While small, whiteflies can have a major impact on greenhouses, and their peak season is right around the corner. Because the insects thrive in hot weather, their populations multiply rapidly from July to October. For growers, understanding their behavior during this period is crucial for developing a plan to protect plant quality and profitability.
What Are Whiteflies?
Whiteflies are tiny, moth-like insects with an oval shape and two pairs of wings. They nest in bedding, garden plants, potted plants and cut flowers, reproducing quickly and expanding to larger areas over time. Their eggs can be spotted on the underside of leaves, appearing cone shaped.
How Do Whiteflies Threaten Greenhouses?
While small, whiteflies are large threats to greenhouses as they feed on the underside of leaves with their piercing mouths, stunting plant growth and causing plants to become sticky and discolored.
Whiteflies function as carriers that can transmit over one hundred different plant viruses. These viruses are acquired when whiteflies feed on an already infected plant and then are transmitted to new plants once the whiteflies move on to continue feeding, initiating a new cycle of infection.
Adults attach themselves to plants and can be easily unsettled, fluttering up when the plant is watered or handled.
Stop the Spread of Whiteflies in Greenhouses with the Right Solutions
A combination of ClearLeaf® Insecticide/Miticide, Enstar® AQ Insect Growth Regulator, and Mavrik Aquaflow® Insecticide/Miticide make for a winning defense against growing whitefly populations in any greenhouse.
ClearLeaf® Insecticide/Miticide is a formulation designed specifically for greenhouse operations, offering broad-spectrum insect control against whiteflies, as well as aphids, thrips and mites.
Enstar® AQ Insect Growth Regulator is a water-based formulation that prevents existing whitefly populations from reaching adulthood through its active ingredient S-Kinoprene, also causing current adult insects to lay sterile eggs. Enstar® AQ Insect Growth Regulator can also be rotated and used in tandem with Mavrik Aquaflow®, that kills existing adult whiteflies through contact or ingestion on the underside of leaves. It is non-phytotoxic and is an ideal tank-mix partner.
Don't make more than 1--2 consecutive applications of the same IRAC group before switching. Start your whitefly control program based on monitoring (yellow sticky cards and leaf inspections for eggs/nymphs), not the calendar---begin as soon as you detect the first adults, eggs, or nymphs, or when bringing in new plant material. Starting early prevents multiple life stages from establishing, reduces the need for rescue sprays, and minimizes resistance buildup, especially during hot months when whiteflies develop faster.
Stay Ahead of Whiteflies
Looking for signs of whitefly development early on, combined with utilizing solutions from Central Life Sciences is an unbeatable way to protect your greenhouse and quality of plants from unwanted threats throughout the season.
