Florida health officials said Thursday they found the Zika virus in mosquitoes trapped in the Miami Beach area, and blamed popular tropical plants known as bromeliads, NBC News reports.
Florida also announced two more cases of locally acquired Zika, presumably spread by mosquitoes there.
That makes for 49 home-grown cases in Florida.
Miami Beach officials redoubled mosquito eradication efforts, imposing fines for people who leave standing water, ripping out the the moisture-loving bromeliads and asking residents to do the same.
The Aedes mosquitoes, which are the ones that cause the issue, are difficult to kill because they live and breed in and around houses and in very small containers — potted plants, bottle caps, and, it seems, pretty tropical plants.
Photo: Dreamstime.com
Latest from Greenhouse Management
- Voting now open for the National Garden Bureau's 2026 Green Thumb Award Winners
- WUR extends Gerben Messelink’s professorship in biological pest control in partnership with Biobest and Interpolis
- Lights, CO2, GROW!
- Leading the next generation
- The Growth Industry Episode 8: From NFL guard to expert gardener with Chuck Hutchison
- The biggest greenhouse headlines of 2025
- Theresa Specht
- 10 building blocks of plant health
