Pests and Diseases - Symptom Selector

Whitefly

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Whitefly

Symptoms

Tiny white creatures cluster under the leaves, they fly up into a cloud if the leaves are disturbed. Both the adult and larval whitefly excrete a honey-dew which encourages black sooty mould. Whitefly is most commonly found on houseplants and in greenhouses.

Harm

Like most sap-sucking insects the whitefly will weaken the plant and make it suseptable to further attacks of pests and disease.

Treatment

Organic - tap the leaves and as a cloud of flies up, suck them up with a vacuum cleaner. There are also organic soap sprays which are affective such as Nature's Answers. White flies are also attracted to yellow paper, so hang strips of sticky yellow card which the flies fly at and stick to.
Chemical - there are lots of sprays you can use. As the whitefly move so rapidly a systemic spray is probably a good idea. A systemic spray enters the plants sap killing the insect when it feeds. (A contact insectiside only kills when it comes into contact/touches the insect).
Biological - the biological control for whitefly is the parasitic wasp Encarsia formosa. These minute wasps parasitise the whitefly pupae. Each wasp can parasitise up to 150 whitefly. The wasps are harmless to all other insects and animals.

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