White Fly

[Surf Guy]

In my greenhouse I am seeing the beginning of white fly. What is the best way to keep these from infesting my palms in the greenhouse? I could do the Murphy's oil treatment but I don't want to risk killing my palms. Is this a safe method of treatment? Thanks in advance.

[MattyB]

Are you sure it's not mealy bug? Just blast it off with water.

[kahili]

If its white fly, the best (cheapest) solution is to use a horticultural oil and spray the undersides of all the leaves either early am or at night when the white flies are all on the leaves (underneath) and are sluggish. Be sure to hit the underneaths of all the bottom leaves as that is where they lay their eggs. Hort oil will address all stages of the white fly . Neem oil will also work as it is a oil. The white fly adults hang out at the top leaves and the eggs are on the oldest leaves. It may be that the white flies are laying their eggs on another plant in the green house so I would spray every plant in the grhouse (esp oldest leaves and top leaves). You may have to spray every 5 days for a month to break the life cycle. You can see the eggs if you look at the oldest leaves.

If you are not sure about if its white fly or mealy bug-its pretty easy. White flies fly and mealy bugs don't. White flies are always underneath the leave and mealy bugs have a much greater range of the plant.

[tjwalters]

Imidacloprid supposedly works on white fly, though I have not used it for that. I do know it works very well on soft brown scale.

[rprimbs]

Are people using the White Fly parasites anymore? My dad had pretty good success with that.

[Surf Guy]

Are you sure it's not mealy bug? Just blast it off with water.

Matty B,

It's white fly for sure but I do have some mealy bugs here in there. Thanks for the advice. I'll see how spraying it off with the hose works.

Thanks

[Mandrew968]

Buy Ladybugs--my wife just got me 5000.

[spockvr6]

White fly has spread a bit over Pine Island and the new Maypans I planted last summer got fairly heavily infested. I sprayed them down heavily with Maliathon and this seemed to do the trick.

[Gonzer]

Spraying the undersides of the leaves with water every 3-4 days for 2 weeks will kill the life cycle of the pest. Oils and systemics are a waste of money and could jeopardize sensitive plants. This is a practice passed on to me by a leader in the horticultural community and has worked great ever since they arrived up north here years ago.

[tjwalters]

Spraying the undersides of the leaves with water every 3-4 days for 2 weeks will kill the life cycle of the pest. Oils and systemics are a waste of money and could jeopardize sensitive plants. This is a practice passed on to me by a leader in the horticultural community and has worked great ever since they arrived up north here years ago.

Not sure I'd agree with you on systemics being a waste of money. I completely eradicated an infestation of brown scale on potted palms and other potted plants with one application of granular Imidacloprid, with no adverse effects on the plants.

[palmislandRandy]

Spraying the undersides of the leaves with water every 3-4 days for 2 weeks will kill the life cycle of the pest. Oils and systemics are a waste of money and could jeopardize sensitive plants. This is a practice passed on to me by a leader in the horticultural community and has worked great ever since they arrived up north here years ago.

Not sure I'd agree with you on systemics being a waste of money. I completely eradicated an infestation of brown scale on potted palms and other potted plants with one application of granular Imidacloprid, with no adverse effects on the plants.

In South Florida, white fly are devastating Ficus benjamina hedges & trees. Systemics are THE only way to control them. I neglected to treat on small hedge around an air conditioner & it was bare in a week. Driving around the neighborhood, it's fairly obvious which hedges have been treated with a systemic Imidacloprid.