[Arid_gardener] Question from Home-Hort WWW page

[Monica Krausse]

Hi -- I had the same problem with whiteflies on my grapevines last year. 
>From what I've read, spraying with pesticides doesn't hurt them and just 
kills beneficial insects (wasps, ladybugs) that feed on them.

So I took someone's advice and started spraying the leaves with water 
from a hose -- a good, strong spray -- early in the morning, just around 
dawn, while the whiteflies were still on the leaves and not flying 
around. I worried a little bit about tearing the leaves, but the vine 
survived just fine.

I did this every other morning (breaking the watering regulations in my 
city, by the way) for most of the spring and summer.  I'd read that 
early morning is when they mate, and that their life cycle was just a 
few days long, so I was trying to break up the cycle.

I think it helped. There are certainly fewer this spring than last. Of 
course, they might have all finally drowned when we had our torrential 
rains in August.

I also put up yellow sticky fly-catcher traps, and that turned out 
horribly: They got caught in the traps, but so did small birds.

One other tip that I've read, but haven't tried, is to put a plastic 
baggie around a flyswatter, smear vaseline on the outside of the baggie, 
and swish it around the plant. The whiteflies are supposed to get stuck 
in the vaseline, and then you dispose of the baggie. If it works, that 
might at least keep the population down.

-- Monica in El Paso

shorty_pt at msn.com wrote:

>Betsy Merkel
>85375
>shorty_pt at msn.com
>
>I am having a terrible time with white flies on mu hibiscus plants.  I have tried all sorts of pesticides, but nothing seems to get rid of them.  Do you have any suggestions?  Also, i have a corn plant that is twlve years old and has reached the ceiling.  I cut off the top several feet, and put it in water.  I was told it would grow roots in about three weeks, but I do not see any roots coming.  This plant came from my Dad's funeral, and I don't want it to die.  Can you help me?  
>
>
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