Educating with Extension Newsletters

Each month, the Extension Service publishes a newsletter about its exciting programs and events both past and upcoming. See what we are doing and how you can become involved. 

For our April 2020 newsletter, we featured an article written by our UF-IFAS Environmental Horticulture Agent, Michelle Leonard-Mularz, discussing the release of thrips in order to combat the invasive Brazilian Pepper Plant.

"Brazilian Pepper, Shinus terebinthifolia, is native to Brazil and was introduced into Florida, first in the 1890’s at the port of Miami and then later a separate introduction in 1926 in Punta Gorda by Dr. George Stone. It was originally brought over as the southern equivalent for English Holly, Ilex aquifolium, and its ornamental beauty which is evident by some of its common names Christmasberry and Florida Holly. Brazilian Pepper now covers over 700,000 acres in Florida and is listed as a Florida Noxious Weed and also listed as a category I invasive plant by the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council. That designation means the plant is altering native plant communities by displacing native species, changing community structures or ecological functions."

To read the article, and find events and programs of the Extension Service, check out the April 2020 Newsletter!