whitefly on sprouts

[Hyacinth]

 The plants look healthy, v. little damage to their leaves & sprouts forming. But clouds of whitefly when I go by them.
My first year growing them - solution please?
Thanks.

[Hyacinth]

[Mrs Ava]

Well, you could spray - I know 'Bugs Away' has on the bottle whitefly.  Mine are the same, I keep hoping a cold snap will bump them all off.

[tim]

This has been mooted before - can't see any damage on any of our brassica.

But who knows!!

[wellingtons]

I had whitefly on my sprouts last year and I really do prefer not to spray, first cold snap and whitefly gone!

Mine aren't too bad this year, but I have planted them next to my indian bean tree and the undersides of that are like sticking plaster for small flying bugs ... so I waft the sprouts about a bit and try and get as many as I can stuck to a leaf ... sad I know, but hey it amuses me!

[saddad]

I put them as far away from the path as I can, on the bottom lottie... so they don't bother me... can be counter productive if they get pigeoned though!
;D

[Hyacinth]

Thanks all. I'll leave them then. Now......what makes some of the sprouts all open and blowsy? Anything I've done wrong? One plant is absolute rubbish..

[Mrs Ava]

Soft ground I believe Lish.  I stamp them in and give them a stake for support.

[Hyacinth]

Is that all EJ? Thanks for that. 8)

[busy_lizzie]

Hi Lish.  Having the same problem on my sprouts.  I have never seen so many, even more that last year.  Mine seem sticky .  I think someone suggested one of those battery operated mini vacuum cleaners some time ago, which sounds quite a good idea, So I will have to give that a go to squish them up - worth a try!  ??? busy_lizzie

[tim]

As Wellies says - just annoy them!!

[KMARKSnr]

Tried garlic spray wash yesterday,and it seems to have worked !

                Regards,
                      Mark.

[tim]

The first today - not too bad. Lots of very cross flies!!

[Hyacinth]

Nice sprouts Tim - no flies on you, eh? ;D

[cambourne7]

I am guessing the garlic spray is just crushed garlic and water?

[deboydoyd]

Mine are covered in whitefly, and I tried to wade through the plants today to tidy up a bit, and it was impossible - in my mouth, in my hair, yuk. What I want to know is, are you supposed to remove the dead/dying leaves from bottom up ? An allotment neighbour has trimmed all his off, then covered the remainder with a bag made of old net curtain. A lot of mine are blown too.

[Hyacinth]

I can't see that the dead and dying leaves are beneficial, so.....yep! mine have gone too. Your neighbour's plants must look like giant sticks of candyfloss D. Those whitefly are horrid but with the reassurance we've been given that they'll die off when the cold comes, I've left them.

[tim]

Definitely get the yellowing leaves off! Beat the whitefly with them?

[NottsBoy]

On the same basis as the garlic method you can also use rhubarb.
Put a load of old &/or dead rhubarb leafs in a bucket or barrel of water with a lid and then let it ferment for a week+ when its warm, longer if cold weather. The water turns putrid and smelly, disturb all the white fly by walking past, gentle shake plants etc then use a watering can of the fermented water over the plants and surrounding area. The science is that they don't like the smell and also the smell is stronger than brassicas so the flies can’t find the plants to return to.
You can keep topping up the barrel with any old rhubarb & water during the year so less wasteful than using garlic bulbs.
Points to note A) It's smelly B) the flies may then seek out other plants so if you have some that are not effected water those with the mixture first.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Not only does it smell, it's full of oxalic acid so any insect it gets on will end up slightly dead.

[Roy Bham UK]

 ::) I found a site on Google but do you think I can find it now? no way so I will type some of the interesting stuff I found. ::)

Safer-Soap® works well and helps to dislodge the whiteflies from the plant, spray weekly and follow directions on bottle.

Home-made remedy: Remove leaves with egg patterns. (They'll be sucked dry anyway) Cut out a piece of yellow cardboard and coat with petroleum jelly or Vick vapour rub. Stick the coated cardboard into the soil next to the plant. Shake the plant and the flying insects, attracted to the yellow colour, will unwittingly "stick" themselves to the cardboard, do this every day until you no longer see the tiny white fliers flitting around anymore.

There were other ideas with the use of adhesive on cardboard but my fingers are too tired to type anymore, sorry. :P ;D