Whitefly
Discover organic methods to protect your greenhouse plants from whitefly.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time to act | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes |
Turn over a leaf and you'll see 2mm long white flies. With a life cycle of just three weeks, whitefly breed very fast. Both adults and offspring are sap feeders and a severe attack will weaken a plant. They excrete the sticky excess, called honeydew, onto lower leaves where it encourages black sooty mould to grow. If left, this weakens the growth of the plant.
Symptoms
When you brush past your plants in the greenhouse clouds of tiny white flies fill the air.
Find it on
tomatoes, cucumbers, fuchsias, other greenhouse plants
Organic
Hang up yellow sticky traps to catch flying adults. Grow strong-smelling plants, such as French marigolds, alongside your tomatoes as a deterent. Every two to three days spray the underside of leaves with a soap-based spray containing fatty acids to kill emerging adults. When the temperature remains above 10 celsius in the greenhouse you can use a biological control, such as the parasitic wasp, Encarsia formosa, which attacks the juvenile forms of whitefly.
Festive subscription offer
Save 38% on the shop price. Subscribe to BBC Gardeners' World Magazine today for £49.99.
November issue on sale now!
The November issue of BBC Gardeners' World magazine is on sale now, buy online or in stores now.
Plant of the Week: Cornus sanguineau 'Anny's Winter Orange'
This week, save over 20 per cent and buy 1 x 3L pot for just £13.95. Use code GWCORNUS at checkout to apply the discount.
Offer ends 23.59, Sunday 10 November.
Discover Dangerous Plants
From witchcraft to murder mysteries, uncover the power of plants in the new BBC Gardeners' World Magazine podcast series.
