Every piece of fruit is created because of a pollinator. There are 316 varieties of native bees in Florida and countless honeybees cultivated by beekeepers. Promote pollinators by installing a pollinator garden by leaving bare spaces for soil dwellers to make their homes, plant native flowers, provide water source and habitat and reduce the use of chemicals.

Cultural, mechanical and biological control measures for pests should be considered:

Cultural – right plant/right place

Mechanical or physical control – mulching to suppress weeds, pruning to remove disease and hand picking off pests.

Biological – figure out the good, the bad and the “buggly”! Some bugs are good bugs- predators that will help control pests such as lady bugs and assassin bugs to name two.

If all else fails, use a pesticide that is least toxic such as horticultural oils, insecticidal soap, spinosad or Bt (Thuricide) for caterpillars.