Hi All, I do pots on the Deck for tomatoes, once again I have had a white fly infestation, What is the best way to deal with that?
Here’s what I found, and it sounds like good advice:
“Spray infested tomato plants with insecticidal soap, concentrating the spray on the underside of the leaves where whiteflies congregate and breed. Repeat the application every three days until no more whiteflies are present. Spray in the evening to minimize contact with beneficial insects.”
If you don’t want to/can’t easily buy insecticidal soap, you can make your own:
Combine one cup of oil, any variety, such as vegetable, peanut, corn, soybean, etc. with one tablespoon of dish washing liquid or other “pure” soap. (Castile, Bronner’s, etc.)
Mix two teaspoons of this “soap” mixture to every cup of warm water and put into a spray bottle.
I have had white fly infestations in my hibiscus and mandevilla - there was a time when you couldn’t buy hibiscus plants in local nurseries b/c the white fly problem was so bad in my area.
I use “Worm Gold” which I find at Armstrongs in California - it comes in a bag and is worm castings that you put around the base of whatever plant and the enzymes it releases gets rid of the flies.
Has worked wonders for the one hibiscus I have left.
Captain Jack’s Dead Bug
[[once again I have had a white fly infestation, What is the best way to deal with that?]]
paint them purple?
Seriously though, there’s supposed to be over a 1000 types of white flies
Basically soap and water- spray undersides of leaves especially- you need to keep spraying as there are 4 stages of white flies- and you’ll need to keep killing the adult stage- every 3-4 days- to prevent more egg laying- apply late in day- to avoid direct sun and solution burnign the leaves-
I use 5 gallon buckets instead of pots.
For bugs I make soapy water using Dawn and spray it on using a mister. If that doesn’t work get a bag of Redman tobacco, steep it in a 5 gallons bucket, then spray it on the leaves and let dry.
I don’t like using pesticides on my food.