White flies are ruining my gardenia bushes!
by
Mary
+3
Every spring they are over run with white flies and then the leaves have that thick
black coating on all the leaves. What can I do to prevent this or treat this. I have tried numerous online remedies, but I can not get the black off the leaves and eventually the bushes look awful. New growth does come in, but the inner leave always remain covered with black.
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You can make your own insecticidal soap spray by mixing 1 cup of vegetable oil with 1 tablespoon of dishwashing liquid, shake well. Add 1-2 tsp of this to a cup of water, shake well and use this to spray your plants. You'll have to shake it ever so often while using it because it will separate. You can also introduce beneficial insects like green lacewing or use sticky traps. Good luck!
Black sound like a fungus of sort. Remove the infected leaves. Apply a systemic fungicide .Repeatly spray the bushes with a horticultural soap for insects.
Thanks....literature says it is not a fungus just secretions from the white flies. Our whole neighborhood will have millions of these white flies.
Sounds like you need an army of beneficial insects, ladybugs, lacewings, praying mantis, nematodes.
Guess I will look into getting some. Thanks.