How to successfully deal with whitefly on tomatoes?

In the garden and in greenhouses, whitefly often harms tomatoes, methods of dealing with which have been developed for years. As soon as the seedlings are planted in a permanent place in the ground, after a week or two, carefully examine the back side of its leaves. It is there that many pests of garden crops are hiding, among them the whitefly, a bit like a moth, but much smaller. It can migrate from tomatoes to other plants, causing significant damage to the crop.

Signs of the presence of whitefly on tomatoes are obvious:

• yellowish or whitish spots appeared on the leaves, later they will turn black;
• the top of the leaves (but not those that grow at the top of the bush, but located below) acquires a varnished shine;
• leaves begin to curl and wither;
• if you touch a bush of tomatoes, white midges flying up are noticeable;
• fruits ripen slowly, whitish streaks are visible in the pulp.

All this suggests that whiteflies have started up on the tomatoes and we must fight with them.

The moth is small, but the harm is considerable

Fighting such a white and fluffy-looking enemy that seriously harms tomatoes can be competently and effectively by studying its life cycle. Whitefly is a small insect, from one and a half to three millimeters in length, its white wings are covered with a fine powdery bloom. On the leaves of plants, whiteflies are located on the lower side, and therefore immediately they can not be noticed. However, traces of their activity will be clearly visible when the colony grows and begins to spread.

One individual can lay up to 250 eggs. Caterpillars secrete a waxy enzyme that sticks them to the surface. The larvae feed by sucking the juice from the tomato leaf, which is why it gradually withers and dries up. Upon closer examination of the back of the still green and healthy-looking leaf, you can only see small gray formations, similar to grains of sand. But more damage is done to parts of the plant that are below the insect settlement.

All the results of the life activity of whiteflies fall on the lower leaves, forming at first a shiny sticky bloom. The feces of these moths contain spores of soot fungi that grow into the leaf tissue. The infected part of the plant first acquires a whitish bloom, and then turns black. If there are a lot of insects, there is nothing to help planting tomatoes. You just have to think about the neighboring plants and save them by destroying the tomato plantation. In order not to have to do this, you need to carefully and regularly examine the tomato bushes.

The best method is prevention

Before fighting whitefly on tomatoes, you can prevent its appearance by observing the rules of agricultural technology.

• The first rule is that tomato seedlings are placed according to the optimal scheme: only four bushes (50x50 or 70x30) should grow on one square meter. Such proportions will allow the air to freely walk between the plants, which prevents the occurrence of many diseases. If the plantings are tight, mold and other fungi can start. In addition, the seedlings literally recapture each other's nutrients, and all parts of the plant suffer from a lack of sunlight. Accordingly, they weaken and succumb to pests.
• In the fall, you need to take care of the site and clean it from the tops, thoroughly loosen the ground.
• When purchasing tomato seedlings on the market, you need to carefully consider the leaves from below, because this is where insects are hiding.
• If tomatoes are to be grown in a greenhouse, in frosty weather it is necessary to open it so that the soil inside is frozen. There is a chance that the pests hidden in it will die.
• If the seedlings have already grown, the greenhouse should be ventilated more often. Tomatoes tolerate a temperature of +15 degrees normally, and this is very uncomfortable for a whitefly.

Advice

Compost cannot be laid in the garden for the winter, because all harmful insects and pathogens will be able to winter there.

In addition, it must be remembered that these small moths can live anywhere, including on any purchased flowers that are placed in the house. If the seedlings are grown on windows in winter, it is possible that pests can start here too.

Gardeners treat tomatoes with all kinds of whitefly remedies to win back a good harvest. There are many techniques that everyone uses according to their choice.

People's ingenuity to help

Garden owners share valuable experience and advice on how to destroy the whitefly and remove it from the greenhouse. Not all methods are effective, but if you are afraid to use chemicals, you should use proven folk.

• There is an opinion that whiteflies willingly flock to yellow planes. Pieces of yellow cardboard are greased with some kind of oily substance so that the moths stick, and hung in the greenhouse. Similar traps with an adhesive composition are now sold in retail chains.
• Ordinary sticky tapes that are bought for flies or moths are also placed. To use them more effectively, they are cut into several pieces - thus one skein is enough for the entire area of ​​the greenhouse.
• Some argue that whitefly can be eradicated by using tobacco smoke. To do this, a small fire is made inside the greenhouse, where a handful of tobacco leaves are thrown.
• Whiteflies flock to the light at night. Therefore, in greenhouses or close to the site, an old kerosene lantern is placed or the power grid for an ordinary incandescent lamp is supplied. You can also put a blowtorch on the threshold of the greenhouse: many insects will die, and carbon dioxide will be beneficial, especially for pollination of cucumbers, as some gardeners note.
• If there are relatively few whiteflies on tomatoes, insects are washed off with a stream of water from a hose.

What herbs will tomatoes save?

All these whitefly remedies can kill adults, but what about the larvae? There are two options: either periodically repeat the procedure, or use deterrent infusions of wild and cultivated plants.

• The most popular and readily available is garlic infusion. Weigh 150 g of cloves, grind (for greater effect, you can crush into gruel), pour 1 liter of water. The mixture is placed in a container that closes tightly, insisted for five days. 10 grams of concentrate is diluted in a liter of water and sprayed with a bed of tomatoes.
• Dig up 200-250 g of dandelion roots or collect 400 g of its fresh leaves. The crushed mixture is placed in 10 liters of warm water, insisted for several hours. Tomatoes are processed with a strained infusion. Sometimes it is recommended to add a handful of crushed onions.
• Tomatoes can also fight whitefly, but in the form of an infusion from the tops. Since plants need to be processed with such infusions repeatedly, a concentrate is prepared, which can be stored for some time. In a liter of water, two or three 4 kg of tomato tops are insisted, which is collected during pinching. Then the infusion is brought to a boil, the tops are squeezed out, the concentrate is stored in a hermetically sealed container. For spraying, take one part of the broth for three parts of water.
• Medicinal yarrow is also a helper for tomatoes. Collect 800 g of grass, pour boiling water over and add more water so that there is a bucket of infusion in volume. The mixture is infused for two days, then the tomatoes can be processed.
• They use tobacco against whitefly, or rather, a product based on it - cigarettes.A filter is separated from them, the contents of the remaining part are poured into a bucket, poured with warm water, insisted for two days. After straining, it is recommended to add 15-20 g of detergent and spray the plants with this composition.

Tomatoes affected by whitefly are treated with these infusions, often every decade. It is imperative after the procedure to loosen the soil under the plants in order to sprinkle the fallen pests with earth.

Insecticides give 100% results

Retail chains offer a wide range of chemicals suitable for whitefly control:

• Actellik;
• "Verticillin";
• "Confidor";
• "Fufanon";
• "Pegasus";
• "Aktara";
• Boverin;
• "Citkor" and many others.

They must be used after carefully studying the instructions. It is better to use chemical insecticides during the period when there are no fruits - in this case, the poisonous substances will have time to evaporate. You need to know that not all drugs are prepared using chemical toxins. For example, "Verticillin" contains spores of a fungus, which destroys insects, penetrating into their body.

In addition to the listed funds, a pharmaceutical preparation, an emulsion of benzyl benzoate, which is used to remove lice, is successfully fighting the whitefly. According to the instructions, 25-35 ml of the product is diluted in 1 liter of water and the tomatoes are sprayed.

The tested substance is a concentrated solution of laundry soap. It is rubbed finely, in a ratio of 1: 6, poured with warm water, wait until all the soap has dissolved, and used against whitefly.

In the greenhouse, they resort to another method of chemical protection against insects - mosquito coils. They are lit at night and in this way the tomatoes are cleared of the whitefly.

When using insecticides, waiting times must be strictly observed. And it is advisable to use them only if the situation is neglected, and the pest threatens to move to other plants.