FAQ's
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- Do melaleuca trees use up more water than other trees?
- Does melaleuca cause allergies?
- Will melaleuca be eradicated?
- Is it legal to have melaleuca growing on my property?
- Is this the same melaleuca used to make herbal shampoo and tea tree oil?
- Is melaleuca mulch safe to use? Where can I get it?
- Do I need a permit to cut down my melaleuca tree?
- How do I safely dispose of the debris so it doesn’t spread melaleuca?
- Where can I find a professional to take out my trees?
- Where do the biocontrol insects come from?
- Will the biocontrol insects harm me/my family/my pets?
- What is that white fluffy stuff on my trees?
- When I brush against my melaleuca tree I sometimes get yellow stains on my clothes and skin. Why? How do I remove these stains?
- How do I know if biological controls are feeding on my melaleuca trees?
- Will the biocontrol insects kill my melaleuca?
- Will the biocontrol insects eat my other plants?
- How can I get biocontrol agents for my melaleuca?
- Is melaleuca drying up the everglades?
- Why are invasive, exotic plants considered to be nuisances?
Q: Will the biocontrol insects eat my other plants?
A: No. The primary consideration in selecting
biological control agents is host-specificity. Host-specificity means that agents will only
feed and complete their development on the target plant. Only agents that are believed to have
a narrow host range are brought into the US, and then they undergo intensive screening in an
approved biological control quarantine facility to make absolutely sure that the target plant
is their only host. In quarantine, a long list of test plants, including species that are
related to the target, endangered or threatened species and economically important plants are
exposed to the candidate biological control agents in no-choice feeding conditions, meaning
that the proposed agents either feed on the test plant or die of starvation. Additional testing
is conducted to make sure that adult females of the agents will only lay their eggs on the
target plant. The historical record clearly shows that this methodology works, as there have
been no recent examples of biological control agents attacking non-target plants.
