A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 White Flies?????

Can anyone tell me what to do for a LARGE white fly problem? One article I read said to get your vaccum cleaner out and suck them up I don't even want to vaccum MY house (so I took out all of the carpet)so the day I start having to vaccum my yard/garden is the day I will hang it up! This was the "mystery" bug that I had everyone trying to solve earlier this summer, that took over my whole WORLD! Remember I spent my days scrubbing every leaf in my garden? I just can't keep doing that...surely there must be a way to get rid of them!

White fly is hard to get rid of. While vacumning the adults up is one solution I've heard of, it doesn't do much for the other life stages , eggs and nymphs that are still doing their thing. That's what makes controlling white fly so difficult, whatever it is you do you have to keep doing in succession for a period of weeks, every three to four days. Some things to try...Sunspray or Safers soap, mixed according to lable directions and sprayed to the point of run off, especially the undersides of the leaves where the varmits hide, will sometimes help, if you're really committed to a rigid spray schedule.
This late in the season, maybe, depending on which plants are infested, a good freeze would be welcome. I've been frustrated with white fly before, let the salvia I was having problems with, totally unprotected so the tops froze back, cleaned up the mess. the following spring, white fly was gone.

There is also a systemic (directly in the ground)chemical you can use....I used it the first year I was here....got rid of a few the first year and this year I have had no problem at all with THAT hibiscus....now the others that I didn't put the chemical white flies are trying to move in.....I will have to go read some labels and figure out which one I used. :rolleyes:

Note to self: Write on the containers what I used product on and for what!!!!

Thanks so much for the repies!!! I was about to give up...have spent this WHOLE season washing leaves and washing leaves and washing LEAVES! I just don't have that kind of time...my 16 month old requires most of it.

Imidacloprid is one of the best chemicals on the market for white fly control. It is systemic and can be applied as a drench. DO NOT OVER USE!!! People have and there have been reported cases of resistance to the product in commercial greenhouses. It is sold to home owners under a few different names.

Another great product, if you are into non chemicals, is BotaniGard. It is a fungus that attacks the immature stage of the white fly on the undersides of the leaves. You will need to do 3 applications of this about 4 days apart and hit the undersides of the leaves.

Another option is parasites but you would need to know what kind of white flies you have. Many commercial nurseries use the parasites very successfully.

Good luck

Buglady...There are several types of white flies?????

the 3 most common are

greenhouse whitefly-Adults hold their wings flat over their bodies. The pupa has sides that are parallel to each other with hairs covering it.

Silverleaf whitefly- This adult is a bit smaller and more yellow. Their wings are held roof-like at about a 45° angle. The pupa case is more domed shaped, with a few random hairs.

Sweet potato whitefly-This adult also holds its wings in a roof like manner, with dome shaped pupa with few random hairs.

and there are many more......