Help! little white bugs/flies

[James Stratton]

I've got these little white flies/bugs on my plants. How do I safely get rid of them in an aquaponics garden?

 

So far I've tried spraying water on them, brushing them away, and spraying a mild solution of water, vinegar and a very small amount of soap on the leaves of my plants (underside too) but they don't seem to be going away. In fact, they appear to be multiplying!

Help!

[Robert C. Wood]

do you have any pictures of them.

[James Stratton]

Here's a picture with arrows pointing to the bugs. Took a bunch of pictures and oddly, since the little flies/bug/gnats are so small, this was the best one. They are leaving holes in the leaves of my collards and Brussels sprouts.

Thanks for your reply.

[Glenn]

Looks like Whitefly. This video might help or you can use a bright night light to lure the flies to the trap faster.

[James Stratton]

Thanks, I will try this and let you know how it works. Maybe I'll post pictures!

[FriendlyAquaponics]

Aloha James

It does look like white flies. Here is a resource you can use, if you can identify the active "bug":

I've attached a 17-page document on USDA organically certified aquaponics pest control techniques that my wife Susanne researched and wrote. We've been using all these successfully for at least 2-1/2 years on our USDA organically certified aquaponics systems; there is no conjecture or guessing about whether these treatments are safe for use with fish and plants.

I'd be really careful with soap sprays or applications of any kind; we had a student who killed 800 pounds of tilapia in a greenhouse. He applied an organically-approved soap spray carefully, and tried not to get any on the rafts, but apparently did; for after about 4 or 5 applications over a 3-month period, all the fish died at the same time. There was plenty of DO in the tank at the time, so he was able to rule that out, and attribute their deaths definitely to the soap spray. However, there are a lot of remedies in the attached "How To Win The War On Bugs" that are totally safe for the fish, and will "get" white flies (or whatever this is).

I've also attached a copy of our "Planting Trials", that may be useful.

Aloha, Tim Mann, Friendly Aquaponics in Hawaii

Aloha James

It does look like white flies. Here is a resource you can use, if you can identify the active "bug":

I've attached a 17-page document on USDA organically certified aquaponics pest control techniques that my wife Susanne researched and wrote. We've been using all these successfully for at least 2-1/2 years on our USDA organically certified aquaponics systems; there is no conjecture or guessing about whether these treatments are safe for use with fish and plants.

I'd be really careful with soap sprays or applications of any kind; we had a student who killed 800 pounds of tilapia in a greenhouse. He applied an organically-approved soap spray carefully, and tried not to get any on the rafts, but apparently did; for after about 4 or 5 applications over a 3-month period, all the fish died at the same time. There was plenty of DO in the tank at the time, so he was able to rule that out, and attribute their deaths definitely to the soap spray. However, there are a lot of remedies in the attached "How To Win The War On Bugs" that are totally safe for the fish, and will "get" white flies (or whatever this is).

I've also attached a copy of our "Planting Trials", that may be useful.

Aloha, Tim Mann, Friendly Aquaponics in Hawaii

[James Stratton]

FriendlyAquaponics said:

Attachments.

Thanks so much FriendlyAquaponics! I read the papers and sure enough, ants were the harbinger of these little white mites. Ants are a big problem down here in the Southeast and it appears (even as night temperatures reach freezing) that I have little ants crawling in my garden beds. I've gotten rid of the ants (for now, anyway) and the little mites are going away with them.

Problem solved! thanks.