Whitefly, those little beings who cause gardeners so much grief. I have dabbled in whitefly control and am willing to share some of the more successful methods I had. Here, are some of the more well known methods.
1st, and the one that seems most popular, is to spray the leaves with soapy water. Don't forget to do under the leaves as well as they seem to congregate in huge numbers underneath. Social meeting place? ;)
2nd, you can try flypaper type methods which involve hanging the stuff between the plants in the hope these little creepies will happily jump from the plant to their fate.
3rd, you can shake them off outside individually and hope they do not return to your plant(s) in the meantime.
Well, these were some methods which I came across and apart from the soapy water weren't that successful. The soapy water also requires a lot of work if you have a great many plants.
The one I found most successful was on the flypaper type method, but with a difference. Let me introduce you to:
Pinguicula x Wesser Butterwort
This is a 'flypaper' type carnivorous plant and is especially good
for catching Whitefly and other small insects. The variety
here sports lovely pink flowers and will catch pests all year round.
I initially bought the original specimen at Southport Flower Show. It said it was good for catching whitefly so I tried it. They also reproduce very easily. I had about 33 throughout a greenhouse at one point and they worked wonders at keeping the whitefly population to a bare minimum :)
How it works
The leaves are covered with a sticky substance which the flies stick
to before being slowly digested. This Pinguicula is best kept
in a heated greenhouse or bathroom although it can be used outside for short periods. I have used them in polytunnels for controlling whitefly on tomato plants and had no problems with them. The added bonus of course being that because these little beauties are carnivorous, there is no cleaning up afterwards :D Everything is absorbed by the plant.
Propagating
The plant grows as a rosette and eventually will split into two or more. These can easily divided to produce more plants.
Soil wise I used to use a mix of part sand and part compost. About half and half each way. It helped as the plant needed to be kept moist and this mix held the water better. Quick tip, try not to get any compost on the leaves when propagating.
Tender Loving Care
I also stood them in about 1 cm depth trays/dishes of rainwater. Has to be rainwater. This plants, like many carnivores, a very particular about what they stand in. The chemicals in normal tap water will kill the plant in the long term and so I also gave them rainwater. Best to fill the tray/dish and let the plant soak it up rather than showing the plant with water.
Other varieties
The Pinguicular above was found to be the best for the purposes of whitefly control, but there are also many others out there that will work.
The Pinguicular Wesser was a hybrid and also stayed carnivorous all year round. Other varieties functioned differently. I bought other specimens purely for interest and the different flowers and rosettes they produced.
Result
By the time I had been growing them for a while the whitefly population was no longer a problem. This plant will also catch black fly, greenfly and other small insects.
Have fun with your carnivores!!! ;D
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