I have dealt with white flies in the past. Tough to get rid of.
I learned then that they have 3 life stages. You kill them in one stage they emerge from another. So you have to kill them in all 3 stages. I used to use some kind of spray with vick(?) oil. But now if I had to do it, I would use NEEM oil spray. It is safe (natural oil) and effective on pests and bacteria, mildew, mold.

I've done some research on these pests, some from another forum on Garden Web and they apparently do not survive in any form throughout a freezing winter. This explains why I have nerver seen them in Zone 5 (K.C.). They must have been attached (eggs or nymph) to one or more of the Ghost pepper plants I purchased in mid May from a green house environment or much warmer climate? It's funny that I have not noticed them until now in October though...

I guess it is possible they have migrated into my garden from somebody else's plants that were also purchased. That could be the reason they showed up so late this season. Luckily the plants look fine up to this point. Going to apply some insecticidal soap to try to keep them in check until the freeze.

I had to fight aphids and white fly's this year thanks to some nursery plants tried soap, Neem oil, malathion and a couple others then recommended AzaMax it took two applications but it has been months since. They get in the mulch and set up house so spray around the plants not just the plants. There are also traps for white fly basically sticky paper with a attractant.

Good finding, Judo. I'll try it the next time. Another method might be spraying with tobacco tea.

But I think, white flies and aphids are two different insects.

If the white flies and aphids comment was directed to me yes they are different but AzaMax effectively controls spider mites, thrips, fungus gnats, aphids, whiteflies, leaf miners, worms, beetles, leafhoppers, scales, mealy bugs, nematodes and other soil borne pests and you can use it right up to harvest it's food grade and natural. Before you use tobacco you might want to check up on Tobacco Mosaic Virus get that and you will want the flies back.

The controls for whiteflies are much the same for aphids --- except whiteflies are tougher to control. So, soap, neem, lacewings,etc. need to be used diligently.

The yellow sticky cards are used more for detection, so set those up in the spring, monitor them, and then treat the plants once you see one dead on the card(s). You can buy them, but make your own --- take a ziploc bag, put a sheet of yellow paper inside, close it. Smear motor oil or tanglefoot on outside of bag and then hang above plant(s). Use one card for every few plant(s). The main thing, like aphids, is to stay diligent --- treatments with neem or soap every 3-4 days for a couple weeks in the beginning, keep monitoring, and then act accordingly.

When you finally do pull the plants, destroy! Do not compost!

Cigarette smoke, huh Jason? Can't be THAT simple. I'll have to check that out some day.

Kevin

This post was edited by woohooman on Fri, Oct 10, 14 at 22:10

Randy, whiteflies do not 'set up housekeeping' in mulch, not in any stage of their development. Neither do aphids.

Kevin, so they can overwinter, survive in some form?

Anyone?

it seems as if they don't do well in winter, even down here in FL. with that said, as I understand it some varieties can survive below freezing, but not much below freezing. if you overwinter indoors, you could be keeping them alive.

kclost: Not sure. And I don't know at what temps pupae/larvae can survive. Rhizo1 would know-- you can find her in the Garden Clinic forum.

The reason why I suggest destroying the plants and not to compost is that a "cold" compost pile(temps less than 136F) could definitely be warm enough to support not only offspring but also the diseases/virii associated with them.

Kevin

Just my opinion, but, I highly recommend NOT USING TOBACCO SMOKE to get rid of ANYTHING. Randy's right. Once you get that tobacco mosaic virus, you'll be praying for those whiteflies to come back. That sh-- spreads like wildfire. I lost 4 or 5 otherwise VERY healthy, well producing Hab and Scotch Bonnet plants to that stuff this year. It started with one plant in the corner of my deck, then: BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. Right down the line, like dominos. I don't smoke in my house, so 9 times out of 10, I'd have a cigarette in my mouth or hand while pruning/ harvesting. Never thought much of it. I mean, I'd heard of the disease, but just assumed it was a disease that only affected tobacco plants! (Ignorant me, oh well) Anyway, I guess it can be transmitted just by touching the plants after you've had a cigarette, too. Not just from the smoke itself. Since then, I'm careful to wash my hands before I go poking around in my peppers.

Jason, I'm surprised you've never had that problem if that's been your remedy.

Mike

I have been having a terrible time with aphids and/or white flies on the peppers inside the house. (I thought it was whiteflies but nothing ever actually flies around, just tons of crawly white ones).

I was using neem oil and pyrethrin regularly to try to control them but they got worse and worse. I ended up with oily dead bugs everywhere and the oily live ones all having a big party on my poor peppers.

Been dealing with them for the last month and finally brought all 12 plants outside Sunday and gave each plant a bath. Yes, I washed every leaf and stem and then dosed with Azamax.

So far so good. Monday morning I saw about a dozen dead ones but nothing crawling on the top or bottom sides of any of the leaves, and the same thing this morning. I will track it this week and keep you posted.

I would resist buying anything that white flies love. I don't think it is worth the time, money or aggravation. There are so many other cool plants to grow. We used to toss plants at the nursery that got white flies. Too much trouble.

whiteflies love peppers.

so do most the people who post here. after all it is a hot pepper forum.

we're not gonna stop growing peppers just because bugs like them too.

I looked up azamax, and holy crap it's expensive. I can't get a clear answer, is it something you water the plants with, or something you spray on?

It is sprayed on and the remainder (you mix up one batch and use it within 24 hours) is used as a soil drench.

I bought a spray bottle that comes with 10 vials for mixing from Amazon and it was 16 bucks, or $1.60 a bottle. The spray bottle is actually really cool, as the nozzle can be turned upwards so you can easily spray the underside of the leaves without turning the bottle upside down. the spray that comes out of the bottle is a fine mist also, so it does a good job coating the entire plant. They also sell a 4 oz concentrated bottle for $20 and someone posted this in the answer section:

"The dilution rate for folier applications is from .008 fl oz/qt for small infestations up to .5fl.oz/qt for bad infestations. So using at that rate should last a while"

This was an interesting read. The only pests that got my peppers this year were the chickens. My tomatoes, on the other hand, were covered in white flies and aphids and it was a war all summer. Here's to hoping they really don't survive below freezing! And I'm checking out and investing in the products that were mentioned.

Neem oil works great. Keeps all insects away. It's cheap and you can buy it at Walmart or any other garden store

Sprayed my peppers a while back with one dose of insecticidal soap and it seems to have made a difference. Not seeing hardy any now. I found out that they were mainly attracted to my neighbors grape plants. They totally destroyed all of the foilage on her plants. After they finished those off, they moved into my peppers, but I have not noticed any damage yet... Still producing ripe pods since we haven't gotten a freeze yet.

Thanks for all your comments.

I am overwintering 3 plants this year. Yellow Ghost, Choc Scotch Bonnet and an Orange Crunch. My wife just noticed white flies on the Orange Crunch yesterday.

There are not that many (yet) and I hope to keep it that way.

I had not pruned when I brought them in..so I took the following steps:

1. Removed all leaves where I noticed them and threw outside (5 degrees here)
2. Wiped down top and bottom of leaves with wet paper towel.
3. Sprayed top and bottom of leaves with Newmans Organic Insecticidal Soap
4. Removed Pine Bark mulch and disturbed top layer of potting mix.
5. Sprayed Soap directly on potting mix.
6. Will be purchasing Neem Oil and treating as well.

Hope it works. My wife will be pissed if we end up with white flies everywhere.

brian: Just stay diligent with the neem and you should be fine. Weekly applications for a good month or so and make sure you hit ALL surfaces of the plants.

Good luck.

Kevin

About ten years ago, I was growing a few hundred tomato and pepper plants, using half gallon pots, in a greenhouse and somehow got a white fly infestation. I let it get out of hand because I didn't know what it was. I controlled it by mixing up a five gallon bucket of dormant oil spray at the recommended concentration, then using a towel to hold the soil and roots in the pot, turned the plants upside down and gave them a thorough dunk, then repeated it again in a week, and again after another week.

It got rid of the things. For a year afterwards, I could walk through the grocery store and spot a white fly on the display pile of lemons from 20 paces, same thing in a nursery full of plants.

I guess this is similar to the neem oil treatment. Just covers the little fellas, at all stages, with a thin layer of oil which I assume suffocates them.