A cure for whitefly?

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Tiger Nuts by Dianne Mason

The Tiger nut is not really a nut but a small tuber first discovered some 4000 years ago. It has many other names like Zulu nut, yellow nutgrass, ground almond, edible rush and rush nut. An unusual tuber, despite its being called a nut

A cure for whitefly?

Peter Morris, Great Sating, Braintree, Essex

Despite being written back in the early 90's this cure should work today although you will need to find a different brand of detergent.

For many years this pest has been a thorn in the sides of thousands of gardeners. The summer of 1993 was probably the worst ever for me. As I entered either of my greenhouses a cloud of white would hit me in the face. They seemed to be an almost solid mass.

Whitefly Controls

I had tried every method of control over the past 35 years including the parasitic wasp, Encarsia formosa, all to no avail. I had even reached the point where I was considering giving up growing indoor tomatoes and cucumbers and attempting to grow only outdoor cultivars.

However, in April 1994 our local horticultural society had a lecture on growing and showing fuchsias at its monthly meeting. We were shown many slides and were asked if we had noticed the absence of whitefiy which usually feed heavily on fuchsias. There were none.

A member of the British Fuchsia Society had, apparently, discovered that you can control whitefly by spraying, once or twice a week, with the washing up liquid Stergene - and there is the added bonus that you are not breathing in, or eating, any harmful chemicals. I bought a bottle of Stergene on my next visit to the supermarket!

I make up a mixture with about 1 teaspoonful of Stergene in 1 pint of water, but the quantity is not critical, after all teaspoons do vary in size. After using this regularly through the summer I have been completely free of white fly for the first time in years.

It is now a pleasure to walk into the greenhouse without a cloud of white fly hitting me in the face.

This article originally appeared in the Members Bulletin, the journal of the National Vegetable Society, which is sent quarterly to members. You can Join the National Vegetable Society here

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