Whitefly
Risk near you, next 48h
See whether your local forecast favours this disease right now.
When it strikes
Treat, then re-check in 5–7 days
Pick off the worst material, apply the organic option below, and look again after five to seven days. If the spread continued, escalate rather than repeating the same treatment.
Carried by insects
An insect moves it plant to plant, so controlling the carrier matters as much as treating the symptom. Check for the vector before assuming the plants infected each other directly.
Safe to compost
No pathogen carries over on this material, so it can go on an ordinary heap with the rest of the garden waste.
When and where to look
Scout the planting while temperatures hold between 21°C and 33°C.
The signs that lead here
About
Whiteflies are tiny sap-sucking insects that swarm up in clouds when plants are disturbed, thriving in warm weather and greenhouses on tomatoes, brassicas and ornamentals, and spreading viruses.
Symptoms
Clouds of tiny white moth-like insects under leaves; yellowing, wilting and weakened plants; sticky honeydew and black sooty mould on lower leaves.
Organic Treatment
Use yellow sticky traps, spray insecticidal soap or neem on leaf undersides, vacuum adults in the morning, and release Encarsia parasitic wasps in greenhouses.
Chemical Treatment
Insecticidal soaps and oils for light infestations; systemic insecticides for severe greenhouse outbreaks, rotated to manage resistance.
Prevention
Inspect new plants before bringing them in, use yellow traps for monitoring, encourage natural enemies, and avoid excess nitrogen.
Related problems
Whitefly risk by location
Each location has a month-by-month profile computed from the weather archive: how many hours a year actually meet this disease’s thresholds.