White fly

[Angie Gibbons]

Anyone got any suggestions for organic solutions for whitefly on kale?

Angie

[Jools]

I have planted basil, marigolds and shoo-fly under my lemon tree and it seems to have worked.  I also planted shoo-fly (nicandra) around my tamarillo seedlings and they have had not one single pest on them apart from snails/slugs which are dealt with by my beer traps.

[Lena]

I have just made a new discovery.
I put a yellow plastic bag into a barrel of water to wash it, then went off to fix something.
When I came back the surface of the water was covered in millions of white-fly.
I have been using yellow traps covered in grease for years but never thought of this.
Today I saw that my lemon tree had millions of the wee sods flying round, so filled a bright yellow bucket with water & left it by the tree.

I bought those buckets to cover with grease, but todays results will keep them filled with water & many more like them.
From now on I only buy yellow buckets.

[Jools]

That's great Lena I will try that. I had been thinking about the yellow sticky traps but was afraid they would trap bees. My lemon tree is full of white fly. Nightmare!

[Lena]

I would still spray with Neem oil though.
I feed & spray each Sunday that way I remember to do it.
Being ancient, I forget what got fed & what got sprayed otherwise.
I see it as my service to nature day.

[Lena]

White fly are the bane of my life.
Every time the council mow the local playing fields they arrive like a great snow storm.
I have covered the place with bright yellow anything & everything covered in Vaseline & there they stick in their millions. Much to my joy.
I blast them off by spraying under the leaves they land on the yellow stuff.
Does not get them all but sure thins them down.

[Jools]

I have the same problem on my lemon tree so will definitely try the marigolds. I also heard they don't like the smell of basil so will try that too.

[Lena]

Yesterday my daughter told me that her book said, white fly don't like nasturtiums.
My nasturtiums did not die out this winter & are further ahead this year, so we shall see if it is any better with them about this season.

[Scott Thiemann]

Winter!!! only joking, but what a difference in numbers from this autumn--they were awful! I was recently reading somewhere that spraying the ground under the leaves (only organic solutions of course--like garlic spray), might help.