Small Fruit and Vegetable IPM Lab

2026 Liburd Lab photo. Thank you to Lyle Buss for taking our picture!

The Liburd Lab is on our way to ESA! Below we have the presentations that will be given by our lab in several areas of IPM research that we’ve been conducting. See you all there!

@FruitVegIPMLab Also spotted in Quincy!

Please note that the two-spot cotton leafhopper, Amrasca biguttula, has been seen infesting eggplants at UF's Plant Science Research and Education Unit in Citra, Florida. This pest can cause significant damage to cotton, okra, roselle, sunflowers, and eggplant.

Beautiful day for planting squash 🌱

Congratulations to our own Stella for successfully presenting an excellent proposal seminar 👏🎉

I am so excited to announce my admission to the University of Florida PhD program under Dr. Oscar Liburd in the Small Fruit and Vegetable IPM lab. I would also like to thank the Entomology and Nematology department for awarding me a matching teaching assistantship!

🎉 Please join us in congratulating our very own @MuthomiKendi on receiving the Marjorie A. Hoy Graduate Award for Molecular Entomology this Spring! This prestigious recognition celebrates excellence in research. Well done, Kendi – we’re proud of you! 👏🐛🔬

Soon-to-be PhD student Arden Lambert has just wrapped up a busy field season working with spotted wing drosophila in blueberries. Her work focused on testing innovative, sustainable strategies to manage this invasive pest and support healthier crops for growers.

Thank you to @PurdueInsects for inviting me to give a seminar talk on my lab’s work @UFEntNem: “Application of Cultural Techniques and Biological Control Tactics to Manage Agricultural Pest Populations”. It was a great turnout with insightful questions and discussion.

We would love to welcome Dr. Jasleen Kaur to the liburd lab as our new postdoctoral associate! Her research will focus on developing sustainable solutions for invasive species management, particularly chilli thrips in blueberry orchards. 🫐 Welcome Dr. Kaur!

Good day for our lab. Hellenah Khunga won the first place of the Master 10-min talk presentation, and I was honored to receive the Award for excellence in Integrated Pest Management at the SouthEastern Branch of the Entomological Society of America. @EntsocAmerica @ufifasnfrec

Congratulations to our lovely Stella Ruber for winning first place in the MS poster competition at this year’s SEB meeting! 🥳🎉

We would like to congratulate the entomology games group from UF and our very own Joey Gonsiorek for winning the entomology games at this year’s SEB meeting. We’ll see you all at ESA this year in Portland!

The Liburd Lab hosted coffee hour for the department and it was great to catch up with our colleagues. Thank you for everyone who came!

Meet the newest addition to the Liburd Lab, Monique Raymond! Monique came to us from New Hampshire and is starting her PhD with us looking at the management of the Southern Red Mite in blueberries here in Florida. Go Monique! 🥳

Great squash and eggplant harvest from Joey’s field!

Our team went out to spray pesticide treatments for Joey’s squash field and luckily the plants are looking excellent despite this past hurricane.

The beginning of squash season. We have a lot of hard work ahead!