Our Sunday paper's gardening page had a bit about home-brew sticky
traps. Yellow material is key -- use bright yellow posterboard or
plastic from margarine tubs or, I guess, anything else bright yellow
(don't use plastic antifreeze containers, as the smell is attractive
and toxic to pets). Then paint with petroleum jelly or 90-weight gear
oil. Sounded like a good tip to me.

"Frogleg" wrote in message
...
Our Sunday paper's gardening page had a bit about home-brew sticky
traps. Yellow material is key -- use bright yellow posterboard or
plastic from margarine tubs or, I guess, anything else bright yellow
(don't use plastic antifreeze containers, as the smell is attractive
and toxic to pets). Then paint with petroleum jelly or 90-weight gear
oil. Sounded like a good tip to me

It's the whitefly larva that damages the plants, not the winged adults.
Trapping the winged adults can help with population control but doesn't
get rid of the larva that is already on the plants under the leaves.
Nice site at
http://www.uckac.edu/whitefly/faqs_about_whiteflies.htm

Olin

"Frogleg" wrote in message
...
Our Sunday paper's gardening page had a bit about home-brew sticky
traps. Yellow material is key -- use bright yellow posterboard or
plastic from margarine tubs or, I guess, anything else bright yellow
(don't use plastic antifreeze containers, as the smell is attractive
and toxic to pets). Then paint with petroleum jelly or 90-weight gear
oil. Sounded like a good tip to me.

I tried the yellow posterboard/plastic cup coated with petroleum jelly
advice when I had a horrible infestation of white flies on my tomatoes. It
works to a certain extent, but white flies multiply so rapidly that it never
makes much of a dent in their population, but there is a certain
satisfaction in seeing a sheet covered with dead white flies.

Last fall I decided to root and save some named lantana varieties I
purchased, but unfortunately white flies like lantanas as well as tomatoes.
I was about to throw them out when a friend gave me an eco-friendly formula
for a white fly spray that is easy to make and really works.

The original formula called for the following:

1 quart of water
1 cup of isopropyl rubbing alcohol
1/2 tsp. of dormant oil or insecticidal soap

I used the dormant oil/ 91 % isopropyl alcohol on half the lantanas and the
white flies were gone after two sprayings a week apart. There was one
unfortunate effect, however; it left white, burned spots on the leaves as
well as curling some of the younger leaves. On the other half I used the
alcohol/insecticidal soap combination. This wasn't totally effective. There
was still an occasional white fly appearing a month later, and some of the
leaves were also burned.

After a little experimentation I came up with the following refinements:

Use 70% isopropyl alcohol instead of 91%.
Use Ultra-Fine Year-Round pesticidal sun oil instead of dormant oil and
increase to 3/4 tsp.
Forget about using insecticidal soap.
And finally, cut the formula in half so that it will conveniently fit into a
hand held spray bottle.

I've used this formula on lantanas, tomatoes, Gerbera daisies, potatoes, and
peppers, and it kills the white flies with no ill effects on these plants.

Some additional thoughts: Don't spray during the day when temperatures are
above 80, wait until evening when temperatures are cooler. Spray the under
side of the leaf where white flies make their home. Don't spray a whole
group of plants before spraying a single plant and waiting for a few days to
check for any ill effects on that single plant.

John