white flies on tomatoes

[framer]

I have just noticed a lot of very small white flies on my fall tomato plants. When I was bumping the limbs for pollinating the blooms I noticed clouds of white very, very small white flies coming out of the plants. I didn't have a magnifier to check what they looked like. Do you have any idea what these might be & if they are bad?
Thanks
framer

[rags57078]

yep white flies , nasty little buggers and very hard to control

[kurt]

If you have a lot of plants dispatch now.They will tranfer through the piercing bites any diseases if present.If you are anti chemical best bet are Ladybugs, Lacewings,Parasitic Wasps.If you want to nuke them Solo has a sprayer with a inverted tip to get underneath leaves.For a small amount of plants daily hand removal of leaves and soapy water wipes will do.Look for a cloudy area which indicates a new egg laid cluster.By your description sounds like you have a infestation.

[b54red]

This is one of the few falls that I haven't been pestered badly by whiteflies. Maybe because I had to keep everything sprayed for spider mites during the late summer and it stopped them from accumulating. They will totally ruin fall beans and cucumbers and they are a real bother on tomatoes. They are really hard to control because like spider mites they reproduce rapidly and can reach a critical mass and cause plants to really wilt even if you don't have a lot of diseases for them to spread.

I haven't found anything that is really good at getting rid of them so I treat them just like I would spider mites if I don't have predators taking care of them. You need to use a very soapy mixture with whatever poison you try and spray every 2 to 3 days for a week or two to really get them under control. You also need to spray the ground under the plants and make sure to spray the undersides of the leaves.

Bill

[Tracydr]

Neem oil, Serenade and Murphy's oil soap worked for me.

[b54red]

Serenade didn't do a thing for whiteflies for me. Neem oil worked pretty good and Murphy's oil soap was okay but then I had a bad infestation a few years back and tried everything including an IGR which was not very effective either. The important thing was frequent spraying and alternating materials but they all needed a high content of soap to be very effective because of the waxy surface of the whitefly which makes them very difficult to wet with anything. If you have the time to spray every other day or even more often for a week or two you can get them under control pretty fast if there isn't a shrub or vegetation nearby where they are heavily infested. I have two shrubs near my garden which have to be sprayed also to get them under control or it is a losing battle.

Bill

[Tracydr]

I wonder if Diamectacous earth would work?

[clkeiper]

Originally Posted by b54red

I haven't found anything that is really good at getting rid of them so I treat them just like I would spider mites if I don't have predators taking care of them. You need to use a very soapy mixture with whatever poison you try and spray every 2 to 3 days for a week or two to really get them under control. You also need to spray the ground under the plants and make sure to spray the undersides of the leaves.

Bill

The apple trees are covered! there are clouds of them in the air when you look towards the west in the evening.I have never seen them so bad as they are this year. I am not worrying about spraying for them at this point as we are only a few weeks from frost...most likely, but I could do without it thats for sure... anyway, I was at a growers convention this past winter and I am sure that Actinovate has a fairly new product in its line specifically for whitefly in the greenhouse, but I would think it would be worth a try outside, too. It is a fungus, I do believe, that targets the pest. I wish I would have bought some as I don't remember what it was called and I forgot to inquire about it the last time I was down to the greenhouse supplier that sponsored the event.

[kurt]

Originally Posted by clkeiper

The apple trees are covered! there are clouds of them in the air when you look towards the west in the evening.I have never seen them so bad as they are this year. I am not worrying about spraying for them at this point as we are only a few weeks from frost...most likely, but I could do without it thats for sure... anyway, I was at a growers convention this past winter and I am sure that Actinovate has a fairly new product in its line specifically for whitefly in the greenhouse, but I would think it would be worth a try outside, too. It is a fungus, I do believe, that targets the pest. I wish I would have bought some as I don't remember what it was called and I forgot to inquire about it the last time I was down to the greenhouse supplier that sponsored the event.

http://bioag.novozymes.com/en/produc...s/Met52EC.aspx

http://www.evergreengrowers.com/met5...w-formula.html

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by kurt

http://bioag.novozymes.com/en/produc...s/Met52EC.aspx

http://www.evergreengrowers.com/met5...w-formula.html

I just used both links to go to those sites. Really interesting products, especially at evergreen. Saved to favorites. Thanks for posting these Kurt.

[kurt]

Originally Posted by ginger2778

I just used both links to go to those sites. Really interesting products, especially at evergreen. Saved to favorites. Thanks for posting these Kurt.

I suppose for greenhouse and larger outfits it is a plus.My only concerns are the statements regarding other beneficial harm.Ideal for greenhouses in enclosed areas,but in open ground and water who knows.Mo better than the alternatives.I myself would convert $120 into Ladybugs,Lacewings Beneficial Wasps.

[rags57078]

Originally Posted by kurt

http://bioag.novozymes.com/en/produc...s/Met52EC.aspx

http://www.evergreengrowers.com/met5...w-formula.html

very interesting thanks for the share

[clkeiper]

Originally Posted by kurt

I suppose for greenhouse and larger outfits it is a plus.My only concerns are the statements regarding other beneficial harm.Ideal for greenhouses in enclosed areas,but in open ground and water who knows.Mo better than the alternatives.I myself would convert $120 into Ladybugs,Lacewings Beneficial Wasps.

I don't know if the product will work outside as I stated before, but there are spreader stickers that adhere the product to the leaf surface. If the product is applicable with a spreader sticker ( and I think most of everything we have ever sprayed actually works for a far better/longer time with one than without) and if you are also spraying enough that you are selling the apples it will pay for itself in the end..... But, once again, I don't know if it is labeled for outside and with a spreader sticker. so, we each must figure out what works best for us individually. I sell my apples and can appreciate a product that helps control insects without spraying a synthetic spray every 7 - 14 days.

[metromix]

I don't know if your white fly is the same as the Australian white fly . But here we find that they are attracted to the colour yellow the brighter the better hang either plastic or cardboard that has either grease or Vaseline all over it and the fly's will get stuck to it . Works well for me

[ginger2778]

This is a commercial yellow sticky trap. The whiteflies are strongly attracted to it, as are leaf miner flies. You can see the smallest fly corpses, those are whiteflies. Since I have been using these, I wont say I am totally rid of them both, but I am virtually leaf miner and whitefly free.