I now have recently discovered 'clouds' of small white flying natty insects that fly when I disturb the leaves of my bonsai. It seems that they are found on the underside of the leaves of the trees with new leaves and seem to avoid conifers. I don't see an
y feeding damage yet, but they are bound to be eatig something and I want to get rid of them the simplest ans safest way . Is Safer soap the safest product to use against these 'bugs'? And what are these nasty little critters?

Randi Sharp

Richmond




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In a message dated 5/8/2003 7:09:37 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
writes:

I now have recently discovered 'clouds' of small white flying natty insects
that fly when I disturb the leaves of my bonsai. It seems that they are
found on the underside of the leaves of the trees with new leaves and seem
to avoid conifers. I don't see any feeding damage yet, but they are bound
to be eating something and I want to get rid of them the simplest and
safest way. Is Safer soap the safest product to use against these 'bugs'?
And what are these nasty little critters?

Sounds like "White Fly." They can be a major pest, but flies don't do any
damage, however the larva do. They breed on the underside of leaves. Safer
soap will help but you must spray under the leaves. Follow label directions
for white flies.
Billy on the Florida Space Coast

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In a message dated 5/8/2003 7:09:37 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
writes:

I now have recently discovered 'clouds' of small white flying
natty insects
that fly when I disturb the leaves of my bonsai. It seems
that they are
found on the underside of the leaves of the trees with new
leaves and seem
to avoid conifers. I don't see any feeding damage yet, but
they are bound
to be eating something and I want to get rid of them the
simplest and
safest way. Is Safer soap the safest product to use against
these 'bugs'?
And what are these nasty little critters?

Sounds like "White Fly." They can be a major pest, but flies
don't do any
damage, however the larva do. They breed on the underside of
leaves. Safer
soap will help but you must spray under the leaves. Follow
label directions
for white flies.



I agree with the diagnosis, but do not agree with the
harmlessness of the adults. Both adults and young are sucking
insects.

But, while "clouds" sounds like a serious infestation, generally
they're just pestiferous and won't really damage your trees. If
you are deluged with them, however, a soap spray or a summer oil
spray will work fine. So will a spray that contains pyrethrums,
or a hard jet of water, for that matter. Once the insects
appear, you will have to repeat about weekly throughout the
summer. Elimination isn't possible. BEST control is via yellow
sticky traps, available almost everywhere garden products are
sold. There are insect predators (green lacewings) and
parasites, but your infestation need to be truly severe for these
to do any good. If they don't have a massive food supply, these
will go elsewhere.

The major problem from whiteflies often is caused by the honeydew
they excrete. It causes "sooty mold" and attracts ants. Some
adult whiteflies may transmit plant viruses.

I just read (Sunset's "Garden Pests and Diseases") that they seem
to thrive around plants that are fed with high nitrogen
fertilizers, so low-B fertilizers may be an obvious means of
preventing serious infestations. Also avoid plants that are
especially whitefly prone -- privet (Ligustrum), roses (Rosa),
and Gardenia.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Our life is
frittered away by detail . . . . Simplify! Simplify. -- Henry
David Thoreau - Walden

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Thanks for the diagnoses. Maybe 'clouds' was a little too strong, and I’m sure I was very frustrated having just come in from dealing with these bugs when I sent the email. ;-) but there are more than a few. Enough that they are bothersome. Sounds like in
order to really reduce the population I need to do some pruning so that I can more easily spray the underside of the leaves. These bugs are more prevalent around the Crabapple and Maples than the Ginko and the Boxwoods and Elms. I had a mild infestation
last year but I don’t recall seeing them until much later into the summer season. Thanks for the advice

Thanks again –


Randi


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