whitefly - how to treat

[keepleft]

hi just discovered small amount of whitefly

 

what should i use to treat them effectively? i have maverik? can i use that as a foliar spray for white fly? maybe at half strength? or is there something else more common/popular/effective

 

also do they do much damage? ive got them in 1 crop which is finishing in a week so im thinking of just leaving them be

 

ive also seen a couple flying around some other plants which are vegging so id like to treat them now before they go into flower in a couple of weeks

 

ive never had them before! dont know where the buggers came from.

 

thanks

[mull]

Hey KL, you'd be right to let them go if only a week til harvest. Bit late for sprays. Isn't maverick more targeting spider mite tho?

 

For whitefly, if you like, can try first to kill them and start clean. Also stop them getting in for the next crop. Filter intake air, only enter the room clean and have no seal leaks. Have good clean medium and watch home made worm wine. If they do get in and get to infesting numbers also try more air movement. Yellow sticky cards, or just something bright yellow with vaso smeered on it. Pyrethrum, then white oil as sprays. Neem, maybe.

Sometimes it helps if you have spare time and one of those handheld car vacuums. Tap the plant and vac em up. They suck the juice out of the plants, so you don't want an infestation especially early in flower, or yield will suffer.

 

Best of luck with it mate.

[Rhizo]

Ants are known to transport white-fly larvae to places they can't normally get to, and in reward the white-fly supply them with honey dew, which is a sweet waste product they excrete from their backs. Like Mullaway said, you don't need to worry about the flys this close to harvest. The one thing to watch perhaps is for the appearance of "sooty mold", which grows from the honey dew and easily spread. It mostly appears at first as a grey discoloration on the stems.

 

If you have problems with future grows : again like Mullaway said, use a mix of Pyrethrum and White Oil (both organic products and completely safe to use on "edible crops".) You'll have to spray with this mixture twice or thrice (or more), depending on the size of infestation, until you can no longer find live ones. Those "yellow sticky traps" are good for small spaces, but should only be considered as an indication of infestation, not a method of prevention or erradication.

 

"You can make your own by painting peices of plywood (or something) yellow and cover them in a sticky material (clear grease), anything that will not mask the yellow color. Adult Whiteflys are attracted to the yellow then stick to the traps. To be effective the traps must be cleaned and re-coated regulary."

- Extract from the book Plant Protection 1 - Pests, Diseases and Weeds

 

Perhaps next time you see a Praying Mantis OR (not both) Ladybugs ouside bring them into your garden. They eat hundreds of the suckers in their life cycle.

 

Good Luck and Happy Harvest

 

 

- Rhizo

Edited May 4, 2006 by Rhizo