Whitefly on Brassicas under Netting

Been meaning to raised this in of the last ... 5? ... years!!

I get a lot of whitefly on my Brassicas. I get the impression that they are made worse by being covered by Scaffolders Debris Netting (well ... any find-mesh netting) as otherwise wind would blow them away.

Am I correct in thinking this? Does anyone do anything about it, or are they "harmless" outside?

 

I have in the past washed off with the hose on JET style , its normally the outside leaves that are effected which normally they are the ones you throw away I think more unsightly than being that harmful

 

Thanks @Spruce. If you jet them off are they done-for? or can they shake themselves off and fly back up onto the leaves?

They've never bothered me in terms of harvesting the crop, but I assume they cause some stress to the plants ... although they look healthy enough, so its not that apparent!

 

well I did put a squirt of washing up liquid in the hose then connected it to the tap I didnt see that many the next day to be honest , I think if growing well its fine , just what they occasionally have at this time of year.

 

Perhaps I should try taking the netting off on a windy day and giving them a good shake, and then seeing how many are still there the following day!

 

I have a honeysuckle at the end of the house it blows a gale some days and they manage to hang on !!! .

Yes give the birds a treat !!! hopefully not the wood pigeons

 

Whitefly is a right pain. I wasn't prepared to remove the mesh from my bed, for fear of pigeons. The best I could manage was to regularly spray a solution of washing up liquid. It didn't get rid of them, but did at least keep the numbers down a bit. Left unchecked, I found they made a right mess of my sprouts, black sooty mold which severely stunted sprout formation.

 

Saw some Cabbage Whites the other day, when the temperature perked up ... but for that I was going to switch to some (winter) wide-mesh Bird Netting (doesn't get bogged down by snow-weight)

 

Our sprouts are covered in whitefly, under bird grade netting. I've seen plenty of advice that says they won't harm the crop but definitely seeing black mould on lower sprouts as per Zig's post.

 

Is there a suggestion that birds eat cabbage white fly?

Never known it around here.

 

Is Enviromesh the answer? I'm growing some Pak Choi and lettuce currently under the really fine grade and it is growing great guns. Some crops got destroyed by flea beetles earlier in the year.

 

No, just that maybe the really fine netting provides a wind-free environment that maybe favours them - more like indoor than outdoor - but maybe folk with no netting over their Brassicas have the same problem too?

 

It's always been a problem around here, netting or no netting.

 

I'm pretty sure cabbage white fly is a different species to the glass house whitefly, its a much tougher customer, although both are near impossible to wipe out.

 

Next season I'm planning on hooping a whole row on the allotment for brocolli and sprouts and covering with fine-grade enviromensh.... so I'll soon find out if it they can be stopped... or not!