Day 119 of 365 days in the community garden

Whitefly on the back of cauliflower leaves. Brasscia plants (for example cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, kale) are a favourite host for whitefly. These sap-suckers can reduce the vigour and health of your plants and should be carefully watched in case their populations grow very large. In small numbers in the home garden they are not a huge problem. During winter, the cooler temperatures lead to reduced populations, but if you are struggling with an infestation the best approach is to hose the foliage to remove the whitefly, remove heavily infested leaves and or spray with garlic spray.

“One of the maxims of the new field of conservation biological control is that to control insect herbivores, you must maintain populations of insect herbivores.”  Douglas Tallamy