White Flies

I am having trouble with White Flies and am wondering if anybody else has issues? Does anyone have a way to get rid of them? Thanks


Skyla
Nor Cal

Hate 'em! I use hose spray and sometimes insecticidal soap. Good luck!
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Whiteflies descended on my adirondack blue potatoes a month ago. Didn't touch the white potatoes in the next square but did a number on the blues to the point that I went ahead and harvested them last week. I sprayed the underside with a hose to knock them off and ordered ladybugs and lacewings to eat their eggs but by the time they arrived the damage had already been done. However, I think the ladybugs and lacewings did their job because I haven't seen a whitefly in weeks.

I have been fighting White Flies and aphics on my summer squash plants. Because the bugs are so bad, I have been washing the leaves off with
water every day and bug spraying them every other day.

I tried a garden sprayer but since I am having trouble on the underside of the leaves, I switched to a hand sprayer. I lift the big leave up using a small stick and spray the underside of the leaves with some organic soap insecticide.

Today the plants look better and I think I am finally winning. Now if I can figure out what those weird bugs are on my remaining Swiss chard.

I have been trying to get rid of white flies too. This is the second year that they are destroying my garden. I have tried washing each and every leaf with plain water, organic insecticidal soap and my last try was Seven spray. Nothing has worked so far.

I talked to another gardener at the library the other day and he suggested using the sticky yellow traps. They didn't have any at Walmart so I will try to find them at HD or Lowes. I also checked Youtube.com. There are several listed. Look for an Aphid Whitefly Thrip Trap, or Aphid Whitefly Bug Glue Trap wherever you buy your garden supplies.

While on Youtube I also looked for directions for making a homemade trap. It should be much cheaper and easy to do. There is a video showing how to coat a tin can (painted bright yellow) with castor oil. Hang it on a stick just above the top of the plant and recoat it every few days to keep it sticky. And who doesn't have a couple of cans and some castor oil around? Makes sense to me in these hard economic times, so I'm going to try it.

The white fly traps are a good idea. Since I don't have castor oil OR yellow spray paint hanging around, I think I will see what Home Depot has.

I am seeing different bugs then last year. Not sure if is the healthy SFG plants that are attracting them or just the wet spring we had.

I am walking the garden each evening now, spraying the white flies and aphids that love the undersides of the leaves. The population seems to be decreasing to maybe I am winning the fight? Let's hope!

Last night I made one for myself and this morning I see the little white bodies all over it. I made it from castor oil (Walmart pharmacy @ less than $3), solid yellow lid from ICBINB margerine tub (free) and one bamboo skewer (that I already had). So for less than $3 I can make as many as I can find yellow lids or mustard bottles for. Or anything else you can find that is already bright yellow. Why paint when there is so much plastic available in our throw away world?

How about a bright yellow frisbee Use your imagination or buy a can of spray paint. Believe me it will be a whole lot cheaper than those traps. When the homemade ones are too used up just wipe them off and reapply the castor oil and you are good to go. When the traps are used up you throw them away and go buy new ones. For me, (a SC on a fixed income), it's a no brainer. Good luck with whatever works for you