any more specificity as to what the concoction is???

other than having REALLY CLEAN plants.. i dont see how they would be harmed ...

and why cant you just miss the hosta...

or spray the undersides of the leaves.. and the ground under the plant.. avoiding the surface ...

or just get rid of the creeper .... which i hate BTW ... and get rid of the problem that way... with the result... you have room for more hosta...

hmmmm.. so many options ... so little space/time.. ken

I want to know how you got rid of creeper?? I have been fighting it for years!!

generic roundup.. aka credit extra ....

or any brush and vine killer ....

ken

Paul,
Ive had Virginia Creeper on a pergola for yrs and discovered the ugliest huge caterpillars last yr. This year I found out they were Sphinx moths, but anyway, I thought they were what was doing the damage,but now that you mention whiteflies Im begining to wonder. Is that whats killing all the leaves and turning them red? Can you see them? After all these yrs of training them Id really hate to rip them out but they are on my list "Get Better or Bye-Bye".

Upnort,
You didn't kill the caterpillars did you? Sphinx moths are so beautiful and fragrant they are worth putting up with the caterpillars. Did you know they smell like peanut butter when they are looking for a mate? Please tell me you didn't kill them.

Thanks,

Lainey

Lainey,
No I dont kill them. We discovered them last yr. took 3 different colored ones to the DNR this yr and they didnt know what they were. They were looking up caterpillars while I thought to look up where-not what they are and googled Virginia Creeper. I learned they only eat grape family plants so we captured what we could find and drove out and let them go by some wild Virginia Creeper. I just wish I had found them before they did their damage.

UPNORT--One day during my last year of teaching, a little kid found a sign on her way to school that read, "HEY YOU LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY". Of course that became our motto--forever of course! So I today I looked up V. Creeper(as you had done) and discovered that many people are very allergic to it (like poison ivy). Well I have been fence growing it for years so must not be allergic--but I will be more careful! I also discovered your Pandora Sphinx Moth and Larva. How exciting that was! I also discovered the web site, www.buterflies and moths.org. So I figure I have 3 good days of learning in one day yet!!!!! THANK YOU! Oh, how I love this forum. LOL Mary

LOL Mary! Glad you found your way into the secret entry of Virginia Creeper! I hope those one-eyed caterpillars didnt scare you too much!
So many people think its wild grape, I did for years, until a migrating bird was nice enough to leave me a "sample" of the real thing. It sprouted last yr and this yr was big enough to identify. It was one of those "well...if thats that then whats this"? Im thinking the DNR didnt know what the caterpillars were because most people either rip it out (good luck with that)or ignore it and let it kill their trees. I decided if I cant beat it, use it. It covers my pergola beautifully. Now if only Paul would answer me about the whiteflies....

Upnort,

Sorry for not replying. The whiteflies like aphids are more of a pain than anything else. They came into my garden a few years ago on a plant purchased from one of our local nuseries. I figured our cold Manitoba winters would do the job of freezing them out but it didn't. The leaves on the plant just turns a spotted grey/white and when you touch the leaves, thousands of tiny flies become airborn......Will be spraying later and will let you know the results.....
Paul

Thanx for answering Paul. Doesnt sound like my problem, sounds awful, sorry to hear that. Mine get small brown spots. Some turn red and then curl up and die, leaving me with too much sun and ugly vines. I was contemplating Dropmore Honeysuckle to replace it but that doesnt get tall enough. Good Luck!

No Virginia Creeper here, but to answer the original post...We get many a whitefly here. I use Safers Insecticidal Soap (liquid spray) on lots of things, like junipers, fuschias, camelias, tomatoes) Have never needed to use it on hostas, but if you follow the label instructions you should be OK. Best way is to spray one leaf of a common variety and wait a day. If you use it too often, w/o washing off the leaves with plain water occasionally, it changes the pH on the leaves and burns them. You could probably spray the h&ll out of the Creeper, then hose off the hostas afterwards to remove the insecticide from them only.

Ken- it contains "Potassium Salts of Fatty Acids".

Spray at dusk, as that is when the adult whiteflies come home to roost, (you can wiggle the plant with a stick to rile them all up into a cloud so you get the adults in the air, then spray the undersides of the leaves to get at those immature little eggs (or whatever they are) glued to the undersides of the leaves. This is a battle not easily won.

-Babka