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whiteflies #!"&+%@&!

Mark Furtak SoCal high desert z11

last month

The whiteflies this year are particularly stubborn. Homemade insecticidal soap (Dr Bronners) and neem oil don't have much of an effect on them. The nuclear option (malathion) for the ornamentals hasn't cleared them out either

Featured Answer

chloebud

last month

Mark, we've had a problem in the past with white flies on our ficus. We used the worm castings and this "Eight" spray from the nursery. They are persistent but the combination seemed to work for us. Interesting they only seemed to attack the ficus and nothing else.

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Comments (11)

socks
last month
last modified: last month
Are they in your annuals?

I had them once on marigolds. I just ripped out the plants.
Mark Furtak SoCal high desert z11 thanked socks
Mark Furtak SoCal high desert z11
Original Author
last month
They're pretty much on everything. Beans, morning glorys, marigolds, verbena, calistephus, melons, squash
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whiteflies--what really works??
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Comments (13)
Marathon granules. It will kill the whiteflies, but you won't be able to eat your produce. That doesn't sound like much of an issue now anyway with the shape they're in! Get all the tomatoes and peppers etc out and use marathon on all the ornamentals. Start some new transplants of peppers and tomatoes and use the granules on them (it's approved for small transplant starting, just not final container growing). It's like $89.99 for a 5 lb gallon jug on ebay and it's going to last you forever if you use it according to directions. Store it in a basement or cool climate controlled place. Once you have your greenhouse clean of them and it's cold outside, you won't have the problem. This time of year, even if you get your greenhouse clean of them, they'll be back from outside until a hard frost. Also the black stuff is called sooty mold and it's caused by the sap of your plants that the whiteflies and aphids secrete. Not the insecticidal soap. After the problem is under control, you can wash it off the leaves and it won't come back. It's a symptom, not a cause. If you get a fogger and fog insecticidal soap at night with the greenhouse closed up so that they can't escape, that will work too. Or use a total release spray like attain or x-clude, they are total release (fogger type) spray that you use when the greenhouse is all closed up. Then no animals etc are in there that you want when you spray it, not even you! I was asking the same questions about whiteflies and aphids five years ago, so don't feel bad!
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Does anyone have any experience with ‘Safer's Insecticidal Soap’ and whiteflies? I’d like to know if it can kill them quickly and effectively. Thanks!
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How can I keep whitefly off my plants?
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FWIW: probably not an immediate solution to your problem, but this works quite well for me. "the basic premise of my pest control program is: "everybody"s somebody"s lunch. I've got a variety of native plants throughout the yard (attracts birds) and I don't spray (allows beneficial insects to thrive). The ladybugs, lizards, birds and spiders have been reliable pest control, even during the whitefly infestation of a few years ago. I did have a mess develop on the bottom side of the banana leaves, which I sprayed twice with diluted insecticidal soap. Best luck.
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Whiteflies Again! Boo- Suggestions Please.
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Unfortunately, the whiteflies have already returned to my garden this year. So far only on Julia Childs. Guess they have no problem with -4degree temperatures. Last fall they arrived in mass, like a cloud, working to destroy everything. It has been years and years since I have had a problem with them, so I wondered if I have planted a host plant that drew them to my garden. I avoid citrus and Ficus and the only new plant varieties I introduced last year were heliotrope and clematis. . I have been researching solutions today. Last year I resorted to Dominion 2L as a soil drench and it works but supposedly kills the earth worms, not sure about beneficial micros. I read that it did NOT harm beneficials like lady bugs, wasp, bees. A post about contaminating nectar from the SUS 209 discussion concerns me. My Dominion read did not indict that, however I nurture my soil, so it is concerning, and I hate to resort to that again. Most other products are just not effective on large infestations of whiteflies. I find the recommendation for water wash off, sticky strips and Neem oil amusing at best. Whiteflies reproduce so fast; it feels impossible to keep up. This new product SN 209 sounded encouraging and it says it works for whitefly but when I called the company, they said using a soil drench and a foliar spray would be best. Both done every 2 weeks. I wonder? I sure would like an easier solution. Toting heavy water cans is hard on my back these days - every 2 wks. may be a no-go for me. Anyone with thoughts on this???
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Fori
last month
I have giant whiteflies. I do believe they are unstoppable.
Mark Furtak SoCal high desert z11 thanked Fori
Mark Furtak SoCal high desert z11
Original Author
last month
They are definitely persistent. I will continue to apply the soap/neem on the food crops and chemicals on the ornamentals
Mark Furtak SoCal high desert z11
Original Author
last month
I'm going to try the worm casting mulch as per some posts from last year. Found one on Amazon 30# for $32 which is way cheaper than most others. If it works it will be money well spent

BTW the whiteflies have been joined by leafhoppers
Mark Furtak SoCal high desert z11
Original Author
last month
I applied the worm castings yesterday and today I can't find a whitely anywhere. Nothing short of a miracle. I was spending hours spraying (underside of leaves is the hard part) before. Thanks chloebud!!
party_music50
last month
Wow, I’ve never heard/read this about worm castings! Must remember this because two years ago I had problems with whiteflies on my potted lantana and Invincible hosta. I tried sticky traps for the hosta, and ultimately chopped down my lantanas to get it under control. Turns out that the lantana loved being chopped back. lol!
chloebud
last month
Mark, I'm glad it helped! It took a little longer to work for us, so keep checking to be sure.

party_music, we had no idea either until the nursery suggested the worm castings.
Babka NorCal 9b
last month
I posted this last year. You've tried everything else, why not give cafeine a try?

Bob Tanem in Northern CA (Sunday morning KSFO radio show) has for years said that he uses old coffee grounds after you make your morning coffee.

-Babka

https://www.bobtanem.com/recipes-for-pests-and-diseases

Solution #2: This is my favorite organic solution: Place 2 lbs of old coffee grounds in one gallon of water. Bring to a boil, cool and run through a coffee filter. Spray on infested plants.
Mark Furtak SoCal high desert z11
Original Author
last month
Thanks Babka I will try the coffee grounds. If I have to spray maybe it will be something that actually works because they're back. It sounds like you're kind of brewing the coffee again because it's too strong otherwise. I've seen mention of the sticky cards also so I'll try that too

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