Whitefly

The whitefly is such a nasty enemy of plants that it wreaks havoc on your garden throughout its entire life cycle. In the fight against it, all means are good, gardeners try to predict the dominance of whiteflies with prevention, and of course, in case of plant infection, they fight by any means from chemical to folk.

The whitefly loves greenhouse conditions, but this does not prevent it from settling on indoor plants. I would like to say that this is where her appetites end, but no, young and ready-to-plant seedlings of vegetables (tomatoes, bell peppers, potatoes) and indoor plants can die from the vital activity of this parasite.

Destruction begins with larvae, which are attached to the back of the leaf. Their nutrition consists of plant juices, after being saturated, the excess is excreted from the body in the form of a liquid, and this, in turn, is a suitable environment for sooty fungi that disrupt plant photosynthesis.

All of the above processes take place simultaneously, for this very reason, the plants die quite quickly and it is no longer possible to reanimate them. Considering the whitefly life cycle of 25-28 days, in one season your greenhouses will be attacked by several generations of pests, causing damage each time.

The fight is possible only in a comprehensive manner, with the passage of all stages from prevention to quarantine, from extermination to prevention.

Whitefly: habitats and characteristics

Whitefly in 80 percent of cases for settlement chooses places with poor air exchange, high humidity, densely planted plants and high air temperatures. Greenhouses, indoor conditions, and all similar spaces are ideal for pests. As it is already clear in the open space, the whitefly is found several times less. When the pest enters the state of a butterfly, it becomes food for predators, and carries them away from the chosen place into the wind.

Visually, a whitefly is a butterfly no more than one and a half millimeters. The wings are of a characteristic white color, this color is obtained due to the pollen covering them and the yellow body. The pest is located on both sides of the leaf, if you run your hand over the plant or move it, the butterflies will begin to fly away.

Whitefly does not stay on one plant, it can easily move from peppers to beans, and from them to flowers.

The larvae in their harm are similar to aphids, they are inactive, they live on the back of the leaf, feeding on the juices of the plant. The color is light green. Sometimes they have a wax coating, which is a sign of the transition of the larva into a butterfly; during this period, pesticides and insecticides are harmless to them.

In the process of development, the larva begins to move along the leaf, choosing the most saturated leaves for nutrition. The result of digestion is the release of a sticky sugar liquid, it attracts ants and promotes the reproduction and settlement of sooty fungi. The fungi spread over the affected plant with a black bloom that blocks the passage of the sun's color. As a result, the plant, depleted by the loss of juices, loses the process of photosynthesis, then, as a result, there is no development of fruits and harvest, yellowing and loss of leaves.

Pest control

Defeating the whitefly is not easy, even difficult. Whiteflies live and continue to breed in comfortable conditions for the pest, such as greenhouses and greenhouses. Taking into account the stages of life, it can be concluded that in the already affected areas, some of them will be impossible to destroy with chemistry.

Adult whiteflies survive the cold by hiding in warm closed places or in the soil.With the onset of warmth and warming up of the soil, the butterflies get out of the shelters and proceed to reproduction. When choosing a location, the whitefly prefers young plants, laying eggs on the underside of the leaf.

It is not difficult to check the plants for the presence of eggs; it is enough to inspect the plants by lifting the leaves. Whitefly lays eggs in a circle, and their shell is slightly transparent. After a little time and opening, the larvae will continue their growth and begin feeding on juices.

Their preparation for the transition to the state of butterflies will last 3 weeks, they will destroy the plants throughout this time, gradually moving from leaf to leaf. The last stage of the transition is the appearance of a wax coating on the larvae, it is at this moment that all efforts to destroy them with chemicals will be in vain, the pest becomes one with the leaf, and you will no longer wash it off.

Whitefly: prevention

Rather than spending an incredible amount of effort fighting a whitefly, it's better to predict it. Neglecting quarantine? It is the whitefly that will teach you that quarantine is your main assistant.

Purchased seedlings or flowers in a nursery or store, quarantine is required for 3 weeks, isolate "newbies" from healthy plants. Thanks to such actions, you can be sure that there is no whitefly on new plants.

Quarantine should also be observed in the spring (infected plants are not placed in the greenhouse) and in the fall (short-term isolation before moving into the house).

Treating greenhouses and greenhouses after the summer season and how to prepare for the next will help you prevent whitefly from appearing next year. Careful weeding will lead to the death of pests that have left for the winter.

In November, it will not be superfluous to dig up the site, weeding and removing the roots of weeds not only in closed ground, but also around it. Whitefly does not disdain weeds, and given the human factor, gardeners do not check them for the presence of a pest.

The grid on the windows of the greenhouse will help you during the summer of butterflies. The maximum activity occurs in mid-spring.

Since the whitefly is still a winged insect, fly sticky strips can serve as a trap for them. The number of pests caught on it will pleasantly surprise you.

Many years of observation by gardeners and breeders have revealed that the whitefly reacts to lemon color, so when choosing a ribbon, give preference to yellow colors. Place traps in places of maximum concentration of butterflies, you will see the result in a few hours. Start with inexpensive tapes and then experiment to find the ones that work best for you.

Some gardeners use lamps, but this option is very doubtful because it is fire hazardous and its actual effectiveness is not clear. In the greenhouse at night the lamp turns on and the butterflies flying towards its light die from the burn of the wings.

If your plants are not yet heavily infested, try removing the pests with clean water. Use a spray bottle to spray the leaves from the back side, a jet of water will knock the whitefly to the ground and you can destroy it with peat or digging up a little soil.

Use tobacco to protect plants from chemical treatment. Whitefly is susceptible to the smell of this plant, with such a base, you can accumulate the pest on it, and when the tobacco is strewn with butterflies, treat it with chemicals without affecting the main plants.

All of the above methods are effective only in the first stages of settlement; in case of large-scale sabotage, the methods should be more stringent.

Chemical pest control

Chemical and biological methods of control are considered the most effective, but given all the characteristics of the whitefly, you should not believe that they will help you get rid of it completely. Only the application of all methods from prevention to struggle will help you to exterminate the enemy.

The most suitable for processing will be drugs based on Avermectin.Alternatively, you can use Fitoverm. It kills the pest and leaves the berries edible after washing. Use all other drugs according to the instructions.

It will not be superfluous to add detergents to the solution, they will help make the drug more sticky.

In the arsenal of chemicals against whitefly there are also poisonous ones, they are used only outside closed greenhouses, etc., in compliance with all precautionary instructions, since the poison contained in the preparations will harm not only the whitefly and plants, but also directly to you.

Biological methods

There are five folk or biological methods of fighting whitefly. Consider them:

1. A solution of tar soap. Diluted in the following proportions 1 (soap) to 6 (water). Tar soap is best suited for such a solution because of its specific smell and composition. Before dissolving soap in water, grind it. Both the solution itself and its foam are processed. I spray the leaves with the first, wipe them with the second.

The treatment is performed twice with a difference of 7-10 days, although in 70% of cases one application is sufficient.

2. Garlic infusion. The effectiveness is questionable. The method is applicable with a slight dominance of the whitefly. Chopped 3 cloves of garlic are placed in a liter of water and left to stand for a day, the plants are irrigated with a strained solution.

3. Another infusion that helps in the fight against the pest: add 100 grams of freshly harvested yarrow to a liter of water. The infusion is prepared for a day. Spraying is carried out 3-4 times at intervals of a week.

4. Tobacco. Suitable for a small number of whiteflies. Tobacco infusion is prepared from cigarettes with a strength of 8 or more, the contents are ground and filled with hot water, the infusion is prepared for seven days. Treatment with a strained solution is carried out by spraying, with a frequency of three days

5. The last biological option is dandelion infusion. Suitable only for initial use and for low whitefly populations. The infusion contains 50 grams of rhizomes and leaves, the ground ingredients are poured with water and infused for 5 days. The finished infusion, as well as the above-mentioned processing, is carried out by spraying.