Jim

Even if basil doesn't repel whiteflies, it won't hurt anything to plant them with your tomatoes, though bigdaddyj may have a point about different water needs for growing them in containers.

There are lots of internet sites that are just downright wrong about the insect repellant nature of some plants and herbs. They usually have something like "companion planting" in the title, or I've seen the same kind of stuff on some seed company sites that want to sell you all kinds of "natural" insect repellants -- I think they've made up their seed lists from those "companion planting" pages and concluded there's a market out there, particularly among those who want to garden organically!

The wrong information shows up on one site and other sites copy it directly, spreading the misinformation. It never hurts to check things like that here, which you've done, so you don't count on something that doesn't work! You can also look for sites that seem dull and dry but have researched these kinds of claims.

Then you can always test the claims yourself.

Thanks for the replies.
Well we wanted to plant basil anyway so I figured it might be worth a try.
I'll plant the basil in a different pot since it needs less water.

I'm with Anney. Some sites are a little over zealous in recommending "companion plants" to "repel" insects. That said, I do believe that many plants, particularly those with tiny white flowers, "attract" beneficial insects. I'm always fascinated by the great numbers of insects that hang out on my lovage and mint. (mint should be planted in a pot less it'll take over the world) Other plants like Queen Anne's lace, oregano, borage and basil, etc, attracts predatory insects. Basil is also the best smelling plant in my garden. It wakes up the senses everytime I brush past it and I love it!! The bees love it too.

I don't have much experience to draw on, but last year, I planted a row of marigolds in front of my tomato bed... like a little wall... I did this by accident, not knowing what I was planting.

I liked that they became a natural mulch for the garden bed, but regarding white flies, it was odd.

There was a white fly infestation in my tomato bed for about 2 weeks... when i would go to prune, everywhere I disturbed, it would look like it was snowing little white flies everywhere, however they kept only to the marigolds. I had no white fly problems with my tomatoes last year. Strange.

I don't know if the marigolds attracted the white flies to begin with? Or deterred them from the tomatoes? dunno.

I'll be planting marigolds and basil in the tomato bed this year too, though spacing things out a bit better this year. I too loved all the honeybees that liked to visit the basil when I let it flower.

My basil is attracting/harboring white flies so I def. will not be putting it near any tomatoes. So far whiteflies like almost EVERYTHING: beans, sweet potato vines, morning glory, basil and of course tomatoes.

They are a serious pest, taking out a lot of my tomato plants and cutting production tremendously. I have tried neem and other "Green" products but I'm thinking about looking into pesticides. For the last 12 years I have only been organic but this is too big of a problem.

I like the idea that whitefly went to the marigold "wall" rather than disturb the tomatoes, even if it was "by accident". You may have tripped on a containment strategy. I have found that while the whitefly will destroy just about anything, they have "preferred" plants. They will destroy those first, before going after others. If you can plant their preferred plants between rows or around the garden, attracting the whitefly, and then spray, yes, I said spray, that containing plant to control the population, there may never be enough to attract your desired plant.

Pssst Bluewater. You responded to a post 5 years old. Nice suggestion, though.

Thanks WashTomatoes, sometimes I need to be told the more obvious things for painfully obvious reasons... Unfortunately I have this particular issue now, hence the searching for ideas. And while an old thread, I hadn't seen anyone approaching whitefly control this way (bait & kills) while maintaining organic on your primary plants, so I thought I'd post it.

How's that for trying to make my latent post sound timely? :)

Wouldn't a sticky yellow fly thing work? I don't know what it's called but hopefully you know what I mean. I'd hang a few near infestations. Yes, I know this thread's old. Me too. : )