Have very small white flying bugs on my plants. Bought an insect spray which has helped some, but not completely. Have sprayed about every other day for two weeks and still have them. Any suggestions?
Bugs on my Brugs.
Gee, I wish I could help you but white fly is one bug I have yet to face. I know it is a tough one to get rid of. I have heard of soaking cigarettes in water and using the broth to spray on the plants but with brugs you could be spreading viruses with the cigarettes. Good luck!
I wonder if Raid would help. I have heard that it works for so many bugs. I think they say buy the one in the green can. Someone will come by and let us know.
I didn't even think they were bugs a first, it looked like very small white growths, they wouldn't even move when you touched them. When I sprayed them though, they dispersed all over the place. Out of the many plants in my sun room they are only on my Brugs.
Best way I have found is to take the plants to the shower,I am lucky,I have mine in the basement,with a floor drain and hose,I lay the plant down over the drain,and spray with warm water.Be sure to get upper and lower sides of the leaves.
They come from the soil,(I think)so if you can,bottom water,with trays under your pots.This will not give them moist soil to breed.They are a pain in the butt and we all get them.
Hopefully someone will come along soon with the proper way,this is just how I deal with them.
I use the flying insect spray, spray up under the leaves and on the soil. I have had a very slight case of them in basement GH. I shake the top leaves to see if they are not there anymore, if you see any tiny white thing fly get after them again. They do not seem to do much damage, I just do not like any bugs, but they are better than mites! Good luck.
I didn't have any luck at all for white flies with the cigarette concoction. I couldn't believe that I went down and bought my first pack of cigarette's I had ever bought. the guy asked me what brand I wanted and I told him the cheapest he had that I didn't intend on smoking them. He looked at me like I was a real nut case. After all that, it didn't even work.
I would not use anything with tobacco in it on the brugs. I don't know if it is an old wives tale or the real thing, but I've heard that they can get tobacco mosaic and that smokers should always wash their hands before working with them. I have to believe that tobacco would be bad for them and I won't take a chance on losing my brugs by using it.
I had whiteflies about a month ago. After spraying with palmolive dish soap and water[1 teaspoon palmolive to 1 quart of water], I satuated the leaves top and undersides, the stem. Sprayed 10 days apart they are gone. I also spray the top of the soil with it.
I had spidermites on the EE's and the soap mixture took care of them too.
Debby, does it have to be Polmolive soap? I have some Murphy's up in the g'house, would that work too? I have those #)A(*%_#()@%* whiteflies. Plus aphids on the hibiscus. I hit those with some Avid, really need to keep up on that. I spray once, and time just seems to get away from me and I don't get the 3 day rotation in. Must be more diligent.
Anna: I don't know if Murphy's Oil Soap would work. I have always used Palmolive. I have read where you can use Ivory dish soap, too.
The Avid should do the trick. It is highly recommended by people here. Write it down on a calendar when you spray and circle the third day to spray again.
I wouldn't waste the Avid on whiteflies. I don't think it works that well on them, if at all, even tho it says it will. The thing is that if you use it too much, things become immuned to it. I have been using Sevin on the whiteflies and it is keeping them under control.
Good advice,I am going to have to set up a Sevin sprayer,moving them to shower them is a pain.....
I would say any dish liquid as long as it does not contain degreasers or anti-bacterial additives.
Scooterbug: I agree with you. The thing I like about the soap water is that it doesn't have any of the chemicals in it, esp. using it in the house.
I have an old fav recipe for a Horti oil spray which works samewhat better than plain soap and is also non-toxic. These two are all I use for all my plants, flowers & veggies. No,.... it will not kill J.Beetles,...Dagnabbit!
Let's hear the recipe Scoot....
Oops, sorry 'bout that =)
Horticultural Oil Recipe
1 C. Soy or Cottonseed oil
1 Tbsp. liquid (lemon) dish soap _w/o degreasers or anti-bacterial properties.
Shake well to emulsify.
Use:
......... Mix 2 Tbl. per qt. of water
.............._OR_
...........1/2 C. per gallon of water
.........Spray at Below 85 Degrees temp...and not in mid-day sun.
Mites,scales,psylia,mealybugs & some caterpillars
This message was edited Feb 22, 2004 9:37 PM
Thanks!! I am curious why you would use 2 Tbs. for a quart and a cup for a gallon though. Seems like you would use 8 Tbs. for a gallon or a half cup.
OMG!
.......Shirley,......TNX so much for catching that. I'm gonna pull the plug now ,I only had 4 hrs. sleep last night worrying about one of my cats at the Amimal Hospital having surgery.
Hugz,
§
Sleep well. I'm going to go watch some TV now myself.
Well, someone slap me if I'm nuts here, but I had aphids and whiteflies both on my brugs and I fed them Rose food with insecticide/fungicide in them. It is systemic, so that anything eating on them will die. I don't think I'm in danger of killing anything friendly this time of year. Anyone know something I don't about doing it this way? I'm all ears.
*slap* ....NO NO Just Kidding ;-P
I for one, prefer not to not use chemicals, especially in my home if at all possible,
But this is my preference and is no reflection on what anyone else may choose.
scooterbug....I did ask for that! I'm not using this at home. I'm using it at work in my greenhouse (I work at a theme park) I would prefer not to use any chemicals and I don't at home, however out here the exposure to unfriendlies is much greater than at home. These are my first brugs and I don't want any blankety-blank bugs stealing them away from me.
I'm soooorrrrrryyyyyyy. sniff,sniff.
Good Grief Pancha !!!
I thought I was clear that my opening comment was " IN JEST! "
The following was what I believe in personally, you did ask.
I did not state that anyone was wrong for what they choose to do.
The rule of growing organically for me is " If all else fails you need to resort to chemicals " or give it up.
.......AND I am not about to give up easily. I do have issues as I am chemically sensitive (Allergic Asthma ).
....Can you not bring your plants home to a safer environment?
Sure sounds like you have a dream job, lucky you =)
Hugz,
§hirley
Shirley....I was actually smiling at your reply.....so goes the e-com-confusion thing. Oh well.......unfortunately I don't have a basement or space at my house with good light. My job does sound like a dream job, and it is never dull, but I'm the only one here with the hort-education. My background before I came here was a landscape design contractor so I've had to learn/still learning a lot about greenhouse production. It's tough the way they do things.......and it's tough to fight for a budget to get things done right, especially when you're the only one who knows what right is! I have 3 guys to clean leaves, clean up and rototill beds and get pre-emergent and post-emergent stuff down on over 40 acres. We open the first weekend in April so I also have to have lots of color out and all the hanging baskets. They're constantly pulling us off task to do other stuff since my crew is the cheapest labor on the park. I have to handwater about 60% of the park before 10:30am when the park is open and that includes about 150 hanging baskets. Anyway...sorry to go on and on......it's a tough and stressful business this pre-opening thing.
The bugs seem to have died on my brugs and they don't seem to be any worse for the wear. Sorry if I came on upset cuz I wasn't at all.
Wow....I reread that message and it just sounded weird....(mine that is) I should clarify my remark about being the only one who knows what right is LOLOLOL I'm the only one out here with a degree in ornamental horticulture. They don't even know how many different areas horticulture encompasses so I lean heavily on you folks here at Dave's.
( =
hugz.......Pancha
i have been fighting whitefly for awhile now and the best advice is to be very persistant. I take my mister and spray under the leaves everyday, i use yellow sticky cards everywhere i can, i use enermix from Koppert which is an encarsia formosia mix, and i use marathon as a systemic. It takes a lot of patience with this bug because they reproduce so fast.
My advice is to use every source from every angle you have access to so you can control them. It is hard to irradicate them so i suggest the encarsia formosia as prevention.
And last but not least squish everyone you see!
Good Luck!