Q/A column – for release August 2, 2009

Dan Culbert - Extension Horticulture Agent 

 Buddha Belly, Cow Killers and Leafy Cigars:

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Bush with a Belly  

I love the garden section of the newspaper… great stuff for me, the Florida gardener who is from the north, who plant native plants.  It is a learning process but I enjoy every minute of it!  Here’s my question:  I planted this as a baby and it has blooms like papaya but the leaf is different....it fruits like the male papaya....it is a great little tree...only about 1 ½   years old.  How tall does it get and can you eat the fruit?  Do I need a mate to make it fruit like the papaya? Thanks, Sandy D. 

     

 

Sandy: Your plant is a called Buddha Belly Plant, a species of Jatropha which has been in the news recently. Jatropha podagrica is also called Goutystalk Nettlespurge.  With small pretty clusters of orange-red flowers, it is good for year round eye-candy and will attract butterflies and hummingbirds. The seeds are explosively expelled, and seedlings might be found some distance from the parent plant.    For this reason, we do not recommend growing it anywhere near a natural area, so as not to introduce this plant.

 

This plant has an interesting growth habit, slowly growing to 4 feet tall and forms a swollen trunk (the Buddha Belly or “gouty stalk”).  In Central America it occurs naturally in arid environments. This makes it quite adapted to our climate and sandy soils, not needing any supplemental watering. We have found this plant at home in both full sun and full shade situations.

 

Like the other Jatrophas it is a member of the Euphorbia plant family. Many of these are poisonous, which is why they are treated with caution around curious grazing kids and critters. This plant family includes poinsettia, and castor bean; both of whose toxicity is well-known. Therefore it is safe to assume the characteristic white latex sap should best be avoided. Other introduced Jatrophas found in our area include the Coral Plant, Peregrina, and Psychic Nut (J. cucuras), which is being looked as a commercial biodesiel seed oil. Knowing this is a Jatropha will eliminate the confusion between it and “Buddha Belly Bamboo”, which is not related to your plant.  

 

 

Big Hairy Red Ant

 

I found a big red hairy ant crawling around my  Florida  Yard.    It is bigger than a bull ant, and I’m afraid it will have a bite worse than fire ants!  An old-timer called it a cow-killer.  What should I do?  

 

    

 

From your description I believe you have uncovered a Velvet Ant.  To add to the confusion, they are not ants at all – they are actually wasps.  There are more than 50 species of these insects found in Florida; all are referred to as "velvet ants" because female members of the family lack wings and have coarse hairs that cover most of their body, giving them a velvety look.

 

And they are actually “good bugs" , as they parasitize the larvae or pupae of other bees, flies, beetles, moths and other insects.  Unlike many other kinds of wasps, they have solitary habits rather than making shared nests like other wasps and bees.  Males and females look different, but as with other related insects, it is only the females that can lay eggs or can sting.

 

The name “cow-killer” comes from the intense burning that can happen if you do get stung by one of these red and black adults.  However, they are not very aggressive,  nor is their venom very toxic [Honey bee stings are about 3 times more potent than a velvet ant’s sting.]   Most female velvet ants are pretty hard to get excited, and they produce an audible noise when provoked to warn potential victims of her sting.  No control measures are necessary.

 

 

Leafy Cigar Cases

 

I am a  Pest Control  Company operator.  One of my customers found some funny looking structures located inside ceramic pieces in a garage. These chambered cylinders were pushed out with a wire from a 1/4" diameter hole.  It looks like leaves were used to construct them.  Any ideas of what they are and if they are a problem?  

    

 

Collier County Entomologist Doug Caldwell came to the rescue!  He identified these “cigar-like” objects as nests for their eggs.  Each segment has an egg which gives rise to the adult bee.  In Florida there are approximately 63 different species of leaf cutting bees. 

 

At the last meeting of the Okeechobee Garden Club, I showed some photos of rose leaves with these curious cuts that came from the leafcutter bees.  While they  do take away some of the leaf, they do not cause significant amounts of leaf loss to need any control.  In fact they are good “gals” because they are important pollinators of wildflowers, fruits, vegetables and other crops. Some leafcutting bees are important as commercial pollinators (like honey bees) in crops such as alfalfa and blueberries.

 

Send us your favorite garden question by fax (863-763-5901), email ( okeenews@newszap.com) or just drop it off at the Okeechobee News office at (107 SW 17th St. suite D, Okeechobee, FL 34974).  The questions for today are REAL questions that have been asked in the past few days.  To continue the column, we need YOUR real questions. Be sure to include your name and phone or email address in case we need more information

More information is available on the Okeechobee Extension web page, http://okeechobee.ifas.ufl.edu. If you need additional information on velvet ants, please email us at okeechobee@ifas.ufl.edu or call us at 863-763-6469.  Local residents can stop by our office at 458 Hwy 98 North in Okeechobee, and visit our Okeechobee County Master Gardeners from 1 to 3 PM on Tuesday afternoons.  Go Gators! 

-30-

Trade  names, where used, are given for the purpose of providing specific information. They do not constitute an endorsement or guarantee of products named, nor does it imply criticism of products not named. The Florida Cooperative Extension Service - Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer authorized to provide research, educational information, and other services to individuals and institutions that function without regard to race, color, sex, age, handicap, or national origin.  Florida Cooperative Extension Service / IFAS / University of Florida. Millie Ferrer, Interim Dean.

 References

Hertz, Jeffrey C.  Velvet Ants, Mutillidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera) [Featured Creature Article, EENY-378]. Gainesville: UF/IFAS Extension Service, March 2007. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/IN717

Serrano, David.  Leafcutting bees [Featured Creature Article, EENY-378]. Gainesville: UF/IFAS Extension Service, March 2008. http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/bees/leafcutting_bees.htm

Stevenson, James.  “Goutystalk Nettlespurge [Plant of the Month]”  In: The Green Leaf [Master Gardner Newsletter]. Largo: Pinellas County Extension Service, Florida Botanical Garden, August 2008, p.3  http://pinellas.ifas.ufl.edu/master_gardener/green_leaf/aug_08.pdf

More on Jatrophas at Wikpedia.com:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jatropha_podagrica