Things seem to be improving with my whitefly problem on my veggies and other plants. So, there is hope that you can get things under control. Do not give up!
I have been going out just about every other day and spraying with my Dawn dishwashing liquid solution. This should be done early in the morning, just before the sun gets too high in the sky. The whiteflies are also kind of lethargic and you can get a few more of them.
It is depressing to see that there are still quite a few of these critters, but the population has diminished. Leaf damage by these sucking insects is still around and I am cutting those leaves off and throwing them into the green waste recycling bin to get them out of here.
One of my San Marzano tomatoes is looking weak and I am fearful it may not make it, but it does seem to be hanging on. I shake each plant and some insects come flying out. Most do not head for the yellow sticky traps. They just head for another plant to try to hide out. Others, still lethargic from overnight cooling, are grouped on the underside of leaves and can be hit hard with the Dawn solution. This was the particular case with the underside of my zucchini leaves which are huge right now. Each leaf is more than a foot across - and a great hiding place for this awful pest.
I want to address some of the remedies I found on the internet that I mentioned in Part 3.
The sticky traps work, but only very minimally, in my opinion. The traps have got to be virtually next to the plant and you have to do some shaking of the plant to get those whiteflies to take flight. Do not expect these traps to solve your problem. Oh, another thing, those traps catch a lot of other bugs and I have seen a ladybug or two stuck to them. Ouch! I have seen what I believe to be a lacewing too, a common predator of the whitefly. Double Ouch!!! Now, we are repeatedly told to do everything we can to introduce or attract predators of various pests. And I have read that the plants themselves are sending out distress calls in some way to attract predators. But for me, it is probably too late to take steps to get a large amount of ladybugs and lacewings into the garden to eat my swarms of whiteflies. One or two of these beneficial insects is not going to help either, even more so if those have taken a wrong turn onto a sticky trap. I am not feeling too guilty for the traps because I have not seen one live ladybug or lacewing on the tomatoes or my squash eating whiteflies. Ladybugs are notorious for not staying in your garden anyway when you try to introduce them yourself. Finally, there is no way I am going to wait for a plant SOS to get out into nature when you consider the reproduction rate of whiteflies. According to the Ventura County, CA Master Gardener website, “whiteflies may mature from the egg stage to an adult (ready to lay more eggs) in as few as 16 days.”
Another thing that bothered me about the solutions to this problem is that it is recommended that you put in plants that have a strong scent. I have spearmint in a pot near two of my tomatoes and that has not helped at all. In fact, I have found whiteflies flying off some of my herbs. The scented plant deterrent is a bust. Another solution is to have nasturtiums and marigolds scattered around your garden. I have both and this obviously did not work for me either. When I shook those plants, the swarms of whiteflies that flew out was just incredible.
The bottom line for me is that you have to take a direct approach yourself using a commercial insecticidal soap or use your own homemade version.
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