Canoeing – Photo Credit: Joanne Date/Shutterstock
Palm Beach, Florida — The Brazilian peppertree has become the most common and invasive plant in Florida since the 1960s.
Over 700,000 acres, or about the same area as Rhode Island, are currently covered with growth, according to the USDA Agricultural Research Service. Native vegetation is choked out by the trees’ dense thickets.
Alvin Moore, the proprietor of Micco Land Service, is more than happy to prevent the spread of Brazilian peppertrees throughout Central Florida.
Moore has been fighting the exotic species that are occupying neighborhoods for the past 20 years.
“In some cases, the peppertrees are so large and have been there for a long time that they are actually pushing down the power line that supplies electricity to the house,” Moore remarked.
He can swiftly eradicate what has grown to be an unmanageable invasive species, especially for homeowners, because of his heavy equipment.
Property owners are required by ordinance in places like Palm Bay to remove the growth.
Moore stated, “They’ll give them a certain amount of time, just like the property we’re standing on.” “And they’ll (city officials) have their own vendor come out and actually cut it back, and then they’ll put a lien on the property (to pay for that work) if they don’t fix the problem within that time.”
Homeowner Mike Yip-Young, who lives across the street, said it’s difficult to stop peppertrees from intruding onto his property boundary.
Yip-Young stated, “I cleared this out six months ago, and it’s already back.”
Due to birds eating its vibrant berries and dispersing them over the state through their feces, the Brazilian peppertree is not restricted to a single region of Florida and spreads swiftly.
Dr. Carey Minteer of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences has been researching the spread of Brazilian peppertrees in Florida for nine years, despite the state spending millions on control measures.
“On conservation lands like state parks, the state spends $2.4 million to control the trees,” Minteer stated. “The amount that homeowners spend is unknown to us. To control this species, however, I know of cattle farmers who spend a quarter of a million dollars ($250,000) year on their cattle ranch alone.
According to Minteer, the tree was imported from South America in the 1800s.
According to Minteer, scientists have been successfully testing with an insect for more than a decade, but chemicals don’t actually harm the trees.
“On these plants, we have been releasing a species known as the Brazilian peppertree thrips,” she stated. “And it’s becoming clear to us that they are harming the plants and slowing down their growth.”
According to Minteer, the expansion of the Brazilian peppertree is too extensive to be eliminated.
However, she expressed her hope that a partial solution to Florida’s peppertree problem may someday be found through the employment of thrips, which are often found in South America, to manage the plant there.
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Melissa’s career in writing started more than 20 years ago. Today, she lives in South Florida with her husband and two boys.
