Can anyone help with whitefly eradication?

I have asked in the past, and was given a tip to soak nettles in a bucket
and spray with the liquid, but this has not worked.

I can use Provado on the flower plants, but not tomato plants etc. in the
greenhouse.

It is getting a bit desperate.
Ann

In article ,
"Instep" writes:
| Can anyone help with whitefly eradication?
|
| I have asked in the past, and was given a tip to soak nettles in a bucket
| and spray with the liquid, but this has not worked.
|
| I can use Provado on the flower plants, but not tomato plants etc. in the
| greenhouse.
|
| It is getting a bit desperate.

If you stop using toxic chemicals, and spray with soft soap or
washing up liquid and methylated spirits only, you will be able
to introduce Encarsia formosa in a couple of months. It keeps
whitefly under control very well.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 31/1/05 16:41, in article , "Nick
Maclaren" wrote:


In article ,
"Instep" writes:
| Can anyone help with whitefly eradication?
|
| I have asked in the past, and was given a tip to soak nettles in a bucket
| and spray with the liquid, but this has not worked.
|
| I can use Provado on the flower plants, but not tomato plants etc. in the
| greenhouse.
|
| It is getting a bit desperate.

If you stop using toxic chemicals, and spray with soft soap or
washing up liquid and methylated spirits only, you will be able
to introduce Encarsia formosa in a couple of months. It keeps
whitefly under control very well.

I must agree with Nick wholeheartedly. We use biological controls here and
my husband's family used to grow toms, lettuce and cucumbers commercially in
his youth, during which time he was one of the pioneers in its use. While
we do get the occasional infestation of whitefly, the Encarsia deals with it
well and quickly. But it is terribly important not to use any chemicals of
any sort before introducing it or while using it, or you will kill the
predators. There are several sites on the internet which sell biological
controls to the amateur gardener and I hope very much that you'll start
using it soon and keep it going until it works and continues to work.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)

On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 16:38:16 GMT, "Instep"
wrote:

Can anyone help with whitefly eradication?

I have asked in the past, and was given a tip to soak nettles in a bucket
and spray with the liquid, but this has not worked.

I can use Provado on the flower plants, but not tomato plants etc. in the
greenhouse.

It is getting a bit desperate.
Ann

Thorough winter cleaning/weeding and then introduce parasites
(Encarsia formosa)as soon as there's any scales to parasitise. The
bio-control suppliers will advise on times and numbers to introduce.

=================================================

Rod

Weed my email address to reply.
http://website.lineone.net/~rodcraddock/index.html

Nick Maclaren wrote in message
...

In article ,
"Instep" writes:
| Can anyone help with whitefly eradication?
|
| I have asked in the past, and was given a tip to soak nettles in a
bucket
| and spray with the liquid, but this has not worked.
|
| I can use Provado on the flower plants, but not tomato plants etc. in
the
| greenhouse.
|
| It is getting a bit desperate.

If you stop using toxic chemicals, and spray with soft soap or
washing up liquid and methylated spirits only, you will be able
to introduce Encarsia formosa in a couple of months. It keeps
whitefly under control very well.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Ceasing the use of chemical toxins also includes not smoking in this area!
Perhaps you do not, but I have a neighbour who used to smoke in his lean-to
greenhouse and wondered why he got no help from the spiders. Spiders
produce very good sticky traps for insect catchment.

Gardeners who have electricity wired in to their GH have found that, by
disturbing the whitefly so that they are in the air, they can be sucked up
by a vacuum cleaner. Bob Flowerdew is a keen advocate of this method. It
might be something to try until you can introduce Encarsia.

Spider

I use to make home made whitefly traps, then I started making them for
my family and friends. Before long I started making a small living at
it. You might want to take a look at my site and see if it gives you
any idears or help with controlling your insect problems.
I only have a few products that I sell like the Stick-a-Round and
Ribbon Tape. I also have some pages that may help a little bit on which
insects in your garden or being a bother to you.
I hope some of this information helps.
www.lmdco.com

Whitefly should be very easy to control so ling as they are not the species that transmit plant viruses. In the UK, the Glasshouse Whitefly (Trialeurodes vaporariorum) is the main pest and does not have any damaging viruses associated with it. Across the channel in southern Europe though, the Tobacco whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) is causing horrendous problems within many of the crops that produce fruit and veg for our supermarkets because they are transmitting damaging viruses (particularly in tomato and cucumber). Inevitably growers are using all sorts of chemicals to try and control them!!! Parasitic wasps, such as encarsia formosa can indeed help by reducing the larval levels, but they are no where near as effective as a keen eyed gardener who removes the lower infested leaves and destroys (burns) them. Why spend money and time releasing little wasps, when less time can be involved in de-leafing the older leaves (where the larvae are found). Whitefly larvae cannot move from where they are developing once they have passed the first instar stage, then spend up to a month stuck on the leaf as the plant grows. New whitefly emerge from these larvae, fly to the new growth on the plant, lay eggs, then the cycle continues.

On 1/31/05 8:38 AM, in article ,
"Instep" wrote:

Can anyone help with whitefly eradication?

I have asked in the past, and was given a tip to soak nettles in a bucket
and spray with the liquid, but this has not worked.

I can use Provado on the flower plants, but not tomato plants etc. in the
greenhouse.

It is getting a bit desperate.
Ann


In general unwanted 'bugs' feed the predators...Should you have a hundred of
the White Fly (unwanted bug) you may only have 1 predator, Encarsia
Formosa-the parasitic wasp. Using chemicals (Provado) to kill the White Fly
will surely kill the one and only predator you may have and often, because
of their higher numbers, some of the White Fly will survive and you will
still have the problem.
Encarsia Formosa is a parasitic wasp that feeds on the White Fly. This
parasitic wasp is no giant! It is 0.6 mm long. It will lay an egg in the
larvae of the White Fly and another parasitic wasp will emerge victorious.
It will then go on to lay other eggs. It does take time but it will work in
the long run. But remember should there be no white fly there will be no
food for Encarsia Formosa. It goes in cycles...so, flipping our thinking a
little here, the White Fly is good because it feeds our friend, the Encarsia
Formosa-a dandy little parasitic wasp.
So now what do you do? You rely on the natural balance of nature...a few
White Fly and a few parasitic wasps....you remove the lower leaves (as
suggested in this thread), you use sticky traps (as suggested in this
thread) and you allow the parasitic wasp to do it's job.
I do have a question: Will those sticky traps trap our friend, the parasitic
wasp?
As usual there is no simple solution....but I think I would be patient and
leave it to nature first. She has had more experience.
Gary

In article , Gary
writes
On 1/31/05 8:38 AM, in article ,
"Instep" wrote:

Can anyone help with whitefly eradication?

I have asked in the past, and was given a tip to soak nettles in a bucket
and spray with the liquid, but this has not worked.

I can use Provado on the flower plants, but not tomato plants etc. in the
greenhouse.

It is getting a bit desperate.
Ann


In general unwanted 'bugs' feed the predators...Should you have a hundred of
the White Fly (unwanted bug) you may only have 1 predator, Encarsia
Formosa-the parasitic wasp.
snip
As usual there is no simple solution....but I think I would be patient and
leave it to nature first. She has had more experience.

Except that Ann won't have any Encarsia unless she has added them
herself. Remember this is a UK ng!
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

In article , Kay
writes
Remember this is a UK ng!

Encarsia are available from UK gardening suppliers.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

Iknow this is a UK site. I live in tropical Jamaica, but am having a problem with white flies stuck all over my mint plants (on my balcony) and now some on an indoor palm. Grateful for any helpful info on what to use. I notice that the mint planted in store-bought potting soil that is very peaty in texture, has the worst case of white flies.