Lions, tiger, and bears? No croton scale, mealy bud, now whitefly.

This is the first infestation of spiral whitefly I have seen on my crotons....ever. I am battling it on virtually every palm in my collection, and now it's jumping to crotons. I venture to say, it will be on every broad leafed plant in time. My neighbor has seen it on his heliconia, cordyline, philodendron, and even bromeliads.

I have just ordered a huge shipment of green lacewing, a natural predator. I hope that those guys will take care of it.

Have you seen whitefly on your crotons or palms yet??

 

Rick - I recall that you used Bayer 3-in-1 in the past. Are you still using it?

My question is a curiousity if the whitefly is building a resistance to the systemic pesticide in the product.

I know that Chris Mayhew (pocomo) used the lacewings on his organic vegetable garden this winter to control an aphid outbreak with a very good result. He bought larve which are much more expensive than the eggs. I was unaware that they will feed on the whitefly. Would be interesting if the lacewing would like the croton scale? If seen lady beetles dine on the scale. Usually the lady beetles don't make the scene until the scale is prevalent on the plant. I have not witnessed the lady beetles achieve victory either.

My wife ate alot of the vegetables out of that Chris and Doris' organic garden! Lucky for me that Doris is addicted to my avocados. Chris had to make a weekly avocado run to the Moose Land. He kept delivering beautiful fresh organically grown vegetables - he really spoiled Pam.

 

Ron,
The pesticide in Bayers 3:1 is imidilcloprid (sp?). Yes, it has been tested and works on croton scale and whitefly, however, as you have mentioned, the whitefly develop an immunity to it. This is also the family of pesticides which have virtually killed off the bee population. Apparently it affects their nervous system and radar, and they can not find their way back to the hive. Unfortunate.

I really do hate to use any pesticides, I think about all the good insects and life that it kills....lady bugs, lizards, etc.

 

I've used coffee for a good variety of insects and arachnids with good results; either 'sun coffee' or just dilute leftover cold coffee; all the used coffee grounds go in the croton patch.
CFPACS has an upated paper based upon Tom Broome's work with coffee and CAS. In several conversations with him , he also has noted its effectiveness against a wide variety of pests. ...and the price is right!

 

There's a good article in todays' Miami Herald on the pests and predators on the gumbo limbo. Apparently a couple years ago the croton scale began attacking the tree and a specific lady bug ,Azya orbigera began to bring the croton sccale under control, then the rugose (formerly gumbo limbo spiral ) whitefly began to attack the gumbo limbo and another ladybug (not named in the article) and a parasitic wasp are beginning to control the whitefly. Hoping to find these bugs to get in my garden. I don't have much scale but a couple of crotons seem to attract them more than others. And the whitefly seems to be under control here.
You still hungry Ron?

 

Yes, Chris just beat me to it posting about the Miami Herald article. The bottom line is, their hoping that some of our local predator insects will eventually keep the spiral whitefly in check. But, this could take a couple of more years or so. Their seeing good results from the ladybug and wasp so far. It was also stated that Gumbo Limbos and other trees would probably not outright die from the whitflies, just look aweful over time. This will take some time....

 

Tigers? Huh? How about a Tiger Eye, no whitefly. Not anywhere close to Rick's beautiful specimen, but I'm trying.

 

Has anyone noticed if Merit is becoming a little less lethal to the scale??I ask because I treated a few plants 3 months ago with merit and the scale are back with a vengeance.It used to last 6-12 months??

 

Mike,

I have been using merit for about 2-3 years now and I can't say I've seen any drop off for it's effectiveness.

 

I've also had good results with Merit.