Last year my virginia creeper had some white marks and looked generally attacked and so it begins again this year. I shook the thing today and got hundreds of tiny flying things coming off it. I assumed they were aphids until I did a search that said most aphids don't fly. I'm just wondering if anyone knows if I spray the plant with soap/water (recommended for getting rid of aphids) do you think it will take care of these things?
As an update: today saw me at the garden center (they told me about the soap for aphids) and boy, now I remember why I was so impressed with Costco other years (when I remembered to buy plants early enough). Costco hanging baskets $13, garden center $35 (and the ones I got at Costco were bigger and nicer). I did go there and get what I wanted which was some healthy annuals in bigger sizes but boy did that cost way more than I remembered (even at their 20% off they were double what I go last year at Costco and some other places). Live and learn I guess.
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1. In a blender, combine 2 cups of vegetable oil with ½ cup of dishwashing liquid. Blend it up until it’s well mixed.
This is your [U]concentrate [/U] and can be stored in a jar. Be sure to label it and include the dilution rate on the label.
2. To prepare the concentrate for use, dilute 1 tablespoon in a litre of water, mix it well and spray the pest as well
as both sides of the foliage thoroughly.
I have been using this on my roses for black spot and it is working so far. We have had a lot of rain and humid damp weather and the oil seems to prevents the mixture from being washed off in the down pours. :)
It took a few weeks of constant spraying to finally get rid of them, but the infestation got pretty bad when I was on holiday out of town for a couple of weeks. So far so good this year. My VC has woody bushes on either side of it, and they didn't seem to be affected by whitefly (though my mock orange did get aphids last year), but I know other people with whitefly have said they can spread pretty easily. If the soap/water doesn't work, go back to the garden centre for a natural killer (chysanthemum extract...can't remember the name of it).
Thanks. I looked them up and that's them. Guess the dishsoap and hose and I will be busy. How many days did it take you to take care of them? Did you spray other plants around or notice them moving on to other things when you went after the VC?
Virginia Creeper are notorious for getting whitefly infestations - I have one that I walk by to get to my front door, and it got tons of them last year - yuck! The local garden centre suggested spraying it 2-3x a day with a strong jet of water to displace them (for early infestation), and for worse ones use a dishsoap/water mix, spray it on and leave for 30-60 min, then use the strong jet of water as before. Good luck!