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Whiteflies can be a menace in the garden. These flies are close relatives to aphids, they are both sap-sucking insects. It is essential that you steer clear of them.
These pests are capable of two types of damage to your plants namely; direct and indirect.
1) Direct: Theses pesky pests will suck all the juices and nutrients from your plant. This will lead to the yellowing and premature falling of leaves, severe infestations can be fatal to the plant.
2) Indirect: Adult whiteflies are known for spreading diseases from sick plants to healthy ones. Whiteflies also secrete honeydew like their close relatives' aphids. Honeydew is a sticky substance which eventually becomes dark due to a fungus called sooty mold. The sooty mold will stop light from filtering through to the leaves which will have fatal consequences for your plants.
In the case of direct damage, the plant will be sapped of all its nutrients and eventually die! The sooty mold will spread to the leaves of the plant. This makes it hard for the leaves to receive sunlight, this makes it very hard for the plants to make their own nutrients!
Plants can be treated with a registered systemic insecticide. The instructions on how to use the insecticide will be on the pack.
Visit your local GCA – Garden Centre for more tips and advice on how to deal with whiteflies. Click here to find your nearest GCA https://www.lifeisagarden.co.za/category/garden-centres/
Life is a Garden is the marketing division of The South African Nursery Association (SANA). SANA is a member-driven, non-profit organisation, which strives to promote gardening as a hobby in South Africa for ALL South Africans. To ensure the highest standards, SANA’s garden centre members form part of the Garden Centre Association which strives to continuously improve the quality of products, knowledge and customer service within garden centres. These GCA garden centres can be identified by yellow and green GCA flags, present at garden centres and home stores, nationwide.
Please feel free to contact us about anything related to gardening or our website. You can contact us on:
Shahnee Stockigt – shahnee@lifeisagarden.co.za
Gerdie Olivier – gerdie@sana.co.za
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