Whiteflies Attack From Underleaf
Q: Something is destroying the foliage of my baptisia, and now the rosemary and pyracantha as well. It appears to be a sucking insect that removes the chlorophyll from the leaves. The back of the leaves are dirty looking. What do you think this is?
A: This sounds like whitefly damage because they are a common pest of pyracantha and baptisia. They congregate on the back side of leaves sucking sap from the cells. When there are a lot of them, many cells are sucked dry of chlorophyll. The sap they don’t digest is secreted as sticky honeydew. This coats leaves beneath the infested leaves and quickly turns black when the honeydew is colonized by sooty mold. Whiteflies are not big and they fly quickly when disturbed, but if you’re real slow about moving the leaves, you’ll see them underneath. Neem oil is a good spray because it suffocates the pests but leaves beneficial insects alone. The key is to cover the underside of the leaves with it. This can be difficult with a spray bottle that wants to spray upward in your face, but with deft usage of a short stick, you can fold the leaves over and the whiteflies will be exposed to the spray.
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