Being new to an area can prove challenging for the recently arrived. Identifying where thing are and how to access the needed resources is a bit intimidating for some.
Others, however, arrive on the scene with an aggressive stance and posture. Their antagonistic and lordly countenance immediately notifies all in the area that conflict is at hand.
The latter is the case when it comes to Tropical Soda Apple (TSA), an invasive exotic weed. To date there have been five reported varieties in Florida.
TSA is native to Mexico and countries in Central and South America. It was first reported in Glades County in 1988 and may have arrived in livestock imported from Central America.
The ensuing years have seen TSA spread to Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
This plant is exceptionally vigorous and will become quickly established in sunny and partially shaded areas, preferring disturbed soils. This perennial pest is capable of springtime regrowth in panhandle Florida.
TSA is in the Solanaceae plant family which includes tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, horse-nettles and night shade. Immature plants are often confused with horse-nettles which display copious quantities of thorns and barbs.
This exotic pest can easily be identified by its fruit. Developing TSA fruit looks like a tiny watermelon with green and white stripes. Mature fruit turns yellow.
Each fruit contains 200 to 400 seeds, with about a 75 percent germination rate. Each plant has the potential to produce over 10,000 viable seeds ready to colonize new ground.
Livestock and wildlife, especially deer and raccoons, are attracted to the TSA’s fruit with its tiny seeds. Deer and raccoons have the dexterity to negotiate the thorns, and cattle will nibble on the fruit of dormant plants.
Undigested seeds are conveniently deposited to wherever the animal travels. The seeds are delivered with an immediately available nutrient base of animal manure to encourage growth.
TSA is a major problem in pastures and conservation areas. Negative impacts of tropical soda apple include reduction of cattle stocking rates, competition with native plants, and the costs associated with its control.
Dense thickets of this noxious weed can disrupt the movement patterns of wildlife, further changing the natural balance of an area.
Several herbicide-control protocols have been developed to help alleviate this invasive situation. The latest control method utilized in south and central Florida is biological.
The tropical soda apple leaf beetle Gratiana boliviana Spaeth was discovered in Paraguay and imported into the United States to study as a potential biological control agent. Because Gratiana boliviana fed and survived only on tropical soda apple, field release trials were approved in 2003.
More than 250,000 beetles were released across Florida from 2003 to 2011. Feeding damage by larvae and adults of Gratiana boliviana is characterized by a distinctive ‘shotgun-birdshot-hole” pattern on leaves. This damage reduces the photosynthetic area of the leaves and creates wounds which may facilitate attack by plant diseases.
By reducing the competitive ability of the weed, Gratiana boliviana indirectly facilitates the recovery of pasture grasses and native vegetation.
So if encountered in the home landscape, dig or pull out… but have heavy leather gloves handy in case physical contact is necessary. Physical encounters will always be painful.
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