Field Identification
A warm-climate whitefly that attacks cotton, cucurbits, beans, and many ornamentals; feeding causes chlorosis and honeydew with sooty mold. Adults show a gray band across each forewing—your cue it is not the greenhouse or silverleaf crowd.
Small white adults with distinct dark wing bands; immatures on leaf undersides like other whiteflies. Outbreaks favor drought-stressed or nitrogen-flush hosts in hot weather.
How to Deal With It
Organic Control Methods
Soaps, oils, and neem directed at undersides; rotate with Beauveria bassiana where humidity supports infection—always shield or release beneficials when treating hotspots only.
Encarsia and Eretmocerus parasitoids, lacewings, minute pirate bugs, and lady beetles—preserve them with selective timing and partial-row treatment.
Time planting to avoid peak migration if known locally; reduce dust on leaves along roads; avoid over-fertilization that produces succulent growth.
Yellow sticky traps for monitoring; high-pressure water can knock down adults on sturdy plants.
Control alternate hosts near fields; scout undersides early in the season; maintain hedgerows that support generalist predators without harboring pest reservoirs.
Let Nature Handle It
Natural Enemies
- Encarsia spp.
- Eretmocerus spp.
- Green lacewings
- Minute pirate bugs
Threat Map