I doubt if your plants will get them. I've never seen whitefly as a problem on bromeliads.

Hi Everyone.

L.G. - Here in Australia I've never seen White fly as a problem with bromeliads, vegetables yes, but not broms.

I rarely use insecticides and when I do I never spray; I prefer to dunk the whole plant so that the insecticide only goes on the plant requiring it.

I have an insecticide I sometimes use called Clensel, however it's possibly not available in your country.

http://www.newapproach.com.au/?wpsc-product=clensel-insect-mite-killer-750ml

It's made from natural ingredients with the main one I want to discus being Oil
of Citronella which is also a natural insect repellent and the main reason I use this product.

What I do, instead of spraying the plants, when ever I re-pot a plant, I paint or use a small hand sprayer to spray some of the mixed up concentrate around the turned over plastic lip of the pot as well as around the base and in this way I use it as a repellent rather than an insecticide and I find it keeps the insects away.

With this in mind I have also tried with success, doing the same thing with the Oil of Citronella that is used for burning in insect repellent flares around BBQ's and I daresay you would more easily source this product than the insecticide I speak of.

I would recommend you give it a try as it's relative inexpensive and should solve your problem naturally without spraying poisons around.

All the best, Nev.

Whiteflies indoors can be tough to deal with. Any disturbance of the plants will send them flying in all directions only to return. Because they fly and not crawl from plant to plant and spend their entire life cycle up in the foliage, that is where they need to be attacked. The good news is they have favorite plants and tend to stick to them and not spread to other plants...unless the other plants are ones they like as well. Inside, I've had some success keeping them in check with a vacuum cleaner (being careful not to suck the leaves off the plant). Move the plant(s) with the whiteflies near a bright sunny window and when disturbed they'll tend to gather on the window making vacuuming easier. Otherwise, only a systemic was able to truly rid me of them. You would need to find a systemic meant for indoors, otherwise I have used an outdoor systemic on houseplants after I took them outside for summer.

Good luck.

tj

P.S. I never had whiteflies on broms.

Thank you for your help. I have now separated the affected plants. I will not worry about my broms.

Thank you all again.

L.G.