Try a thick layer of worm castings spread out over the ground under the plants. They sell bags of it here in CA. I don`t know if its available in HI. The stuff works pretty well against the White Fly.

I have white flies all over my plumerias and cannas, too. What is product name for the worm castings? I wonder if I can get that at Home Depot or Lowes?

I don't know what worm castings are supposed to do. Maybe they are effective on the whitefly they have on the mainland, but it sounds like what you're talking about is the spiralling whitefly, Aleurodicus dispersus. This is a tropical species that lays its eggs in a spiral pattern on the backs of leaves, and generates all this puffy white webby stuff, which then attracts sooty mold. As far as I can tell, it doesn't spend any part of its life cycle in the ground, so anything you put on the ground isn't going to control it.

This thing goes on a lot of plants, but it seems to REALLY like plumeria and guava, among other things. You have to spray the underside of the leaves with either a soap solution (Safer's Soap or just dilute Ivory soap solution) or an oil spray (Neem oil or Ultrafine agricultural oil spray-- formerly called Volck oil, but they don't make that anymore).

It's a real pain in the butt. It was really bad ten or fifteen years ago, and then they introduced some kind of natural predator, I think it was a species of ladybug, and it seemed to be under control for quite a while, but lately it's back. Not as bad as before, but I'm suddenly seeing it on things that I haven't seen it on in years. I've got a Globba that it's going nuts on. I'm not sure what's going on with that, but time to start spraying...

Here`s an article on white fly and worm castings. Apparently its the Chitin that is found in the worm castings that have an effect on the white fly. I've seen other articles on this, but this one is the only one I could find right now. This article is from standinghorse.com.

What are Earthworm Castings

Worm Casting are the excretions of the Worms after eating your Garbage. They convert your garbage to a high quality plant and soil supplement. Worm castings are completely natural and can be used as a top dressing or as a compost tea.

THE APPLICATION of commercial vermicomposts that are produced through interactions between earthworms and microorganisms in the mesophilic degradation of organic wastes - using a range of technologies - is expanding rapidly. It has been well-established in both greenhouse and field experiments in the Soil Ecology Laboratory at the Ohio State University that even small substitutions of vermicomposts into plant growth media and soil can produce dramatic increases in germination, growth, flowering and yields of crops, independent of their nutrient supply. Since nutrients are involved only minimally, we have hypothesized that these increases are due to earthworms causing greatly increased microbial populations that produce plant growth hormones which become adsorbed on to the humates produced during the vermicomposting process. Since most plant growth hormones are very soluble, they may ******* for the reported plant growth effects of aqueous extracts from vermicompost or commercially-produced vermicompost teas.

It may not be in the root zone alone where worm castings demonstrate the ability to suppress pest attack, however. There is a growing body of research suggesting that castings derived from a feedstock of plant materials are rich in a compound called chitinase. Chitin, a component of the exoskeleton of many insects, is damaged by chitinase, leading some researchers to believe its presence in the castings may be inhibitory to some insects. Research being conducted in California is demonstrating suppression of white fly and ambrosia beetle in some tree species when castings containing chitinase are applied at the root zone.

We have the same White Fly here in CA. It make the spirals and webbing on the back of the leaves on Hibiscus, banana, Strelitzia and many other tropicals.

I was just talking to a friend of mine this morning, and she says that this current whitefly infestation is a different species than the one we had several years ago, which would explain why the biological control isn't working. But apparently when the first sighting was reported to the Dept. of Ag. a couple of years ago, they told the guy reporting it not to spray it but to wait for the natural predators to kick in. Well, they never did, because they don't eat this species. If he had just treated it then, we wouldn't be looking at it all over the place now.

Typical. Apparently when the coqui frog was first discovered on the big island in a shipment of plants from Puerto Rico, that person also trapped the frogs and took them to the DOA, but they actually RELEASED them saying that they didn't think a few frogs were anything to worry about! And now look! Sometimes I wonder...

Esp. in Hawaii, after all the costly pest introductions that have occurred there - thus the forms being filled out on all incoming airline flights and tight regulations on shipments there - it is amazing that officials would let something unknown loose. Why take the chance, instead of destroying them?

Here`s a link to more information on worm castings as a white fly repellent. Its also a place where you can buy it.

Here is a link that might be useful: worm castings

Well, that's interesting, Gary. I still don't get it, but it's worth looking into, particularly since we're trying to avoid as many toxic chemicals as possible.

I may go talk to these guys, they're right around the corner:

Here is a link that might be useful: Olomana Gardens

I have been intrigued with the discussion on using worm castings to cntrol white flies. Anyway, I found that it is illegal to import both earthworms and worm castings into Hawaii. I put the link to the url where I found this information. It seems that Lisa's Olomana Gardens is the only way to go to get the worms. Castings are available from neighbor island suppliers. Way to go Lisa!

Here is a link that might be useful: City Farmer

After reading about the white flies I started calling around to find a place to buy them. I did buy some at Star Market and spread it around my gardens, especially under my canna lilies. It did seem to work temporarily, and most of all, my canna lilies just went bazooka blooming all over the place. I think I paid around 4 dollars a bag.

I've had whitefly problems for years. They love my adeniums. The most effective thing I can recommend is soap spray. Before spraying, remove any leaves that are heavily covered with the pest. Then mix the Soap Spray:

1 to 2 tablespoons liquid soap
1 quart water
Combine in a bucket, mix, then pour into the spray bottle.

Make sure to spray on generously, and its very important to target the backside on the leaves. Good luck and hope for more ladybugs in your garden. Aloha!

I couldn't resist sharing this information (even if no one seems to have posted in 3 years). My apologies if it's slightly off topic.

The 3rd graders . . . yes, 3rd graders . . . at Wai'alae School in Honolulu have been raising worms for the past three years. They take the green waste from the school cafeteria, feed their worms, then gather the nutrient-rich vermicast. The vermicast goes back into the learning gardens around our school campus or, occasionally, is offered for sale ($5.00 per pound). In the process, they learn about decomposition, the nutrient cycle, and earth-friendly ways to reduce what goes into the waste stream. Plus they gain a little bit of experience in entrepreneurship and develop a stronger sense of social responsibility and stewardship of the planet.

Read our story, and learn more about worm composting in Hawai'i at the Waikiki Worm web site.

Here is a link that might be useful: Waikiki Worm - School Worms

I would have planted flowers and placed some water holes in the area to attract beneficial insects. As mentioned, remove the heavily infested portions, either by cutting them off and bagging them, or by hand cleaning. Then spray with a soap suck as doctor bronners wixed with ten parts water. The flowers seem to really make a difference in how much pest insect there are in my garden.

I know this is an old thread but in case anyone stumbles upon it and needs help with whitefly, read this article from the L.A. Times:

http://articles.latimes.com/2000/may/27/home/hm-34606

I'm using Worm Castings now to help my poor ailing plumeria tree, grown from cutting bought at the HNL airport.

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: L.A. Times article on White Fly control

Hey if you folks from Oahu are looking for worms for vermicomposting, please try Ewa Blue Worms, talk to Zack. He's a really nice guy and loves worms. I bought a set up from him a few months ago and the worms are great! I have a pretty good size colony going and no real problems with the worms.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ewa Blue Worms

I've had more problems with aphids and thrips than white flies, but I do have them. I find it much more satisfying to just smash them onto the leaf. So far, soapy water hasn't helped with any of the three pests.

where on the big island can i find worms?

White flies really love our Hibiscus in our front yard. I asked a local gardening shop about getting rid of them and the guy looked at me and said "oh, why you wanna get rid of those?". I don't think I'll be going back there. Anyways, we had to cut off all leaves on our hibiscus and they moved to our plumeria. I'm going industrial and finding a killer pesticide, damn the consequences!

After dealing with these pests for another 7 months, absolutely nothing has worked. Not soapy sprays, not worm castings, not garlic sprays, baking soda sprays, EM1, nothing! Something that no one mentioned to me is that when you use most of those sprays, the plant drops all of its flowers and fruits. Since I am trying to grow vegetables, that was a waste of time. From what I have noticed, the adults flies make the plant suffer, but can't kill it completely. Its when they lay eggs, those sticky, white, fluffy things, that a plant will die. White flies love to lay eggs on my peppers and tomatillos. What I do is spray the undersides of the affected leaves with plain water. This causes the white fluffy stuff to wash away and I think kill the insect. All that is left is a black speck, I don't think the fluff comes back. When I spray next, the black specks fall off the leaf easily. More show up each day but the plants are actually surviving now and keeping their flowers/veggies.

Try compost tea spray. There are two ways of making it. One without aerating the water and using in 24 hours. The other, using aerator, can be kept for several days.

The microorganisms in the *tea* helps the plant fight ALL TYPES OF DISEASES and fend off pests without use of pesticides/insecticides. Its organic, safe and also very healthy for plants.

Please check out vermicomposter site on gardenweb and google compost tea. I just finished reading a book from library on how to make compost (I already have been trying in my backyard without a composter bin).