Volume 2 . Issue 1
January 3, 2009
Delivered free each month to the residents of Hypoluxo Island, Manalapan, Ocean Ridge, Briny Breezes, Gulf Stream and Coastal Delray Beach
Happy New Year Inside
A December dawn over the north jetty of the Boynton Inlet illustrates the potential of a new day. For sunrise thoughts and more photos, please see page 10. Photo by Jerry Lower
Tiny whitefly has big impact on ficus hedges By Antigone Barton
Fig whitefly Since arriving in Miami from Asia last year, the fig whitefly (Singhiella simplex) has spread quickly. Spotted in Lake Worth in June, it has spread throughout Palm Beach County. With a piercing, sucking mouth it preys on ficus benjamina hedges and trees, draining nutrients from leaves, which then weaken and fall.
Scenes of the season
There were lights, music and even Mrs. Santa Claus this holiday season. Pages 30-31
Adult whitefly Actual size
Don't wait until leaves fall — use a hand glass to check leaves for whiteflies
Red eye larva
Defoliated ficus hedge
Inn-style stay
Give your guests a spa experience at area B&Bs. Page 16
Underside of leaf
Treatment The Palm Beach County Extension Service recommends treating plants through the roots only, to spare beneficial insects the effects of spray, but pest control experts and landscapers recommend both spraying and a granular or liquid root treatment. While this treatment is not considered to pose threats to people or pets, the substance used – neonicotioids, derived from nicotine should be be avoided while wet. Nicotine-based soil drench
House of the Month Ocean Ridge estate is just steps from the beach. Page 23
Move mulch, drench, then rake back Graphic: Bonnie Lallky-Seibert, Antigone Barton
Roots
as the next brood eats new leaves, the plant loses its source of nutrition, and can die when a third brood affects more leaves
Root drench:
• Can take four to six weeks to work • Lasts six to eight months
Spray:
• Begins killing white fly immediately • Lasts four to six weeks • Some experts are concerned that spraying might harm beneficial insects
Beneficial insects: Bug experts hope that roughly half a dozen different insects that prey on white flys will help bring infestations under control. Those insects include parasitic wasps, predator beetles and lady bugs. These, however, have limited availability and are expensive.
SOURCE: University of Florida IFAS extension & interviews
The little white fly that arrived about six months ago is so small that a magnifying glass is recommended to properly search for it. But since its arrival, it has stripped away barriers between public and private property, cost scores of homeowners tens of thousands of dollars apiece, and done what neither drought nor native plant enthusiasts could do — made people question the value of their ficus hedges. The whitefly, which hails from Asia, has done this by sucking dry the leaves of the ubiquitous, but also Asiaoriginating ficus benjamina, turning common privacy hedges into filigrees of brown branches. “It’s hard to believe an insect could do this,” said Mike Zimmerman, owner of Zimmerman Tree Service and president of Friends of Mounts Botanical Gardens. In its impact on the South Florida landscape, he added, “other than lethal yellowing I can’t think of anything that’s been as devastating as white fly. Possibly more so — it only came a few months ago.” In that time, he and other whitefly watchers agree, it has been carried by winds — and sped on its way by Tropical Storm Fay — as well as by landscapers carrying trimmings from one town to the next, and by new plantings of bushes and trees. See FICUS on page 8