Whitefly
Tiny bright-white wedges that lift off in a cloud when you disturb the leaves, then settle right back on the undersides. Leaves yellow and stick with honeydew; greenhouse and houseplant infestations build fast.
Pest checklist
Four things to look for. If most of them match what you are holding, you are in the right place.
What gets rid of them
Gentlest option first. For most backyard cases the first one is enough, so try these in order and stop as soon as it works. If you do spray something, the product label tells you how — please read the notice further down.
1Yellow sticky traps
Adults are strongly drawn to yellow; traps knock the flying population down and show you the trend.
yellow sticky traps gnats whiteflyTry this first2Vacuum the adults
A handheld vacuum passed over disturbed foliage in the cool morning removes clouds of them before they scatter.
3Insecticidal soap on the undersides
Where the eggs and nymphs are; repeat per label to catch each hatch.
insecticidal soap spray
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Which plants get whitefly
Every plant we cover that gets whitefly, grouped by type — tap any one to open its page. A note beside a plant came from that plant’s own entry, because the same pest can be a minor nuisance on one plant and a serious problem on another. Plenty of plants we do not cover get it too.
tree1
perennial1
Plant families hit hardest
Related plants often share the same problems, so if one plant in a family has it, check the others. The largest group here is Acanthaceae, with 2 of the 6 affected plants.
- Acanthaceae2 plants
When to treat
Treat as soon as you see them, and keep going for several weeks. Eggs keep hatching after each spray.
On specific plants
- Growing
- Acid soil + steady moisture + whitefly patrol; yellowing = soil-acidifier + chelated iron.
Timing only — the label is the law
This page tells you when to watch for whitefly and when treating is worth considering. It is not a recommendation to apply any particular product. Read and follow the product label before you spray — under federal law the label is the legal instruction, and using a pesticide against it is illegal.
- Check the pre-harvest interval. Every product that’s cleared for an edible crop sets a minimum number of days between spraying and picking. Find it on the label before you spray anything you intend to eat.
- Check the re-entry interval before you or anyone else works in the treated area again, and use the protective equipment the label names.
- Confirm the product is registered for your crop in your state. This page groups many different crops together, and a product legal on one of them is not legal on all of them — state registrations differ too. Your state pesticide agency or local extension office can confirm both.
- Rates and mixing instructions come from the label, never from us. We don’t publish them because they differ by product and formulation.
Other problems on the same plants
If a plant gets whitefly, these are the problems it most often gets as well, so they are worth checking for while you are out there. They tend to appear together; one does not cause another.