Spiral Whitefly

Really tiny aliens making really tiny crop circles? Or maybe what conchita said...

Actually, since you're in CA, I guess it could also be Giant Whitefly--not sure if that's the same as what we call spiral whitefly around here. Some kind of whitefly, anyway.

Spiral and Giant whitefy species are different, though similar.

Thanks, rihizo.

thanks everyone...looking around at other peoples' proposed treatments, it looks like a difficult bug to eradicate. Gonna go get some organocide to spray under the leaves; hopefully that'll help. Seems like people report hit or miss results w soap or neem oil. I'm trying to stay away from anything that kills other bugs, especially bees..we already don't have enough of them around.

I would remove the affected leaves (if it's not too many) and dispose of them. I've never used them myself, but I know a fair number of people who swear by the yellow sticky traps for the adult flies.

I'm going to warn against the sticky traps. Once you've come across a few butterflies, bird feathers, and worst of all, a struggling anole, you'll never use them again.

The University of California recommends the removal of infested foliage and the use of fairly strong sprays of water to the underside of infested leaves. The former method was reported to be more successful than chemical treatments.

It's worth noting that there are many predators and parasites of these whiteflies....all the more reason to avoid using those sticky traps (which will catch ladybugs, parasitic wasps, and other beneficials).

Thanks, rhizo. I've used them in the past and heaven knows we have enough anoles around here to stock a whole county, but I've never seen them anywhere near one (nor butterflies, either). Still it's a good consideration.

did both: I picked off and disposed of any leaves with white fly crop circles, and gave it all a good spray of organocide.

Now how do I make my hands not smell like fish oil??

Crop circles! Aliens! Ha!.