Found the cure for whiteflies & aphids

I have discovered that Bayer Advanced All In One will keep they at bay. After years of battling whiteflies on my confederate this stuff works .. here it is August and no black dessicated leaves. I just mixed it up in a bucket according to directions. No whiteflies, aphids, or ants. It's systemic so when the little buggers suck up the juice in the leaves it kills them before they can multiply.

I wish I had know about this last year .. after being so tired of battling whiteflies and losing for the last 4 years I finally gave up and traded away all but 2 of my confederate roses.

I've started using it on other plants that get whiteflies and aphids and it seems to be working just as well.

X

Just make sure not to use it on anything edible--the systemic gets taken up into all the plant tissues so definitely no eating fruits/veggies that have been treated with it. There's also some info out there suggesting that it might have a negative impact on bees. I think there may be some conflicting opinions out there about the effect on bees but I'd recommend doing some searching on that and then make up your own mind whether you feel good about using it or not before everyone starts treating everything with the stuff.

Ecrane, I did consider that but I haven't seen 1 honey bee this year .. not one .. only wasps and bumble bees.

X

is it good for gnats? ecrane your sugggestions about he mosquito stuff has help alot but there re still a few.

There are probably better things for the gnats--how the systemic works is it gets absorbed into all the plant's tissues and makes them poisonous if someone tries to nibble on a leaf, etc which is why it works so well on sucking insects like aphids. The adult gnats don't eat plants, it's the larvae in the soil that cause problems so if you use the spray-on version of 3-in-1 I don't think that'll help. There's another version that you drench the soil with and then the plant absorbs the chemical through the roots--when the stuff first came out they weren't recommending that one for containers just for plants in the ground (not sure exactly the reason why or if things have changed recently). That one might have some efficacy against the larvae in the soil but since that's not really what it's designed for I think there might be better options. (also keep in mind that the mosquito dunks only treat the larvae not the adults, so it's possible you've fixed your problem already and just don't realize it because you still have a couple of adults around...get out the yellow sticky traps and see if you can catch them, then watch to see if you're still getting more)

X, I've been extremely tempted to try Bayer 3 in 1, too, since ripening fancy morning glory seed pods indoors after frost (am rooting tips of outdoor vines to continue growing indoors in containers) will greatly help to perpetuate many of those cultivars for me. And my house indoors is catnip to white flies et al grrr.

My experience totally concurs with ecrane's and I don't have a whole lot extra to add, but thought a little more food for thought might help.

Like ecrane, I understand that a causal link between Bayer's ingredients - Imidacloprid, and now clothianidin - and bee decline has not been definitively proved. But France and Germany have now banned Bayer (sold as Gaucho over there) - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imidacloprid_effects_on_bee_population for their reasons.

Those residues of imidacloprid in nectar and pollen mentioned in the above wiki link are disturbing to me (I was surprised to learn that there are both floral and extra-floral nectaries in plants which are visited by quite a variety of insects which would extend just how far Imidacloprid and its other neonicotinoid siblings can be spread into a given habitat - http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=4031024 . ) Consequences of chemical impact on wildlife and the environment are not always immediate apparent - look how far gone the eagle population was before the causal link between eagles and DDT was taken seriously.

This isn't an easy decision to make. Right now, I'm thinking about a multi-pronged approach to these pests this fall and winter. X and others, I'd love your feedback on it - have you been doing all of the following and still losing plants to white flies et al? Following is my plan:

I'm thinking about massing my pots on a desk top within a plastic tent under grow lights with a small fan as long as it takes to ripen those pods after frost, and spraying them regularly with some kind of horticultural oil (Safers?) recommended for aphids and white flies. I thought Illoquin's (Suzy's via garden6) technique looked very useful and inexpensive - especially that part about soaking the roots in the container with a solution containing Joy dish detergent. Perlite on the surface + watering from the bottom with a dash of hydrogen peroxide (H202) in the water has helped control fungus gnats for me, as well. I have also been alternating the H202/water solutionwith those mosquito dunks through past winters. I plan to do better with ecrane's advice on sticky traps, too.

Looking forward to all your comments - thanks in advance,
Karen

The position I've taken personally is that in the winter when things are locked up in the greenhouse where pests can spread like crazy but there probably aren't too many beneficials hanging around, I will sometimes use the 3-in-1 that has the claim that it lasts 1 month. I figure that'll knock out the bad guys but work itself out of the plant's tissues by the time they come out of the GH and might be visited by bees, etc. So I think you could make the same argument for houseplants, when they're indoors there's not much chance of doing significant harm to beneficials. Outdoors during the warmer months I do most of my bug control via garden hose, with and occasional followup with insecticidal soap or neem if the hose doesn't quite fix things. I haven't had whiteflies but I've taken care of aphids, spider mites, and scale that way. Do be careful if you're spraying the stuff indoors though--read the warning label first, I think there are some warnings on there about not breathing it in. My GH is small so I usually just hold my breath, spray quickly, and then get out but in the house that's a bit harder to do!

According to the label, you should apply at 6 week intervals. considering that Confederate Rose doesn't start blooming til late September you can time applications accordingly.

I've often wondered how aphids get on your plants in the first place .. do they come from the soil and climb up them? Do ants bring them? Is there an aphid stork? They just seem to appear magically overnight!. I always try to be judicious in my use of insecticides, usually spraying on demand and not as a prophylactic.

I fought and lost the battle of the whiteflies for years on my Confederate Rose. Unlike other plants like brugmansia in which they are easy to control with more benign methods, nothing seemed to stop them on the CR except bayer and imidacloprid is what has kept my Impatiens niamniamensis 'Congo Cockatoo'" (in the greenhouse) from succumbing to aphids. It's just starting to recover and I'd really hate to lose it.

As the song goes, "darned if you do and darned if you don't". I've done a lot of reading from sources all over the world about Colony Collapse. I'm no expert, but the culprit seems to be the genetically engineered plants with the pesticide/herbicide genes. Monsanto scares me more than Bayer.

X

Thanks, you two, for the feedback. I think I'll add some Neem oil to my arsenal.

We overwinter brugs dormant in our cellar, which stays around 50 - 55*F. They get a small monthly snort of water - just enough to barely dampen the surface - until they start leafing out in April, at which time they get horsed outdoors and seriously watered. Haven't noticed any bugs pestering the dormant cellar group. The late writer for the Washington Post, Henry Mitchell, used to overwinter Cestrum nocturnum the same way.

Scented geraniums seem to withstand white flies through winter okay. They start making new leaves around the winter solstice for us, at which time I spray a horticultural oil - best not to let the bugs get too out-of-hand, though. Which plants would you say best withstand white flies?

I think I'm going to rely on horticultural oil & soaps & Neem oil for indoors. If I may respectfully give my opinion here, I think Bayer and Monsanto have a lot to answer for regarding many issues not limited to bee disappearances. This is probably a bad topic to discuss here - best to google those two.

This gives up-to-date information on the ongoing research into CCD. A virus spread by a mite is the prime suspect now. The banning of imidacloprid in Europe was a knee jerk reaction to what was perceived as the cause but never proven. CCD was around long before imidacloprid came on the scene. However, because it takes time to know how chemicals will impact the environment, I think it is best if we be very careful about their use.
http://www.ars.usda.gov/News/docs.htm?docid=15572

There are some pesticides that I will NEVER use, and there are a few others that I will use only if absolutely necessary. Imidacloprid is one of the latter.

I spoke with the director of Cockrell Butterfly Center in Houston, and he told me that they use imidacloprid in the Center (tall glass enclosed building which you enter and walk around in, with many plants for the butterflies - quite humid), to fight insects. He claims that it not only does not impact the adult butterflies, it also doesn't impact the caterpillars. I have been told that apparently imidacloprid doesn't pass into the flowers - protecting the nectar drinking adults. (But to not hurt the caterpillars? Just one of my Huh? moments.)

We use a granular Marathon (imidacloprid) in the greenhouse. No spraying involved. It is simply sprinkled on the soil of the potted plant.

Just thought I'd chime in, since this has been one of my major areas of concern for some time now.

I'd just like to report that the 6 week interval for Bayer All-In-One to clear the plant is pretty much right on the dot. I gave my last application the last week in August to the Confederate Rose. Starting a little less than a week ago, caterpillars got on the plant and put holes in every last bud!!!!!!! GRRRRRR am I hopping mad. An interesting aside though .. the CR I have in a container (it was my test plant to see if CR crowns transplanted easily) which wasn't treated has had no problems what-so-ever with bugs!

I am definitely going to be using this stuff in the greenhouse this winter. Once you get an infestation of whatever in the greenhouse, it's virtually impossible to get control over it no matter how much you spray .. usually by January I'm fighting aphids and spidermites. I'm hoping this year will be different.

X

In the GH in the wintertime is the one and only place that I'll use the systemics, I had good luck with it last year keeping stuff off my hibiscus which are normally bug magnets.