News & Updates

Weekly “What is it?”: Assassin Bug

Adult assassin bug feeding on a cornsilk fly. Photo credit: Megha Kalsi, UFWith a name like “assassin bug,” the tiny creature sounds like it could be the next star of a Marvel action movie. Leggy and intimidating, with black highlights and bright orange warning coloration, it could totally work as a comic book hero. The…

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Complex World of Honey Bees: Colony structure

The complex world of honey bees is worth diving deeper into the colony to learn about their society. The Western honey bee, Apis mellifera, is the most well-known representative of the honey bee family. This medium-sized bee is responsible for a sizeable percentage of crop pollination around the globe. They also produce wax, honey, and many…

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Successful Tips for Managing Your Pastures

There are many ways to help manage your pastures, one of them being weed management. Weed management involves scouting for weeds in your pastures frequently, being aware of ways to prevent seed contamination, and different ways to control weeds.  Here are the steps for better weed control and management. Scouting for Weeds Scout for weeds…

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A firebush of a different color

The Foliage Alone is Breathtaking – Lime Sizzler™I am always impressed when an old familiar landscape plant comes in a new form or cultivar.  The firebush is an example of a shrub that can be depended on in the landscape; noted for its durable nature and attractiveness.  Firebush or Hamelia patens is a versatile shrub…

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South Florida Soils

Anyone that has ever put shovel to earth in South Florida knows that our “soil” is actually rock. The rock is a type of limestone known as Miami Limestone, or oolitic limestone, and is not coral as many people think. Limestone Gables didn’t quite have the right ring to it, so we stuck with Coral…

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American Coot or Common Gallinule?

Hey there, fellow nature explorer! Let’s talk about a couple of feathered friends you might run into around wet and watery spots in Pinellas County: the American Coot and the Common Gallinule. You can catch them chilling by lakes, ponds, and marshes, rocking their snazzy red or orange beaks. Now, these two birds might seem like they went…

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Fall Lawn Care

October marks the end of most fertilizer restrictions in the Tampa Bay area. Most “summer bans” restrict the application of nitrogen and phosphorous from June 1st through September 30 during the rainy season. During the summer ban other nutrients such as potassium, magnesium, manganese, and iron can be applied. These other nutrients help turfgrass with resilience…

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The Effects of Food Insecurity

Written by Samantha Walter-Cano, Edited by Olivia Zugay Human Rights Month: Food Insecurity With the rise in prices and the impact of COVID-19 over the past few years, access to food has become harder for many around the world. This December is Human Rights Month, and one of the most basic rights in our world…

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The Peanut Butter Challenge—It’s Good to Go Nutty!

Every year in October, people all around Florida go nutty for a good cause.  It’s the Peanut Butter Challenge—an annual food drive to fight hunger. Throughout October, people are encouraged to donate unopened jars of peanut butter to participating UF/IFAS Extension offices throughout the state. Once the jars are collected and tallied, they’re distributed to…

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What is Integrated Weed Management?

If you have read anything to do with pasture management you have probably come across the phrase Integrate Weed Management. So what does this phrase mean and how can you utilize it in your pasture management program? Integrated weed management is both an economically and environmentally sound approach to weed management. This approach involves scouting, prevention,…

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One of the Easiest Garden Beds to Build

Building a garden bed can be daunting to say the least. But here at UF/IFAS we are total nerds about all things gardening and we have some tips on building a garden bed this season.    A raised garden bed is simply a structure built to grow plants above the existing soil on a…

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