How to Identify and Get Rid of Whiteflies on Plants

How to Get Rid of Whiteflies

There are various solutions and traps that you can use to control whiteflies. The biggest tip is to start early! In the mornings and evenings, as you wander the garden or tend to your houseplants, check the back of the leaves for eggs or notice when little bugs fly away as you approach your plants.

• Always start with blasting whiteflies (as with aphids and many other insect pests) with your watering hose or a spray bottle. This will cause them to scatter, which will dislodge nymphs and eggs to some extent.
• Consider spraying your plants’ leaves with insecticidal soap, following the directions on the packaging. Be sure to spray the undersides of the leaves too. Follow up two or three times, as necessary. According to M. L. Flint, extension entomologist emeritus at the UC Davis Department of Entomology, “Most less-toxic products such as insecticidal soaps, neem oil, or petroleum-based oils control only those whiteflies that are directly sprayed. Therefore, plants must be thoroughly covered with the spray solution, and repeat applications may be necessary.”
  • Tip: Spray plants in the evening when temperatures are cooler, as midday heat may cause an adverse reaction in your plant. Plus, spraying in the evening allows you to avoid accidentally spraying any pollinators or beneficial insects.
• According to the National Gardening Association, the following simple homemade mixture should be helpful to control and deter whiteflies: Use a mix of dish soap and water. A good squirt of soap to a gallon of water should work. As mentioned above, only spray in cooler temperatures; late in the day is best. The NGA mixture is a pretty benign combination, and whiteflies are nearly impossible to get rid of, so it’s best to try more preventative tactics first, as mentioned below.
• If all else fails and your whitefly population is persistent, you can (carefully) use a handheld vacuum every few days to remove them from your plants. This gets rid of both nymphs and adults. Just be sure to avoid emptying your vacuum into a trash can inside your home afterward!

How to Prevent Whiteflies

• Your first line of defense should be inspecting all plants for pests before you bring them home and keeping any new additions away from the rest of your plants for a period of time. This will allow you to identify and curtail any existing pest or disease issues.
• Keeping natural predators around will prevent whiteflies from ever exploding in population. For this reason, avoid using insecticides. Ladybugs, spiders, green lacewing larvae, and dragonflies are a few of the many beneficial insects that can control a whitefly population. Hummingbirds are another natural predator. Try creating a habitat that will attract dragonflies and damselflies (which also helpfully eat mosquitoes) or beautiful hummingbirds.
• When it comes to whiteflies, avoid chemical insecticides; they’re usually resistant, and all you’ll do is kill the beneficial insects—whiteflies’ natural predators—and the insects that pollinate the garden for a better harvest.
• Mulch early in the season with aluminum reflective mulch, especially around tomatoes and peppers. The reflective mulch makes it challenging for whiteflies to find their preferred host plants.
• Set out yellow index cards coated with petroleum jelly to monitor whiteflies, especially for tomatoes, peppers, sweet potatoes, or cabbage crops. A half-and-half mixture of petroleum jelly and dish soap, spread over small boards painted bright yellow, is sticky enough to catch little whiteflies too. To whiteflies, the yellow color looks like a mass of new foliage. The bugs are attracted to the cards, get stuck in the jelly, and die.