Whiteflys

[beeper]

How can I stop the whiteflys from taking over my greenhouse??? I started over, got rid of all the tomatoes, and cleaned everything up, started some zucchini, and now they are back...grrrrrr

 

[catjac1975]

I had a terrible time with whitefly in the past. I am careful in what I bring in to over winter in the greenhouse.My greenhouse can get very hot in the summer without ventilation so I am sure to allow this for a couple of days figuring it will kill any leftover pests and eggs.You need to empty it and start over if that is not too much trouble.I am organic so it is hard to kill. Keeping plants well watered keeps them healthy. Neem oil helps to knock them back once they are present. But it is only fair.
My problem in the last few years has been with fungus gnats which became worse than the whitefly. I think what I use may also work for the whitefly. There are organic gnat products, but the last few years they have failed to work. I found this product, which is organic and it kills the gnats on contact. The gnats do not kill the plants but their larvae eat the young roots. I had alway concentrated on killing the larvae. Now I spray the flying gnats as soon as I see them. No flies means they are not laying the eggs for the larvae. They congregate on the windows when it is sunny so after a few days of spraying them they were gone. I altered the breeding cycle. This stuff kills ants too. Hope it helps.
There are $25.00 coupons available online.
http://www.gardensalive.com/house-guardian-insect-spray/p/3155/

 

[so lucky]

Commercial greenhouses sometimes use yellow sticky paper. It comes in sheets that are about 5x7, and you hang them up near the plants. when the white flies are disturbed, they fly up and get stuck to the paper. It is really sticky, and the flies are attracted to the color yellow, supposedly.
I once had white flies on a big hibiscus. They would come back year after year, no matter what I did. I finally dug it up and gave it away, when it was dormant. I guess the soil around the base fell off in the move. The new owner doesn't have white flies on it.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

I had a "whitefly magnet" . Some years ago, I used to have a tree/clove basil (Ocinum granitssimum) Unlike most basils, clove basil is fully perennial; flowering doesn't kill it. As long as it doesn't freeze it keeps going forever getting bigger and woodier (it's actually a woodier basil than holy basil and people make beads out of the stems of that. )
Each winter, I would bring it in to keep it from freezing. And every year, it would get an immovable whitefly infestation. Literally NOTHING I did would dislodge them. Every winter the plant would sit there, losing leaves as fast as it could make them with the whitefly webbing the whole thing (and infecting all the other inside plants as well) By the spring, when it could go out, it was on deaths door. But the moment it left the house all the whiteflies left and it would perk up again. Problem was, it needed so long to recover from the winters onslaught that eventually it wound up in a sort of stasis; growing back just enough over the summer to make it through the next winter, barely, plus flowering, but putting on no new growth (and therefore, nothing I could actually harvest and eat in good conscience). I finally gave up and let the thing freeze outside, to save the other plants (it didn't hurt that I also finally tasted a leaf and found I didn't like the taste of clove basil much)

 

[catjac1975]

The problem with the sticky tape is that it is expensive for the tiny bit of the stuff that you get. I have found that house fly tape works even better and is very cheap.

 

[Smart Red]

Or you can make your own with TANGLE-FOOT or even Petroleum Jelly. I use the jelly over yellow plastic so it is re-usable.

 

[beeper]

Thanks for the help. I did start over which was really sad. I had many huge tomatoes, thats what caused the problem in the first place. But now they are back, will try the sticky tape.

 

[baymule]

Commercial greenhouses sometimes use yellow sticky paper. It comes in sheets that are about 5x7, and you hang them up near the plants. when the white flies are disturbed, they fly up and get stuck to the paper. It is really sticky, and the flies are attracted to the color yellow, supposedly.
I once had white flies on a big hibiscus. They would come back year after year, no matter what I did. I finally dug it up and gave it away, when it was dormant. I guess the soil around the base fell off in the move. The new owner doesn't have white flies on it.

Murphy's Law strikes again.....

 

[baymule]

Would insecticidal soap or spinosad work? Haven't had whiteflies, so I personally don't know if they would work or not.