Help - my mint has whitefly!

[CarolineW]

I brought in some mint to force on my kitchen windowsill. It did very well, and gave me a couple of cups of mint tea, then succumbed to white fly. It's absolutely covered, poor thing, and dying. I've put a vapona strip next to it, but rather than killing the white fly they seem to be thriving on it

Does anybody know what I need to do to rescue my poor mint plant?

Thanks!
Caroline

[zazen999]

Hi

Mint is very resilient.

Personally, I would put it outside, chop it back and leave it a few weeks. It'll soon grow back.

[Protea]

Agreed, chop back and put outside (if we have any cold weather this will also bump some of the whitefly off)

[gardenplot]

Nasty white fly’s I got over run with them last year in my greenhouse, all my geraniums were covered in them.

[CarolineW]

Thanks, that's what I'll do. Pity to lose my out of season mint, but never mind. I was thinking that if I put it out the white fly would spread to my other plants. Forgot about the cold killing them! (duh)

I love this forum, I don't know what I'd do without it! So many kind, knowledgeable people. Thanks!
Caroline

[rustylady]

Give the whole plant a good wash under a running tap (foliage not compost). I've harvested brassicas from the lottie with whitefly on them (having survived being shaken off at the site and carried home), and they do not appreciate being drowned in cold water. After you have washed the foliage you could put the pot outside for a chilling (tonight looks like being pretty cold) and see what happens. Your mint will come to no harm for getting cold, it's so hardy it can be a b****y nuisance if planted straight into the ground.

[CarolineW]

Well, unfortunately the mint died - I think it was already on its last legs from the insect attack, and going from warm to cold finished the job. However, it would have helped, I suspect, had I actually known what I was talking about to get advice!!! It wasn't white fly (which I've now experienced outside). I think it must have been red spider mite, which I expected to be red. And these where white. But it's the damage that they do which is red, right? These were microscopic white insect thingies. You couldn't see the wings.
And when I put a parsley plant in the same place on the kitchen windowsill quite a while later, the blighters came back! I washed them under the tap, taking rusty lady's advice. That helped, in so far as it reduced them, but didn't get rid of them.
I daren't have herbs in the kitchen anymore, but seem to be able to have cut and come again lettuce in a trough on the windowsill without the dreaded Whatever-They-Are's attacking.

[Mikey]

Our mint suffered the same, it was one I picked up from sainsbury's and potted on. I made a watery solution with a few drops of washing up liquid and sprayed all over the blighter, and left it outside. I water it now every couple of days and its come on a treat, now bug free.

[zazen999]

Hi Caroline.

I cut back some of my chocolate mint the other day as it was starting a fight with out prized french lavender; and popped the cuttings into a milk bottle full of water. They have rooted already.

If you want one or two sent in the post to plant on, do send me a PM with your address. they have been grown outside and will be fine going straight into compost outdoors.

I've also got loads of bog standard mint at the lottie that we are cutting back daily...I can throw some of that in as well. Smells lovely when you chop it back but it's rampant and I won't miss any!!!

I would suggest getting hold of a marigold and potentially growing it in with or next to your herbs; the whitefly hate it.

[norazina]

B****y whitefly killed all of my indoor herbs last year, which was especially frustrating, as I've grown basil, tarragon, thyme & sage for a first time.

Then I've learnt about marigold and now I sow it everywhere!!! I've bought a dwarf variety from Suttons, which is very compact and has a 6" spread, so I put 3 in pot with tomatoes, peppers, etc, and just generally plant around greenhouse. Works a treat!!! Whitefly would not go near this stuff, the ones I had indoors just seemed to die off!!!

norazina

[CarolineW]

Thanks so much for the offer, Zazen999! I've PMd you. And bad luck, norazina.

I'm definitely going to grow some Marigold in future. Does it help against blackfly too? I seem to have a bumper crop of blackfly in my garden this year

I lost basil and lettuce to this 'white fly' on my kitchen windowsill in the spring - so it must be lurking waiting for plants to come into the kitchen. Meanwhile, I've discovered that although it looks white, it isn't actually white fly! (blush) . I think that it's spider mite? It's very, very tiny, I had to use my daughter's magnifying glass to see that it is definitely an insect, not dust or fungus or something. Oops! I guess that part of being a newbie to gardening is that I need to learn to identify pests correctly - not only how to deal with them!!!!

[LambdaEnt]

Orange oil!

Some "natural" air fresheners are 100% pure orange oil (e.g. AirTherapy), but check the label.

I turned the mint plant upside-down and gently doused in a sink full of slightly soapy water, and sprayed lightly with orange oil. Then spayed the air with the orange oil to kill tose flying around and on the window sill. Dead flies everywhere!

I'll wait until later to be sure they are dead, then rinse the plant again in clear water.