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Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants Logo    Plant Management in Florida Waters

Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants Logo    Plant Management in Florida Waters

Aquatic soda apple

Quick Facts

  • Scientific name: Solanum tampicense
  • Origin: Mexico, West Indies
  • Introduction: 1970s, natural colonization (?)
  • Aquatic community: Emergent
  • Habitat: Shorelines, wet soils
  • Distribution: Central Florida
  • Management effort: Eradication
  • 2017 public waters / plant acres: 2 / 10
  • 2017 Waters / acres controlled: 1 / 14

Aquatic soda apple Aquatic soda apple

Environmental and Economic Concerns

  • Sprawling, prickly shrubs up to 15 feet tall
  • Usually found in shallow river channels or flood plains
  • Forms dense, tangled monocultures
  • Invades disturbed areas and grows over established native vegetation
  • Difficult to selectively remove from intertwined native vegetation
  • Seeds disseminated by birds increasing potential for wide and rapid dispersal

Management Options

  • Biological: None available
  • Chemical: Glyphosate, 2,4-D, triclopyr 
  • Mechanical: Impractical – plants in shallow water, wooded marshes
  • Physical: Hand pulling individual plants

Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, Status of the Aquatic Plant Maintenance Program in Florida Public Waters, Annual Report – Fiscal Year 2016-2017.