....in my front garden, literally hundreds of them...is there any point in
trying to introduce them to my whitefly in the greenhouse?
Will LB's live in a greenhouse? and more to the point, will they eat
whitefly?...I've lost half a dozen fuchsia cuttings and a few chilli plants
inside a week to whitefly, maybe the cuttings can go outside but the chillis
definately can't, marigolds haven't heleped neither, maybe they need to be
in bloom?

--
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we.
They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country
and our people, and neither do we."
- George W. Bush, 5.8.2004

In article , Phil L
writes
...in my front garden, literally hundreds of them...is there any point in
trying to introduce them to my whitefly in the greenhouse?

I don't know that they eat whitefly, but no harm in trying.

Will LB's live in a greenhouse?

In theory they will. Suppliers of biological controls will sell you
ladybird larvae. Keep the windows shut until they've laid eggs else
they'll just fly away if they don't like it.

and more to the point, will they eat
whitefly?...I've lost half a dozen fuchsia cuttings and a few chilli plants
inside a week to whitefly,

Really? I get heavy infestations, but they seem to do less damage than,
say, red spider or even aphids.

Are you sure you don't have a red spider infestation as well as the
whitefly?

have you tried the yellow sticky fly papers? And butterwort
(insectivorous plant) seem to like them.

maybe the cuttings can go outside but the chillis
definately can't, marigolds haven't heleped neither, maybe they need to be
in bloom?


--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

Kay wrote:
:: In article , Phil
:: L writes
::: ...in my front garden, literally hundreds of them...is there any
::: point in trying to introduce them to my whitefly in the
::: greenhouse?
::
:: I don't know that they eat whitefly, but no harm in trying.
::
::: Will LB's live in a greenhouse?
::
:: In theory they will. Suppliers of biological controls will sell you
:: ladybird larvae. Keep the windows shut until they've laid eggs else
:: they'll just fly away if they don't like it.
::
I've put one onto an infested plant to try, it didn't seem too interested
though...


::: and more to the point, will they eat
::: whitefly?...I've lost half a dozen fuchsia cuttings and a few
::: chilli plants inside a week to whitefly,
::
:: Really? I get heavy infestations, but they seem to do less damage
:: than, say, red spider or even aphids.
::
Upon closer inspection, they may be greenfly or aphids (I'm not too well up
on insect identification)
What brought my attention to them in the first place was hundreds of what I
thought were dead ones on the compost underneath the infected leaves....I
think these may be egg casings or similar but the actual insects themselves
don't look white, they have a green tinge to them.


:: Are you sure you don't have a red spider infestation as well as the
:: whitefly?
::

no red spiders, there are one or two minute spiders who have built webs
amongst the plantpots, but I'm leaving these in as they are catching the
flies as they fall off the plant.

:: have you tried the yellow sticky fly papers? And butterwort
:: (insectivorous plant) seem to like them.
::

I've not tried anything apart from marigolds...where do you get that yellow
sticky stuff from? - what's it called?


--
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we.
They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country
and our people, and neither do we."
- George W. Bush, 5.8.2004

Phil L wrote:
[...]
Upon closer inspection, they may be greenfly or aphids (I'm not too
well up on insect identification)
What brought my attention to them in the first place was hundreds
of
what I thought were dead ones on the compost underneath the
infected
leaves....I think these may be egg casings or similar but the
actual
insects themselves don't look white, they have a green tinge to
them.

[...]
have you tried the yellow sticky fly papers? And butterwort
(insectivorous plant) seem to like them.


I've not tried anything apart from marigolds...where do you get
that
yellow sticky stuff from? - what's it called?

Any decent garden centre should have them. Whitefly are now pretty
well pesticide-resistant (let that be a lesson to us!); but they love
yellow things. I've read that you can make your own by rolling tubes
of yellow paper or card, and winding sellotape, sticky side out,
round them.

Once you've identified whitefly there's no chance of mistake. They're
tiny little things looking exactly like doll's house moths, and --
surprise -- they're white. Greenfly are definitely green, and far
from elegantly moth-shaped: they have big bellies. You'll get more
whitefly on plants on the windowsill than greenfly, which generally
prefer the great outdoors. (But a friend claimed to have got greenfly
in his beer in an entertainingly low pub in Reading called The Jack
of Both Sides by sitting under a big roof light in which the landlord
grew his tomatoes. You don't have to believe it.)

--
Mike.

In article , Phil L
writes
Kay wrote:
:: In article , Phil
:: L writes
::: ...in my front garden, literally hundreds of them...is there any
::: point in trying to introduce them to my whitefly in the
::: greenhouse?
::
:: I don't know that they eat whitefly, but no harm in trying.
::
::: Will LB's live in a greenhouse?
::
:: In theory they will. Suppliers of biological controls will sell you
:: ladybird larvae. Keep the windows shut until they've laid eggs else
:: they'll just fly away if they don't like it.
::
I've put one onto an infested plant to try, it didn't seem too interested
though...

It's mainly the larvae that eat aphids, so I wouldn't expect an adult to
eat whitefly.

::: and more to the point, will they eat
::: whitefly?...I've lost half a dozen fuchsia cuttings and a few
::: chilli plants inside a week to whitefly,
::
:: Really? I get heavy infestations, but they seem to do less damage
:: than, say, red spider or even aphids.
::
Upon closer inspection, they may be greenfly or aphids (I'm not too well up
on insect identification)

Greenfly/aphids - round, green or pale brown, typically all round the
newest stems and the freshest buds. Dehydrate the plant and can kill
very easily. Will drop to the ground if you disturb them enough.

Whitefly - little white triangles on the underneath of the leaf. Fly up
in clouds if disturbed.


What brought my attention to them in the first place was hundreds of what I
thought were dead ones on the compost underneath the infected leaves....I
think these may be egg casings or similar but the actual insects themselves
don't look white, they have a green tinge to them.

Aphids.
They definitely are the food of ladybird larvae.

meanwhile, try running finger and thumb up the tips of the plant where
they're thickest - that will get rid of a lot. Then tap the tips of the
plant sharply over your open palm, a lot more will fall off, and you can
then just rub your hands together. They're about 99 per cent water so
it's nowhere near as messy as it sounds.


:: Are you sure you don't have a red spider infestation as well as the
:: whitefly?
::

no red spiders, there are one or two minute spiders who have built webs
amongst the plantpots, but I'm leaving these in as they are catching the
flies as they fall off the plant.

Sensible.

red spider is the colloquial name for red spider mite. Little brownish
things almost too small to see. You notice first a mottling of the
leaves as if scattered with pepper, and what looks like white dust
underneath the leaf. Later you will see their webs, quite fine and
dense, around the growing tips - not like spider webs which are coraser
and singly across bigger gaps between stems.

:: have you tried the yellow sticky fly papers? And butterwort
:: (insectivorous plant) seem to like them.
::

I've not tried anything apart from marigolds...where do you get that yellow
sticky stuff from? - what's it called?

No idea! You can get boxes of them from garden centres. But since you
seem to have aphids rather than whitefly, no need to worry.



--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

In article , Mike Lyle mike_lyle_uk@REM
OVETHISyahoo.co.uk writes

Once you've identified whitefly there's no chance of mistake. They're
tiny little things looking exactly like doll's house moths, and --
surprise -- they're white. Greenfly are definitely green, and far
from elegantly moth-shaped: they have big bellies. You'll get more
whitefly on plants on the windowsill than greenfly, which generally
prefer the great outdoors.

Not necessarily - I have a plague of them in the greenhouse. Very
difficult to grow Eccremocarpus, which they love, and which don't lend
themselves easily to physical removal.

They are far more of a problem in the greenhouse than they are outdoors,
where they are kept largely under control by the blue tits and long
tailed tits.


--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

Phil L wrote:

Upon closer inspection, they may be greenfly or aphids (I'm not too
well up
on insect identification)


they are bugs put there by mi6

which stands for msixteenmission impossible
can get a mite ridiculous


mk5000

"I did not say that. I said "For example" which
indicates that it is
an example of what others spoke. This is not hard to
understand and we can do away with organ of mental perception and
call it the"thinker" if you would like and can call what the
"thinker" does "thinks." "--chuck stamford

definately can't, marigolds haven't heleped neither, maybe they need to be
in bloom?


I thought marigolds were to deter greenfly, and basil to deter whitefly.
Works for me in the greenhouse, I grow one marigold at the base of each
tomato/pepper and a tray of basil on the bench just inside the door. Ever
since I did this I've never had a greenfly, whitefly or red spider mite
infestation. Don't like the sticky traps because they trap ladybirds and
hover flies which are our friends !!

Kase

PS marigolds and basil will not eradicate an infestation, you have to get
them in early to prevent it in the first place.

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message
from "Kase" contains these words:

Don't like the sticky traps because they trap ladybirds and
hover flies which are our friends !!

I've never known that happen inside a GH, are you speaking from
experience?

Janet

Yes unfortunately. Last year I tried the traps for the first time and
although there were mainly nasties on the sticky traps (wasps, greenfly,
bluebottles, butterflies, etc..) there were about 4 ladybirds caught in the
year and a couple of hoverflies, not many in the grand scheme of things, but
enough to make me avoid using the traps in future.

Kase