Help!!! Tough White fly infection on Hibiscus
wliu57
17 years ago
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taitai
17 years agowliu57
17 years agoRelated Discussions
Hibiscus, Hibiscus and more Hibiscus....Lots of Pics!!
Comments (25)Webcat Either the red or the burgundy. I've got pink ones, one is a very pale pink with a white eye, the other is pink with a red eye. I've got so many seeds of the pink with the white eye that I finally started dead heading them, so no seed pods would develop. I snatched a few seed pods of a burgundy one last year or the year before, but it has not flowered yet. I've also got seeds of Texas star hibiscus, that is really growing slowly this year. I wonder do they peter out after a few years? I started white texas star last winter sowing season, wintered them over in a holding bed and one is setting a flower now, but it looks very spindly. I'm hoping to get seeds from it before the season is over. The reds that you have shown are just to drool for, LOL. They are absolutely georgous!! So if you have some seeds for either red, please keep me in mind. Alberta...See MoreSpiral white fly.
Comments (7)I also do spray only when necessary and as organic as possible, if soap is considered organic, that's my main choice. Soap and oil mixed. The pyrethrin, which is also organic comes into the mix, when there are just too many. I have so many bugs eating away my plants and veggies, I usually plant twice as much so I can at least harvest enough after the bugs are done. Anyway, the whitefly really is out of control, specially in summer. I had all my tomato plants infected with the yellow leaf curl virus at the time when the white fly took over my ficus hedges around 2 sides of my yard. After pulling the tomatoes all out, which was hard enough, I said : that's it! So I took the time to spray with soap and oil for 1 week and then added the pyrethrin after. That helped a lot. Right now, winter isn't really the season for the white flies, so I only see one once a day or so. But I will be on the lookout for them once the humidity goes up. At the time of infestation, I contacted the country extension office with pics to confirm the white fly and the yellow leaf curl virus, and was told to use a systemic on the ficus and as an insecticide use the soap oil spray mix. Which was a great advice on the latter. Once the season starts again, I just have to regularly spray with soap and oil, otherwise they will take over my garden once again....See MoreHow do I get rid of white fly?
Comments (44)Whiteflies! I'm an organic gardener in zone 7. I've been gardening for many years, but the last dozen or so I've gotten a lot more serious (and had a lot more challenges, and fun.) At the beginning of June this year, I discovered whiteflies (for the first time ever) in three distinct garden areas of our property, each area separated by a good deal of lawn (well, the yard has SOME grass, but it's mostly weeds & clover.) One area was very active with whiteflies, the other two somewhat less so, but it was clear they were dispersed throughout the property. I read and read and read and came up with this protocol, which I hope will help anyone else who runs into the same pest. First, I suspended my weekly spray of a gentle foliar feeding solution (spray n grow & bills perfect fertilizer) to slow down the plant growth that whiteflies find so appealing. Then, every evening for a full week, I sprayed every plant and shrub in my gardens with the following blend: 1 gallon Ivory soap water 1 gallon water 8 tsps take down concentrate 2 cups commercial concentrated deer repellent (primarily garlic/clove/mint/egg centric) (We live in a VERY high deer pressure area so I was already spraying my .66 acres of gardens & shrubs with a rotation of deer repellents every evening, two gallons a night.) For perspective, I used three batches of this whitefly action brew (so six gallons total) every night. The Ivory water wasn't carefully measured. I took a large bar of Ivory soap, left it in a gallon of water overnight, and used that. Then I used the same bar in successive gallons. That one bar lasted the whole time I sprayed. I sprayed the outsides of everything, of course, but also shoved the sprayer nozzle into the middle of each plant/shrub, doing my best to get to the undersides of the leaves & stems, too. Five evenings into my spraying, I noticed no more whitefly activity. Interestingly, the pollinators remained abundant, active, & happy throughout the entire spray period. This may be because it was relatively early in the season. This may also be because I sprayed in the evening, after most of pollinators had gone to sleep. And lastly, this may be because I used the mildest but still effective takedown solution -- just 1%. (And maybe all the clover in the yard helped too, by giving them a consistent alternative food source.) After the week of whitefly brew spraying ended, I did nothing (other than my nightly rotation of deer repellent spraying) for about 10 days. I still saw no evidence of whiteflies. Then I released beneficial insects: Ladybugs, which start eating right away; Lacewing eggs, which take a few days to a week to hatch & start eating; And, praying mantis eggs, which take weeks to hatch & start eating. I purchased enough beneficials to populate our entire yard and followed the directions for timing, conditions, etc for their release. A couple of notes: I opted not to use neem oil on the property because I had previously used it and it does not like begonias, bleeding hearts, fuscia and other somewhat delicate plants, all of which were liberally interspersed amidst my perennial beds and containers. I was VERY reluctant about using the takedown given my love of pollinators but I realized I had to make a tough call and decided the best course was to save my garden for the pollinators who would come by later in the season. I truly didn't expect so little impact on them during my spray period. I was very relieved to see them thriving the entire time! In addition, everything I read suggested it was best to use multiple beneficial insects so I opted to include praying mantis in the mix, despite the risk to some pollinators, concluding, again, that saving my garden overall was the better course. I also bought a bug blaster nozzle (Amazon has it) and a watering wand. The bug blaster delivers a 360 degree forceful spray of water. I'm not going to use it now, but it's here for next time. I want to see if alternating washing the plants during the day and spraying the plants in the evening will let me solve the problem using even less takedown. Stopping whiteflies takes real diligence, but it's doable! Good luck!...See MoreWhite scratch like marks on hibiscus leaves
Comments (3)Thanks for the info kimmsr! You are always so helpful! I am having white fly problems around my yard . I wasn't sure if whiteflies were the problem with the leaves in the photo. They are hibiscus leaves but I never see the white flies around the hibiscus plants. I have released lacewings twice and lady bugs but it hasn't done anything. I've put out the yellow traps and sprayed several times with Neem. Nothing seems to be working....See Morejean001
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