Whiteflies are serious pests that pose significant threats to both vegetable and ornamental crops. These mothlike insects feed off plant juices, weakening them over time while producing honeydew which attracts sooty mold growth.
Due to their long lifespan, plants should be regularly inspected. This involves inspecting their underside leaves for sticky honeydew accumulation as well as feeling them for sticky honeydew spots.
They feed on plants
Whiteflies are sap-sucking insects that feed off plants by sucking up sap from photosynthesis processes in phloem tissue, sucking out its sugars through needle-like mouthparts to feed on plant tissues before sucking up sugary products of photosynthesis through their roots and sucking out photosynthesis’ sugary products. Whiteflies cause yellowing, stunted growth, reduced yields and even death in some instances – and some species even transmit viruses that cause various plant diseases! They have become a problem both for warm season crops including tomatoes, peppers and eggplants when infested with whitefly infestation. Whitefly are prolific throughout warm season crops like tomatoes, peppers and eggplants while greenhouse environments also experience whitefly infestation.
Young nymphs overwinter on host plants, and in late spring adult females lay 200-400 eggs in circular clusters on the undersides of upper leaves. Within five to 10 days these eggs hatch into first-instar nymphs that resemble small mealybugs; after moving briefly before flattening themselves against the leaf and beginning feeding. Each subsequent instar stage becomes less mobile before becoming immobile altogether during its entire feeding period before finally transitioning into pupal stage where non-feeding pupae form before emerging adults that fly away to repeating the cycle again – with many generations annually taking place each time!
There are two primary species of whiteflies that impact crop production: Trialeurodes vaporariorum and Bemisia tabaci. While both species share host ranges and can co-inhabit crops simultaneously, one way to distinguish them is through their wings: T. vaporariorum has flatter wings while B. tabaci has those held at 45-degree angles away from its leaf surface.
Whiteflies may have a relatively fast lifecycle, yet growers can use various tactics to manage infestations and protect plants from disease. Traps, hose-downs and sprays that target immature stages of whiteflies are highly effective strategies; additionally gardeners may wish to plant resistant varieties and employ natural predators such as ladybugs and lacewings as natural controls against whitefly infestation. Finally, gardeners can prevent spread by quarantining new specimens for several weeks after arrival in quarantine.
They lay eggs
Whiteflies are one of the most troublesome pests to strike greenhouses, as well as outdoor and indoor houseplants. Their piercing mouthparts siphon plant juices into honeydew production that attracts fungal diseases like sooty mold. Once this contamination contaminates leaves it causes them to wilt, turn yellow-toned, stunt growth, shrivel up and eventually drop off completely.
Adult females typically lay 200-400 eggs on the undersides of upper leaves in circular clusters, which hatch within 5 to 10 days to produce nymphs that look similar to small mealybugs and lack wings; these feed on leaves by crawling. Their first instar nymphs have no wings at all and feed from wherever convenient on each leaf surface before eventually developing short curved wings similar to scale insects resembling scale insects rather than mealybugs before becoming winged adults that reproduce and continue damaging plants; typically life cycles last 2-5 weeks with multiple generations in between generations.
Immature nymphs may be hard to spot, but they often form dense mats on the undersides of leaves. Additionally, they may emit sticky substances which appear as sooty mold on leaves’ surfaces; and may produce waxy layers which help them move easily across plants’ surfaces. If you spot these signs, spray your plants with a strong jet of water in order to dislodge these pests or use sticky repellents such as Arbico Organic’s Stiky Stuff Adhesive as this will also protect them.
Regular inspection is key to early identification of infestations on plants such as hibiscus, poinsettia, fuchsia and petunia. Pests usually feed off new growth; as you approach look out for swarms of tiny bugs flying off from these flowers or feel for sticky honeydew residue on their leaves that indicates feeding activity.
Outside, these pests prey upon ornamental flowers and warm-season vegetables such as tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, okra, and squash. Some species also prey upon cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage as well as fruit trees such as citrus and avocado trees; in addition, some will attack common houseplants like philodendron, dracaena and palms.
They eat plant juices
Whiteflies feed by sucking plant juices and exuding excess liquid as drops of honeydew, which attracts black mold and other fungal problems that compromise photosynthesis, weakening plants so they cannot photosynthesize properly; leaves may yellow or discolor; whole plants may die. Furthermore, these whiteflies spread more than 100 diseases and viruses while feeding; they suck sap out of plants, damaging stems and leaves as they do so.
Though there are hundreds of species, most whiteflies tend to specialize in feeding on specific crops and ornamentals, particularly greenhouse and ornamental houseplants like hibiscus, poinsettia and roses that they find particularly vulnerable. Other common hosts for whiteflies are citrus fruit trees, banana trees, mulberries and citrus banana trees. One particular whitefly pest, Trialeurodes vaporariorum can quickly overrun ornamentals within greenhouses as well as garden crops such as lantana crape myrtle myrtle myrtles as well as outdoor plants such as lantana crape myrtle neem.
An infestation of whiteflies is easily identifiable by tiny moth-like flies resting on the undersides of leaves, where they flutter up when disturbed but do not move far away. A magnifying glass may reveal clear-white eggs, nymphs or pupae on leaf undersides; alternatively, leaves may become covered in honeydew.
An effective way to control insect populations on plants that have become infested with insects is using water hose spraying or applying neem oil or horticultural oil fungicide. When applying these treatments it’s best to do it when your plants aren’t stressed, and early evening is best in order to avoid damage caused by overspraying.
Plants affected by whiteflies should be isolated until their infestation can be contained, while inquiring regularly into new plants as well as manually removing older leaves by hand or applying mulch that distorts sunlight to confuse whiteflies and deter their bites.
Weed control is also essential, as whiteflies rely on weeds as host plants when their preferred crop fails them. Benefin (Bayletone) herbicide can effectively inhibit many common weeds that attract whiteflies; it is available from most garden centers.
They damage plants
Whiteflies are sap suckers that attack plants by sucking up sap and leaving behind yellowed, bleached leaves that reduce photosynthesis and crop yields. Whiteflies also act as vectors, spreading disease among various crops such as beans, brassicas, citrus fruits, eggplant, grapes, okra peppers tomatoes squash among many other things including greenhouse ornamentals such as hibiscus poinsettia roses bedding plants begonia fuchsia petunia.
Whiteflies are notoriously small pests that can easily hide beneath leaves, puncturing plant tissue with needle-like mouthparts and sucking up sugary fluids from phloem to feed their sugary saliva and draining the plant of vitality. Over time, this can cause leaf distortion and eventually kill off an entire plant; additionally, some species of whiteflies can transmit diseases between plants through their saliva as well as transmit viruses through it.
Indoors, whiteflies attack many houseplants and ornamentals with soft leaves such as houseplants or ornamentals that use soft materials for bedding such as begonias, fuchsias, petunias or salvias; especially damaging are hibiscus, poinsettias and roses, bedding plants such as begonia, fuchsias petunias salvias etc. Outdoors they tend to attack vegetables such as tomatoes bell peppers cucumbers okra or squash trees which make their presence known; outdoors they tend to prefer vegetable or fruit tree varieties where soft surfaces exist for them to feast upon.
Whiteflies lay their eggs on the undersides of leaves in late spring. After five to ten days, these hatch into crawler nymphs which remain still until going through several more stages to become winged adults – this entire cycle taking two-and-a-half to five weeks in warm climates with several generations often coexisting within this span.
While it’s nearly impossible to completely rid greenhouses and indoor growing spaces of whiteflies, there are measures you can take that may help. First, inspect and quarantine new plants prior to adding them into existing ones; keep them separate for several weeks in a bay, bench, or area of the greenhouse to see any early infestations before they spread to other plants.
Traps can also help. Commercial sticky cards and traps can be purchased from stores; or you can create homemade traps out of 1/4-inch plywood or masonite board painted bright yellow, and mounted on stakes driven into the ground near infested plants. A handheld vacuum should also be used once every few days to suck up adults, nymphs and eggs without harming plants.