Noticed your earlier post and some of the replies. Stressed plants seem to be more likely to be hit by whiteflies and other pests. Have you tried using the yellow sticky paper traps for the whiteflies? Have had some success with them and they work all season long even when your out of town.

Go shopping at a good nursery and get a product called Messenger. Give the plants a good spraying and/or drench.

RJ,

From your continual complaints about whiteflies, your infestation must be out of control. If it's as advanced as your complaints seem to make it, your infestation is beyond your plants ability to outgrow it without some help from insecticides.

Insecticidal control can be difficult with whiteflies because they're resistant to some of the synthetic insecticides recommended for other garden pests. Always read and follow label directions when using insecticides.

And find out whether the insecticide you're going to use is effective against the target pest. Before using a product for whiteflies, make sure it's really whiteflies that are infesting your tomato plants.

If it is whiteflies, you could try horticultural oils which work by smothering the white fly effectively at all stages of this pest. Insecticidal soap or neem oil can be used to spot treat areas heavily infested by white flies. It worked for me earlier this summer.

When applying the insecticidal soap or neem oil, make sure you cover the infested areas. The immature stages of white fly are easily overlooked because they are usually pale, nearly translucent and tend to blend with the color of the leaves to which they are attached. The first instar nymphs, which resemble small mealybugs, only move a short distance from the egg before flattening themselves against the leaf to feed. The remaining nymphal (developmental) stages do not move and may appear similar to other scale insects.

You want to smother as many of the nymphs as you can with your insecticidal soap or neem application. You probably can't get them all, but you should inspect the leaves of your tomatoes and adjacent plants for the eggs and nymphs. Get'm before they hatch into adult whiteflies which live for one to two months and are just plain bothersome.

Also,

Simly cut out the worst of the plants. Thinning them out will help a lot. Mother Nature is telling you that you've got too much. Listen to her and clear out the sickly or denuded plants.

"From your continual complaints about whiteflies"

Hoosier,Prior to this discovery, I had only one big plant that got whitefly and I was trying to figure out what I needed to do to get rid of it....none of the other plants had it before.

I will go find some messenger. At this point, I can see some (fortunately only minimal) damage to leaves on the plants. (again except for the one that got hit worst earlier). I will get those areas clipped today....previously I sprayed the one plant and really thought it was under control(I kept checking for over a week or so, shaking the plant and saw nothing fly off of it)....but now I suppose that I probably didn't spray frequently enough?

"Mother Nature is telling you that you've got too much"

Trudi, I'm not 100% sure what that means...to many plants? too many leaves on the plants? they are not close together, one or two ARE closer to a shrub than the rest...I'll still do some thinning and see if that helps.

thanks for the advice all.

Too many plants too close together I think is a problem. When plants are stressed by competing for nutrients, moisture and light it weakens them. Weak plants are an invitation to pests and disease.

With less plants they get more attention divided among them. It's easier for you to spot problems ad abate them before it becomes serious.

T

Next season order some green lacewings. Release date should start a week or so before the whiteflies arrive on your plants. Don't spray anything. Say goodbye to your whiteflies. If you have mites, aphids or other sucking insects present, say goodbye to them also. On second thought, no need for goodbyes. You won't miss them.

Green lacewings have worked for this organic gardener for many years.

will they stay put once released? and how /where do you order them? is that something that you have to mail order or do you think I could find them locally? I"m all for that idea. do you have a retailer that you would recommend?

Yes they stay put. They arrive as tiny eggs. Some may have already hatched enroute to your home and they will look like tiny specs that move. These specs grow into larve. It's the larva that eat the soft bodied pests like crazy. They eat more than even ladybeetles. Then they become adults flying around seeking nectar and breeding and then another new generation. I have flowers here as well as veggies and that keeps the adults around.

Apply the eggs to wet foliage. They hatch and soon start eating. Watching a larva eating an aphid or whitefly is a thing of beauty.

I get mine from 'Garden's Alive'. Do a google. There are many other mail order places as well. You may even be able to find them locally. I use the 50% off coupon that comes with the GA catalog and am quite happy with GA.

Whitefly needs an alternate host to reproduce. Somewhere in your yard or within close proximity lurks an alternate host plant, which when removed, should solve your problem. Do a search for "whitefly + alternate hosts" for a list of suspect plants. Variegated privet is one common host found in southern landscapes. There are many others as you will discover.