Last year my old hibiscus got badly infected with white flies. I tried hosing it down often but they seemed to be winning. Winter greatly reduced them but they were still around. I gave up thinking that it was hopeless.
Then I noticed a lot of small spider webs and when I examined the plant today the white flies seem to be gone. It is quite amazing how nature works.
Giant White Fly
Cool if that is the case. I am slightly concerned though, because if you do have the giant white fly (which is a particular type of whitefly), they do make their own waxy filaments that often look like "spider webbing." So I would keep my eye out to see if they come back.
Here's a picture of some giant whitefly damage, including the waxy filaments that often look like "webbing".
And here's a close-up of a giant whitefly looking down on it from above.
Night_Bloom, yes they make lots of the waxy strings. But what I am seeing this sp0ring is lots of fine spider webs and there are a number of white fly caught in the webs.
I know that the balance may shift and the white flies may take over again. I hope that if I leave them alone the spiders will prevail.
It certainly did no good last year when my gardener sprayed with some unkonwn pesticide and when I wasthed the hibiscus down every few days.
George, well that is indeed cool then that the spiders are prevailing.
And yes, sometimes pesticide can be a problem if it gets too many good insects. Scales are a good example of that, sometimes after spraying for something else, scales will "resurge" in their place, because the ususal natural enemies are gone.
If your whiteflies do return, you might want to try a systemic such as imidicloprid. It will be less likely to affect the predators and parasites, but will still do the job on the whiteflies.
My pictures are from a case in southern Georgia sent in for identification from a homeowner's hibiscus - the first official case of the giant whitefly in Georgia. Now the question will be: did they survive the past winter and are we stuck with them now? Heh.
Thanks, Night_Bloom for the inforamtion on the systemic. I should get some just in case.
Dave certainly has built a wonderous place where people from all over the world get together and help each other.
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