2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Small but remote whiteflies love to annoy gardeners and flower growers. Neither the walls of the apartment, nor the glass of greenhouses and greenhouses protect them from them. Moreover, the greenhouse conditions created for cultivated plants are very suitable for whiteflies that love warmth and moisture. Whiteflies are still those gourmets - they love to feast on begonia, pelargonium, fuchsia. If there are none on your windowsill, they can easily be content with other colors. Tiny white-winged "moths" adore the climate of cucumber greenhouses, affecting the leaves of the plant, and also settle in greenhouses for tomatoes. In the open field, they attack cabbage, strawberries, and in their absence, other berries, fruits and vegetables. We can say that whiteflies are omnivorous
Fertility of whiteflies
Despite the complex development of whiteflies, they are very fertile. In a hot and humid room, up to 15 generations of small white-winged moths develop per year. Their length in a calm "sitting" state, when the wings are folded decorously, is a maximum of 3 mm, more often they are even smaller. If it were not for their gluttony and ability to spread a viral infection, they would seem to us very gentle and cute creatures of God.
The complexity of the development of whiteflies lies in the fact that the adult lays eggs first. In nature, this happens in spring, in greenhouses and living quarters all year round. Finding a secluded spot on the back of a plant leaf, the whitefly lays eggs in ring-shaped groups. Each ring contains 10-20 eggs. After about a week, larvae hatch from the eggs. They begin to look for a more nutritious place, finding which they sit motionless on it for a couple of weeks, sucking the juices from the leaf. After the second molt, they pass into the stage of nymphs, covered with a thick waxy coating that does not react to any chemical poisons.
The full development cycle takes 25 days at 16-18 degrees and humid air. The lifespan of an individual is about a month. During this time, the female manages to lay up to 130 eggs.
How to spot a whitefly
All small pests have learned to hide well. The gardener-gardener is not able to look under every leaf, therefore, often small dirty tricks are found when it is almost useless to fight them. But, nevertheless, their presence can be noticed by some changes on the leaves of the plant.
Whitefly reveals itself in numerous small light spots on the face of the leaf. If you move a leaf, a whole white cloud of small insects flies out from under it. But the larvae that have stuck to the back of the leaf are more difficult to notice. To do this, firstly, you need to look under the sheet, and, secondly, they are very small, translucent and look like yellowish scales. The fact that these are whitefly larvae will become clear when the leaf turns yellow and falls off.
Honeydew
Harvest damage is caused not only by whitefly larvae, but also by the sweet secretions of insects called "honeydew". This sticky sap accumulates in whitefly habitats and is a breeding ground for other small pests, as well as for the development of spores of microscopic fungi. Fungi are most often black, and therefore branches and shoots, sweet from insect secretions and inhabited by a fungus, seem to be stained with soot. Fungi are engaged in the fact that they very actively destroy the organic matter of the plant, turning it into inorganic substances.
In addition, the whitefly is a carrier of viral plant diseases. Here is such a multifunctional pest, this little white moth.
Insect control
Along with the last resort - pesticides, which we use absolutely desperate to defeat the pest, there are ways that are safer for the person himself:
* We do not allow weeds that the whitefly loves to take root - runny, nettles.
* We plant high-quality seedlings.
* We hang sticky traps for flying individuals.
* We involve a vacuum cleaner to help. To do this, we guess the moment when the moths sit quietly and eat.
* We spray the plants with green soap or garlic infusion (150 grams of grated garlic, 1 liter of cold water, close tightly and keep for 5 days. Next, 6 grams of tincture per 1 liter of water). For prophylaxis, we spray with freshly prepared infusion of green dandelion leaves and roots.
* On one square meter of the greenhouse, we settle three pupae of the encarsia parasite, which develop by invading whitefly larvae. On tomatoes and peppers, the predatory macrolophus bug will be the best assistant in killing the whitefly, 7 individuals of which will cope with the pests of one plant. The minus of the bug is that it grows very slowly. The bug will also deal with spider mites and moth eggs.
* We carry out annual disinfection of the greenhouse and freeze it in winter.
* Indoor flowers are periodically inspected. When a whitefly appears, wash the leaves with soap. We use the above methods of struggle.
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