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Whitefly are destroying garden.

keogheugeneSGWwEWaJkeogheugeneSGWwEWaJ Posts: 2
in Problem solving
Hi everyone. 

Looking for any help anyone can offer.

We have a 50ft long,10ft tall beech hedge running all the way along one side of our garden, it's a lovely old hedge and is 100 odd years old I'd say, so very well established.

It has become totally, and I mean totally infested with whitefly. They are spreading onto the flower beds, raised beds and plants also the tomatoes chillis etc.. The air is also thick with them so even going into the garden is pretty unpleasant. 

What, if anything can I do? 

Many thanks.

Eugene.

Posts

  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    @keogheugeneSGWwEWaJ The more recent dry warm weather could be the cause. I am not sure there is much you can do. The one thing I wouldn't do is spray. You could have nesting birds which together with other creatures you need to encourage. They will also eat the white fly.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • keogheugeneSGWwEWaJkeogheugeneSGWwEWaJ Posts: 2
    We do have lots of birds in the garden who are well fed and watered plus a whole range of other plants growing so there is plenty of variety to attract other insects who may attack the whitefly. We can't even hang the washing out at the moment there are so many of them. Watering anything results in huge clouds of them coming from everywhere too. This year is beginning to feel like a write-off frankly where the garden is concerned. 
  • nick615nick615 Posts: 1,487
    Well, Eugene, I honestly can't see an effective treatment.  The standard one is spraying with either a washing up liquid solution, or one created out of the liquid from boiled rhubarb leaves.  When most people mention a 'hedge', they're talking about a boundary between them and a neighbour, so your 500 square feet will no doubt have a balancing other side, owned by someone else.  It's not insurmountable, as long as your neighbour is as worried about the situation as you are.  To make 10 gallons of either liquid isn't that difficult if the two sides can agree to spray, one after the other on the same day, but, if not, a local pest control office/company might be the only option.
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited May 2023
    I get the wooly apid on my beech hedge.  But my main problem is beech spider mite lare in the season.  

    I usually leave the wooly aphis, but the cure is the same ... spray with soap or detergent soluion. veg oil emuslion , or commercial product.

    Spraying both sides of my hedge is impossible.  Thw RHS has been asked how, but were no help.  A powerful spray aimed ibside the hedge is best.  Or a systemic insecticide.

    Regarding the mite problem, the problem is on the sunny side; the neighbour got much less.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    Try hanging up a few fat balls at intervals to entice blue tits into the garden. They will feast on aphids once they realise they are there.
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    My tits feed a long way from home.  

    Why eat aphids when you have a fat-ball.  My blackbirds are fed suet nibbles and now don't look for worms.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited May 2023
    Suet nibbles are no good for feeding nestlings … they need food with a high moisture content such as worms, aphids and caterpillars. Remember that birds cannot carry water to their nests. A major cause of nestling death is dehydration. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • MikeOxgreenMikeOxgreen Posts: 812
    Ladybirds and lots of them.
  • JenqbOvxpOBJenqbOvxpOB Posts: 6
    Hi, I have the same problem!! We have a huge 15 foot tall hornbeam hedge that is totally infested. And now the strawberries are covered etc too. Would love the ladybirds to come but would need a swarm
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