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Busy Lizzie Accent Mixed F1
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42 plug plants £16.35
Lily Oriental Stargazer - ideal for containers - 6
bulbs £6.49
Geranium T&M's Jackpot F1 - 25
plugs £6.99
Begonia Cascading Apricot Shades F1
2½ to 4 inch, mostly double blooms, 5 plants £9.99, 35 plugs +19 FREE £12.99
Busy Lizzie 'Blue Sky'™
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White Fly
Natural Pest Control : Whitefly Killer
Signs - Most commonly found on houseplants
and in greenhouses, when disturbing the leaves, the tiny white flies that
hide under the leaves will fly up.
Damage - Sap suckers, will weaken the
plant and make it susceptible to further attacks of pests and disease.
Treatment
  Tap the leaves and, as a cloud of flies up, suck them up
with a small car vacuum cleaner - take care! or you'll damage your tender
little pants.
Whiteflies are also attracted to yellow
paper, so you could try hanging strips of sticky yellow card which the
whitefly stick to - these are available commercially and if you think you
have whitefly will become covered surprisingly quickly. They also serve as a
good early warning for if you suspect that you will get whitefly.
Avoiding whitefly on tomatoes
without the use of chemicals. Plant French Marigolds (Tagetes) between
your tomato plants to keep those pesky Whitefly away. It's not that the Whitefly
particularly don't like these marigolds, it's because the pungent smell from the
marigolds masks the nice smell of the tomatoes that usually attract the
Whitefly.
Another option is to go for
biological
control. Biological control of a pest relies on introducing a predator
species so "fighting nature with nature", if chosen carefully, the
predator will stop damage to your plants without damaging the environment. Such
biological controls are safe for the user, children and pets. They will not harm
other beneficial garden insects and are biodegradable.
They do rely on the predator always having some food though, or they will die
out, so like other organic practices it is a question of maintaining a small
population of pests to allow the predators to be ready for them, in this case
though the balance is skewed away from the problem. The biological control for whitefly is the parasitic wasp,
Encarsia formosa. These minute little wasp's parasitise the whitefly
pupae. This turns the pupae black after a period of about 10-14 days depending
on temperature. From these pupae will emerge Encarsia formosa instead of
whitefly therefore controlling them. One wasp in the right conditions can
parasitise up to 150 whitefly scales. These wasps are harmless to all other
insects and animals
For effective control, regular introductions should be carried out.
Encarsia is only suitable for glasshouses and
conservatories. Encarsia needs a 24 hour average temperature in the
glasshouse of at least 17°C
Natural Pest Control : Whitefly Killer
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Insect deterrents
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Plants
Citron scents are particularly effective at deterring 'midges'; hence
the recent rise in popularity of citronella - fragranced garden candles.
Try growing plants with citrus-scented foliage,
such as
Geranium macrorrhizum
and
lemon balm. Another option is lemon verbena, which has wonderfully
aromatic foliage - not fully hardy though, so best to grow
it in a pot so that it can be brought into the greenhouse or conservatory
to over winter.
Other aromatic herbs have insect-repellent properties -
lavender
(or
here) has been used for this purpose for centuries, either in dried or
fresh form.
Mints can also help to repel aphids - spearmint or peppermint
can be grown near roses to deter these pests. |
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Chemical
insecticides
   If
your
plants get a heavy infestation, then I think it's acceptable to use
a chemical insecticide as a "smart missile" just on that particular
plant. I resort to this when
the aphids build up under cover on my favourite plum tree, or other plant/s.
Don't overdo
it and spray too often and don't spray the whole garden "just-in-case".
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