"FarmI" ask@itshall be given wrote in message
...
"Marie Dodge" wrote in message
"Pat Kiewicz" wrote in message

Tilling too much or too little has no effect on insect pests. The recent
soil test showed plenty of organic matter. OM isn't the problem.
Resistant insects and spiders are. Pests are becoming resistant to
everything we're throwing at them.

So what are your natural predator numbers like?

Tell me what preys on spider mites and silverleaf whitefly and I'll tell
you.

Do you have lots of tiny birds in the garden?

No "tiny" birds but the hummingbirds in the flower beds. We have the normal
size birds, plenty of them, and they do peck at the ripe fruit. The pears
and ripening tomatoes suffer the most bird damage.

I get WF each spring but
within a week there is not a sign of them because all the tiny birds feast
on them.

What tiny birds feast on them? Give me the names of the birds. Google them
so I know what they are. Also, how do they pick them off the underside of
the leaves without hovering in the air? Only hummers hover and they don't
eat whitefly. They're nectar eaters. I know of no birds in TN that eat
whitefly.