White-fly Hibiscus cure.

[cljohnson]

I don't know about anyone else but I've been battling white-flies on Hibiscus for many years.
I was talking to a lady at a local nursery and she recommended what turned out to be a miracle cure.
WORM POOP.
Actually it turns out worm castings help plants produce chitinase an enzyme that breaks down chitin ( the building block of insect exoskeleton )
I spread it about an inch thick over the root zone and scratched it in. Then covered with compost. Watered it in.
Three weeks later bugs are gone.
She said to add a quarter inch twice a year for maintenance .

 

[Tom]

Wow. That's good to know. I have a friend with a huge hibiscus that has been fighting those. I'll let him know.

 

[cljohnson]

Wow. That's good to know. I have a friend with a huge hibiscus that has been fighting those. I'll let him know.

Let me know how it works out for your friend. I would first remove the worst infected foliage. Then blast the rest with water.
So far I am totally sold and I doesn't get more organic.

 

[bigred]

Ya thats very good to know- My sister sprayed hers with some kind of bug killer. So I told my Mom the torts cant eat from that

 

[cljohnson]

Another thing she recommended as a safe organic topical is Neem Oil.
I haven't tried it yet but I did research it a bit. It looks like cool stuff.
It is supposed to be effective for bugs, fungus and mildew on roses as well.
I might try it for that.

 

[Angi]

That is very interesting. I have also heard of makeing WORM TEA. It is made with worm casting and you spray it on the leaves. Just curious, who do you get your castings from. I see you are in San Diego and I know a lady in the worm biz.

 

[dmarcus]

cool info, those bugs have been driving me crazy also. Going to give the worm castings a try and see how it goes...

 

[cljohnson]

That is very interesting. I have also heard of makeing WORM TEA. It is made with worm casting and you spray it on the leaves. Just curious, who do you get your castings from. I see you are in San Diego and I know a lady in the worm biz.

I got them from Armstrong's.
Of course I paid top dollar.

 

[redbeef]

i've used Bioneem on my fruit trees before and it does work on black aphids...don't see why it wouldn't on whiteflies but you'll need to read the instructions carefully as application timing and rates w/aphid had to do w/the lifecycle of the specific insect being targeted.

in the greenhouses here at UC Riverside I've seen them put up sticky pieces of cardboard or paper that the whiteflies get trapped on...I guess every little bit helps keep their numbers down.

the worm casings thing is interesting though: i hadn't heard of that.

 

[cljohnson]

For anyone still interested.
With a little more research. It seems worms fed with higher amounts of plant or vegetable matter produce higher levels of chitinase. This is the enzyme that is responsible for the insect control.