From the eggs come flat, scale-like green larvae on the underside of the leaf. You have to treat the underside of the leaf with oil spray or soap spray 3 times at 3-day intervals with complete coverage to wipe them out.
Occasionally they are a minor problem on roses.

Occasionally they are a minor problem on roses.

*** And they can make a tremendous mess of citrus trees.

Jeri

Interesting to read about your experiences. I've never, ever noticed white fly in my gardens before this year, so presumably their numbers were few (if any) in the past. This spring they appeared in huge numbers on many of my roses. They didn't last long at that stage, but I still have leaves that are very ugly from the damage they caused. Suddenly, they are back again. I've got Neem oil, but it's too darned hot to spray it. What are their predators, does anyone know?

Anne

Anne, you could try 1 TSP of Ivory Liquid per quart of water. That's enough to kill aphids, and it has never burned my roses. Inspect after 24-36 hours and see if the larvae are turning black. If not you could try 2 TSP/qt on a test area and wait a few days for burn symptoms.

I would be tempted to discard the basket plants that are hosting whiteflies. I'll never keep another fuschia.

What are their predators, does anyone know?
Anne

There appear to be several of them, and various types are produced by various insectaries. If you Google:
Whitefly Predatory Mites you'll find a bunch of references.

Jeri

Jeri, check out this link

Here is a link that might be useful: Whitefly Predators

That's really good Roseleaf!

I might add, hummingbirds LOOOOOOVE to eat Whitefly. They're like hummingbird candy.
So if you feed hummers, but don't make your nectar overly rich, you'll attract a whole bunch of whitefly predators.

If your area is experiencing an outbreak of whitefly, look around to see what may have precipitated it.
In our case, it's almost always a peak in pesticide use in the fields around here.
In that case, hopefully they will do a relase of predatory wasps.

Jeri

ritug, I have whiteflies for the first time ever, and sure enough, they're on my calibrachoa! Mine are in a container in the front of the house so there aren't any roses nearby. When I first noticed them I squirted the plants hard with a hose. Did that several times and the plants looked awful from the damage from the whiteflies (although I think I got rid of the majority of whiteflies). Going to throw them out today.

I have them for the first time this year on one rose. Right above it on a porch rail is a pot of Million Bells. I never made the connection. Michaelg, does it have to be Ivory Liquid? If it does, I'll get it, but I have Joy on hand ;-)

Thanks,
Barbara

FWIW, Southern CAlifornia had outbreaks of whiteflies--usually larger ones as variants of previous pests. The variety we had was particularly pestiferous and particularly liked hibiscus--a favorite plant of my non-gardening neighbor. Although it is not registered for whiteflies, I found that best antidote was to spray with Eco-Erase, the oil of the jojoba plant. Usually, one spray was sufficient to wipe them out overnight. Although the formulation mentioned not using the product when the temperatures were over 85 degrees, I found I could use it without penalty up to 90 degrees. JimD

Any soap or detergent will kill insects, it's just a matter of the concentration. Some cheap dish soaps have more water in them. I guess Joy and Ivory are similar.

veilchen

Did you throw your basket out? This is the first time ever that I had an attack of white flies too as I have tried Million bells for the first time. Even though they look beautiful and my flower basket was doing really well, I think I will stay away from them. Will stick to Petunias or Impatiens as they are much easier to grow.

I know we should not be using pesticides, but I did spray some Bug-x on them and that seemed to be working well. I will also try using the Soap spray. I hope I can save them!

As Jim said hort oils get rid of whitefly fast. But I've also found that you can clear whitefly by repeatedly blasting the host plant with water, slelectivly removing and/or wiping leaves, and breaking up their egg lay cycle. This method is labor intensive, and requires repeated treatments.

A bit of a PITA for sure, but it can be done.

Bill

Eco-Erase, and white fly is gone along with fungus gnats.

It took me a while to figure out where they were colonizing. Brugmansia leaves, Plumeria leaves, and Begonia leaves. Occasionally Fuchsia leaves.

I used oil sprays on the brugs. The others, I just walked around daily and wiped the egg colonies off with my fingers, before they had a chance to hatch.

Jeri

I looked at them today and they seem to be really perking up, so I thought I'd save them as the mixed container would be missing something w/o the two colors of million bells in them, a little late to be buying new annuals now.

Gave them another hard stream of water from the hose. I won't be buying million bells again after this year.

For the first time I have had a White Fly infestation.
They are so tiny I thought it was pollen from trees.
They are on everything and so small I can not see any
bugs on damaged leaves. A magnifying glass must be
used to see the fly. The eggs are apparently so small
they can not be seen with the magnifying glass. I shall
try the soap spray.

Wayne, the egg COLONIES are very, very easy to spot.
They're like oval or rounded "mazes" of white, and slightly fuzzy -- approximately the size of your thumb print.
If let go too long, the whole underside of the leaf becomes fuzzy -- cottony.
Look at plants with leaves of some size. I have seen them on things like wax-leaf begonias, fuchsias (I doubt if you have plumeria or brugmansia in your zone.)
You can rub these colonies off with your fingers, or smother them with oil spray.
The most important thing is to stop using any broad-spectrum pesticides, as those make the problem worse.

Jeri

We had a severe whitefly infestation in our yard (on a large Xylosema sp? hedge), for years, and tried several products that didn't work very well (Safer Soap,etc.). Then we tried a product by Bayer called Bayer Advanced Garden Rose & Flower Insect Killer. It is a systematic, so you don't need to cover every leaf but try to get good coverage (also not for edibles). Comes in a blue bottle that you attach to your hose, easy-peasy. It took about 3-4 applications to take care of the severe problem we had. That was last year. This spring, we sprayed only once (before the weather got very warm), and have not had the whiteflies return. We plan to spray once every year in early spring to prevent the problem from getting ou of hand. I hope this info helps.
Becky

Here is a link that might be useful: Bayer Product

Becky -- The lifespan of the whitefly is so minute that all insecticides do is make the problem worse.
The only place these materials are useful is on the plants they are colonizing.
Otherwise, you're just killing the beneficials that eat the whitefly and their eggs.
I live in an agricultural area in coastal Ventura County.
We have repeated waves of this in the area, because of the chemicals sprayed on the food crops in the Oxnard Plain.
Even local newspapers now advise people not to use insecticides for whitefly control.
It's getting better here, now.
Growers are cutting back on non-specific insecticides and planting insectaries around their fields.
That encourages predatory wasps to reproduce for long-term control.

Jeri

Thank you Jerijen and Becr. This is the first time Ive
written in and you are replying fast. All my problems
are in eatable Vegs, and some flowers. I guess I cant use
the Bayer Product as it is not for Vegs. So far I have
not seen the Fuzzy cottony things. The white flys lift
off from my cantalopes by the hundreds if not thousands.
I did put out a yellow fly catcher and it is just loaded
with both white flys and some regular flys.

Cantaloups -- Wayne, have you gone along the vines, and looked at the underside of the leaves? That's just where I would expect whitefly to colonize.
You can use a hort oil on those leaves, and that should smother the colonies for you.

Jeri

Thanks Jeri. Yes, I agree about using other methods IF THEY WORK. HOWEVER, I tried everything on this hedge, Jeri, for YEARS. Beneficials included. I started with water jets, and went on to beneficials then safer soap. NOthing was working. The problem was SEVERE and intolerable--- as in a 30 foot long by 12 foot tall hedge almost completely covered in white fuzzy stuff with honeydew dripping. YUK. Tried diazinon--yuk-- as we were desperate---and no, they came back with a vengeance. The Bayer product was a godsend (and much less harmful than diazinon)IMHO!!! No spraying for almost one full year now! Once a year on the hedge in spring to never have the problem again is worth it IMO!

Wayne, I agree with Jeri on trying non-poisonous product first. If those work for you great. If you find the need for more, check on the Bayer link above. There are some products there specifically for whiteflies on edibles.

Becky

Jeri & becr. So far Ive lost 2 cantalope plants with 3 nice
size cants. I did notice on the vines a cottony, whiteish
substance. Just black spots on leaves but no cotton. I
sprayed with dish soap and have lost maybe 90% of the flys.
These fly when moving away---fly in a circular pattern---
not straight. When touching the cantalope plants the fly
would fly away by hundreds. Now maybe 5 or 6.

Wayne -- Killing the flies is in a great sense unimportant.
It's those colonies that matter.
Get rid of the colonies, and you will shortly have no whiteflies, because they are very short-lived.

Catch the colonies BEFORE that "cottony" (larval) stage, and smother them with oil.
At that point, you can even just smear them off with your fingers.

Check the link for excellent photos and information.

Jeri

Here is a link that might be useful: EXCELLENT ILLUSTRATIONS & INFO

Truthfully the Whiteflies come into your yard on Fuchsia, Lantana, Verbena and other annual flowers from the big box stores. Because they are so hard to control, almost all retailers have them galore.
Try coating STP Oil Treatment on large bright yellow Dixie cups and placing them upside-down on garden stakes. Do not put them so close that the oil treatment will drip onto any leaves. The yellow color attracts the whiteflies and they get stuck in the oil treatment. Works well for me.
Then I started using the bright BLUE Dixie cups, with STP, in my rose garden to control thrips. This works even better on thrips than yellow on the whiteflies. Wow - it is really amazing how many of those tiny black boogers I catch this way!