White Fly *After 24 hours of being set, these sticky traps are definitely doing their job! Just take a look at the pictures. What do they look like? The adult flies look like tiny moths, about 1.5mm in length, very active, snow-white, with 4 wings. Nymphs are less than 0.2 mm long, immobile, pale-green in color and oval. They have fine, white, wavy threads radiating from their bodies. Whiteflies are transparent to opaque and vary in colour from creamy white through to brown.
What do they do? Both adults and nymphs feed on the undersides of the leaves, sucking out the plant juices. Whiteflies excrete honeydew, a glazed, sticky material. This honeydew sometimes becomes covered with a sooty fungus that can completely cover the foliage. They can also transmit diseases from plant to plant.
How are they controlled? Control white fly by hanging sticky yellow traps (see photo) in and around the foliage of your plants, tomatoes etc. The yellow attracts the white fly and they simply stick to the sheet making it easy to see how many you have in your garden. They are available at garden centres and some hardware stores. Alternatively you can make your own by smearing vaseline on a yellow peice of card or plastic.
Biological control An interesting method of white fly control which is often utilised by commercial farmers and wholesale nurseries is the parasitic wasp Encarsia formosa. These tiny wasp lay there eggs in white fly eggs, the wasp larvae devour the white fly larvae and emerge as an adult wasp. The wasps are becoming increasingly popular amongst home gardeners and can actually be purchased.
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