I’ve been having issues with whitefly for some time. They are a tough one to remove fully. I’ve tried everything. Ruined a whole crop to the little pests already. They are resistant to absolutely everything.
Then I stumbled across some info from a local farmer who uses something very easy to control Whitefly.
Earthworm castings or ewc as you’ll spot me calling it. If you top dress your soil or coco with fresh ewc you will never see Whitefly again. I can’t believe it took me so long to work out. I have a wormery too and I had the answer to my problems right there lol! Since putting ewc into the coco I no longer have a problem. It is such a relief to finally end their dominant rein in my flowering room. I hope this information can help others too. No need for chemicals or crazy concoctions to spray anymore
Friend has got some issues with them for pretty long time… There were not doing any damage but they were present… Fight against them seemed futile… He was using glue boards (yellow index cards coated with petroleum jelly) all the time and it helped to control the population in certain reasonable limits…
Thats a great introduction and tip. Coming in hot!
Was one application enough and how much did you top dress with? I’d be apt to add some oyster shell with the EWC for an added benefit of both calcium and larva/egg deterant as well.
Sounds like you got pretty hammered. Glad you were able to figure it out.
Great tip! Most likely the EWC have the predatory mites, Hypoapsis Miles. They thrive in my worm bin and eat fruit fly larva. Never seen any more fliers since these guys popped up. I thought about top dressing with EWC to transfer some of these guys to my no-till.
I had a severe problem with them. To begin with I let them be as I didn’t think they were affecting things. But then when I went into the room and brushed by a plant. Millions of them took flight and I knew I was being over run by them. They leave a sticky mess on the leaf that allows a powdery mildew to set in and stops photosynthesis and other beneficial processes towards the plants growth and health. The plants deteriorate rapidly with a massive loss to yield. They got me big time. I was fighting to keep my stock plants from dying. Both in veg stage and flowering I was suffering. Daily I would go by hand and check every leaf of every plant squashing what I could. I had to turn to chemicals in the end to try and kill them. I lost some plants to the spray I reckon but they had been badly affected by the whitefly too. They kept coming back even after the chemicals. Speaking to the local organic pomegranate farmer he said he never has whitefly problems since top dressing with EWC. He told me as long as there is some either mixed in with the soil or top dressed and watered in, I’d never see whitefly again. I’ve added it twice now just to make sure but I no longer have whitefly and the plants are really healthy again
I’ve done two top dresses. One in veg and one within the first week of flower. I add extra things into my wormery like crushed oyster and egg shell along with azomite and some other amendments in every tray. With the top dressing, I just threw a handful on top of each pot and then swished it about a bit and then watered it in. I noticed within just two days that the whitefly had disappeared. I still go about spot checking and killing any eggs or early stage larvae that may be left but I am pleased with the results. I have to laugh now it’s over. I had the answer right there in my wormery lol!
I thought it may have been being absorbed by the plants and making them unpleasant to feed from but predatory mites transferred from the worm bin makes much more sense. They are working that’s for sure
This particular grow was coco but in a well made organic soil I would recommend the addition of a few worms especially if you grow more than one plant in the container like a SIPs planter. They are truly magical things to have. They are my team of 24/7 workers and they have so many uses
Like when you need to go fishing! No more waking extra early to get some worms. Just move that dead log everyone should have in their pots if they run organics😉
Yessssir. Its quite funny because i went through the same thing with another friend with the same bene about 2 months ago. Before then i thought it had to be a bad guy. Like wtf look at him.
I spray my plants regularly with 70% refined Neem oil (which has had the aza removed) about every 10 to 14 days indoors and in my GH to prevent mites and PM. I never get whitefly as a result. Its listed as organic and approved for use in Oregon and California for commercial MJ growing, and can be sprayed on vegetables, fruit trees and flowers to kill whitefly eggs, larvae and adults. I mix at a rate of 100:1 water to neem and spray all leaf surfaces (including the undersides of leaves) until completely wet. Refined neem typically does not need an added spreader/sticker, its in there already. To get 100:1 with 70% refined neem (I find that the most effective for PM), mix at a rate of 3.5 TB per gallon of water. For efficacy against whitefly, you can mix refined neem it at a rate of 2 TB per gallon of water. Neem oil generally does not affect beneficials.
I guess that is one way of looking at it. Though I would think that these sprays will also kill beneficial mites. I am not a huge fan of using beneficials, as they do not completely wipe out infestations, which is what you need to do. Broad mites, hemp mites and spider mites need to be completely eradicated, IMO. Same with whitefly, aphids and scale. Ants need to be controlled as well, and I use Tanglefoot for that. Ants are farmers, and will inoculate plants with scale, aphids and mealy bugs.
