So I woke up this morning and found that my indoor herb garden had been attacked by whiteflies. Ergh!

Chances are, they have been there for several days but I just noticed them. In fact, I know that’s the case.

Whiteflies are nasty little critters that attack plants, but they usually go undetected until they numbers are plentiful. This is because white flies feed off the bottom sides of plants’ leaves.

I have already begun taking care of the problem.  If you have a whitefly problem, here’s how to get them off of your herb plants (or vegetable plants):

• Prune the plant, removing all of the obviously-diseased leaves and stems. Whiteflies excrete the same clear, sticky ooze that aphids do (it’s called honey dew). Plants that have been sucked to death and covered with honey dew will not bounce back. Better to get them off of the plant as soon as possible.
• Spray with insecticidal soap. I just started this today, but last time I had to treat for white flies, I treated every other day for an entire month. White flies are tricky critters, and you need to be heavy-handed with treatment.
• You can use white fly traps stuck into or near your plant, to attract and entrap white flies. These are bright yellow sticky papers that attract whiteflies. They will eagerly (and greedily) leave your plant, thinking they’ve found a new, sweeter host to live off of.

Originally posted 2009-10-16 21:18:33. Republished by Blog Post Promoter