Avocado plant

[greenrook]

We grew an avocado plant from a stone, and it was doing well in our conservatory (it's about 7" tall now) until the dreaded bloody whitefly got at it, God knows where from, and washing its leaves and spraying them etc . seems to work for a while but they always come back, from where we don't know. It's just about holding its own now, but there are all these little white bits on the underside of the leaves, are these eggs or larvae waiting their turn? It's the first one we managed to germinate and it deserves to prosper.

[Thunderbird+]

Hi greenrook,
I agree, the glass house whitefly is a stuburn customer to get rid of especially once they become well established.
I think the white bits on the underside of the leaves, may well be eggs or developing lavae, at one of their stages of their life cycle.
They work in a similar way to aphids and suck sap from the plants and cause the plant to weaken, the also exrete 'honeydew' which allows the growth of sooty mould to grow.
The eggs are difficult to kill with most pesticides but early treatment with 'Primiphos' or 'Pirimiphos-methyl' insecticdal soaps, 'Pyrethrum' or 'Permethrin' should prevent too much damage if applied early.
Spray heavy infestations at 3-4 day intervals.
Good luck and may you're avocado prosper! Tbird+

[greenrook]

Hello Tbird, we're now using a Pyrethrum-based pesticide for indoor plants, at 3-day intervals as you suggest, having carefully removed all the white eggs or whatever they are by hand (actually I used a watercolour brush from my wife's art -class kit) The tips of the affected leaves have turned a burnt-looking brown but there's still quite a bit of healthy -looking leaf remaining so we might be lucky