🪰 Whitefly
Various species
Tiny white cloud with a honeydew problem.
How to identify
Brush a plant and a puff of tiny white moth-like insects rises, then resettles on the leaf undersides — each one is about 1/16 inch with powdery white wings. Flip the leaves to find the real colony: clusters of flat, oval, scale-like nymphs stuck to the undersides.
Damage signs
Feeding drains sap, yellowing leaves and stunting growth, while the sticky honeydew they excrete coats foliage and grows black sooty mold. Heavy infestations can defoliate plants, and whiteflies transmit serious plant viruses — the cloud is the warning, the virus is the disaster.
Non-chemical controls
- Vacuum them in the early morning when they're sluggish — a handheld vacuum passed under the leaves sucks up adults by the hundred.
- Hang yellow sticky traps throughout the canopy to catch adults and monitor population levels week to week.
- Blast leaf undersides with a strong water jet every few days to knock nymphs off before they mature.
- Release Encarsia formosa, a parasitoid wasp that lays eggs inside whitefly nymphs — parasitized nymphs turn black, which is deeply satisfying to spot.
- Lay reflective silver mulch at planting time; the flashing light confuses incoming adults and reduces landing.
- Prune out the most heavily infested leaves and trash them — never compost, or the nymphs just relocate.
Nerdy fact: Whiteflies aren't true flies at all — they're closer to aphids and mealybugs. The name is a lie, but the honeydew-sooty-mold combo is very real.
Still not sure this is your culprit? What’s Eating My Plant? narrows the suspects from what you actually see on the plant.