Whiteflies are small insects resembling a moth, only much smaller (their size does not exceed 2 mm), covered with white or yellowish mealy pollen. For the first time the plant breeders encountered this parasite in the 80s of the 20th century and since then there has hardly been a single large greenhouse that would not have been exposed to this scourge.
Whiteflies cause great damage to plants. Not only do they feed on their juices, they also consume it much more than they need for their livelihoods, and the excess is allocated to the surface of the leaves. In this nutrient medium mushrooms multiply, which leads to a violation of normal breathing and photosynthesis. In addition, whiteflies are carriers of various diseases dangerous to plants.
Almost everyone who grows vegetables or flower plants, sooner or later face the problem of how to destroy the whitefly in the greenhouse. It is not easy to do this, and the success of plant protection procedures against this insect depends on many factors, in particular, on the prevalence of infection.
Undoubtedly, prevention is the first and most important way that can and must precede the emergence of the problem of combating the whitefly in the greenhouse. Preventive measures are as follows:
- Often the whitefly is brought into the greenhouse from the outside when planting. Therefore, carefully examined the acquired plants for infection - the presence of eggs on the underside of the leaves.
- Adhesive traps. With a preventive function, ordinary tapes for catching ordinary flies are excellent, but you can also buy special ones to fight flying sucking parasites.
But if the whitefly is already found in your greenhouse on tomatoes, celery, hibiscus and so on, you should take active measures to combat it, in order to save plants.
Whitefly in the greenhouse: methods of struggle
1. How to remove a whitefly from a greenhouse by a mechanical method? This method is suitable in the event that the area affected by insects is not too large. Thus, the leaves of each plant, precipitated by a parasitic insect, should be washed with a soap solution, cleaning eggs from them.
As well as for prevention, to get rid of whitefly in the greenhouse, you can use glue traps - purchased or self-made. To make them it is simple: a cardboard is cut by squares 8 on 8 sm and is smeared by rosin, honey, Vaselinum. Often a mechanical method is not sufficiently effective and one has to resort to additional measures.
2. Biological methods - are also effective at the initial stage of infection, when the number of occupied plants is still small. As natural means of struggle are used:
- infusion of dandelion - 40 g of leaves and 30 g of rhizomes should be filled with a liter of water and insist for 3 hours, then proceed to spraying. The procedure should be carried out every two weeks until the problem disappears;
- Wood ash - spreads evenly on the surface of the soil;
- garlic infusion - 100 g garlic denticles pour 500 ml of water and insist for 4-5 days. For spraying, 5 g of infusion is diluted per liter of water.
3. Chemical methods. If the above measures did not help to get rid of the whitefly in the greenhouse, you should think about how to deal with insects with the help of insecticides. So, for example, experienced gardeners recommend the drug acta, which showed high efficiency in the fight against sucking parasites. It is recommended to combine it with another tool - the acticle in those cases when it is necessary to get rid of the whitefly as quickly as possible.