Cultural Management

  • ETL: 5-10 nymphs/leaf
  • Avoid the alternate, cultivated host crops of the white fly
  • Adopting crop rotation with non-preferred hosts such as sorghum, ragi, maize etc., for the white fly to check the build-up of the pest
  • Removal and destruction of alternate weed hosts from the fields and neighbouring areas and maintaining field sanitation
  • Timely sowing with recommended spacing, preferably wider spacing and judicious application of recommended dose of fertilizers, particularly nitrogenous and irrigation management is essential to arrest the excessive vegetative growth and pest build up.
  • Late sowing may be avoided and the crop growth should not be extended beyond its normal duration
  • Field sanitation may be given proper attention.
  • Cultivation of most preferred alternate host crops like brinjal, bhendi, tomato, tobacco and sunflower may be avoided. In case their cultivation is unavoidable, plant protection measures should be extended to these crops also
  • Monitoring the activities of the adult white flies by setting up yellow pan traps and sticky traps at 1 feet height above the plant canopy and also in situ counts
  • Collection and removal of whitefly infested leaves from the plants and those which were shed due to the attack of the pest and destroying them
  •  Neem seed kernel extract 5% (50 kg) and neem oil at 5 ml/l of water
  •  Fish oil rosin soap 25 kg at 1 kg in 40 lit of water
  • Biological control: Verticillium lecanii 1.15% WP 2500 g/ha
  • In whitefly endemic areas, keeping yellow empty tins smeared with greese as trap. Wipe out trapped whiteflies every day and apply greese again.