap of March 2025 First Friday with Florida First Detector This month, we talked about invasive pests on citrus. Historically, the citrus industry has a really big deal in Florida. So important that the orange is the official state fruit, orange juice is the state beverage, and the orange blossom is the state flower. Despite…

Read more

February 10, 2025

February First Friday with Florida First Detector

Recap of February 2025 First Friday with Florida First Detector This month, we talked about Invasive Scale Insects on Ornamental plants. We looked at a few recently detected invasive scales in Florida as well as identification of species commonly found in Florida on ornamental plants. Scale insects can be challenging to identify! Closely related species…

Read more

January 6, 2025

January 2025 First Friday with Florida First Detector

Recap of January 2025 First Friday with Florida First Detector In this month’s webinar, we covered invasive caterpillars that feed on vegetable crops. Florida’s agriculture industry is home to a wide variety of high value vegetable production. We are a top producer of tomatoes, bell peppers, cabbage and many other delicious veggies. Our mild winters…

Read more

November 26, 2024

October 2024 First Friday with Florida First Detector

Recap of October 2024 First Friday with Florida First Detector In October’s First Friday, we looked more into the agencies involved in invasive species work and talked a lot about sample submission. Identification of the pest prior to treatment is critical for all pest management. Starting next month, we will be talking about identification of…

Read more

November 26, 2024

November 2024 First Friday with Florida First Detector

Recap of November 2024 First Friday with Florida First Detector This month we talked all about fruit flies! We focused on true fruit flies in the family Tephritidae. Florida has quite the history with non-native fruit flies. We have a few that have established and caused issues for fruit production in the state. We also…

Read more

August 5, 2024

August 2024 First Friday with Florida First Detector

Recap of August 2024 First Friday with Florida First Detector In August, we focused on invasive pests of ornamental plants. While we covered a lot during our Final Friday webinar, we barely scratched the surface of invasive species as it relates to ornamental plants. Florida has an estimated number of more than 1,500 types of…

Read more

July 8, 2024

July 2024 First Friday with Florida First Detector

Recap of July 2024 First Friday with Florida First Detector In July, we talked about invasive pests of pine. Florida has about 17 million acres of forestland with a significant portion covered in pine. The state also has a significant pine industry. Florida produces around 750 million board feet of pine annual used both within…

Read more

Copyright © 2025 by ThemeREX. All rights reserved.
to top