What's eating my plants?

Before you run to the garden shed to find the insect-killing spray, find out what insect is on your plants.  Some insects are friends of the gardener. These "good bugs" hunt the "bad bugs" and eat them.  If you spray without knowing their identity, you may be killing the good with the bad. 

If you have a butterfly garden, you want caterpillars munching on your feathery fennel, cascading cassia, and your purple passion vine. These caterpillars will become your next generation of butterflies. And those hardy plants will recover.  To spray pesticide without thinking will ensure that you never see any butterflies in your garden.   

The Indian River County Florida Maser Gardener volunteers have a "plant help desk".  Here they can answer your landscape insect questions.  And they can do more than just identify insects. 

Master Gardener Volunteers can:

• do free soil pH testing in their lab
• identify plant problems
• recommend the right plants for your place  

Indian River County Master Gardener Volunteers periodically host gardening lectures at local library branches.  They speak on various gardening topics having to do with Florida Friendly Landscaping (TM).  Check your local library branch for a schedule of upcoming Master Gardeners' Growing Series lectures.