Fighting White Flies

- a compilation of tips from the Fuchsia mailing list! Why not try one or more of them out?

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My suggestion Garlic Spray 3 or 4oz chopped garlic soaked in 2 tablespoons mineral oil for one day next day add 1 pint water with 1 teaspoon fish emulsion stir well and strain store in glass container dilute 1 to 20 with water and spray on plants can omit fish emulsion and add liquid seaweed to final product

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I turn the pot on it's side and spray the flies off with a lite water spray. Do that wekly til the are not apparent.

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I use Vapona Sticky Insect Traps which are strips of yellow sticky stuff which you hang above the plants. They're quite good for cleaning up an infestation quite quickly but have the disadvantage that sometimes they trap other insects besides whitefly. Apparently the yellow colour is very attractive to them.

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use pyrethrum or similar. If they are in the greenhouse, get some of those yellow sticky plastic sheets to hang up, this will attract and help to control the whitefly. In addition, add seaweed extract to the water that you give them, this seems to make the fuchsias taste bad to the whiteflies

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Others already have given you good advice about that little "white insect". I have had that problem in the past, and have found that by misting my fuchsias every morning with water, the white fly leaves. Those little creatures seem to dislike moisture. Once I was rid of them, and mist the plants several times a week, I have never had to use anything but water to keep them away.

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I even once used my vacuum cleaner for white-fly by setting the plant securely at about 45 degrees and gently shaking the little bleeders off into the nozzle.

Mind you you have to be thorough

Less painful ways (painful when you make a mistake and hoover off the blooms or break a standard stem :-))...

Biological: http://www.invisiblegardener.com/whtflyfq.htm

Chemical: http://www.gardeninfo.com/pests/pyrins.html
http://www.gardeninfo.com/pests/garsprins.html

Physical: http://www.biconet.com/traps/stickyTraps.html

Everything you need to know about all sorts of pests: http://www.tpoint.net/neighbor/DI.html

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I use Cooke Garden Insect Spray containing Thiodan (active ingredient, endosulfan). To smother the eggs to prevent them from hatching, I spray the underside of the leaves with SunSpray Ultra-Fine (active ingredient, paraffinic oil). To discourage infestations of whitefly mist your fuchsias frequently with a fine spray of water when the weather is warm. If possible grow your fuchsias in a cool (50-75F), humid and well ventilated environment.

 


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Related pages: Collecting fuchsia seeds