Cabbage Whitefly

Anyone who grows brassica (cabbage, broccoli, Cavolo Nero, etc) must have seen these cabbage whitefly (Aleyrodes proletella).  Quite pretty up close, aren’t they….?

Clouds of them emerge when you brush by a brassica leaf and this year they’ve even spread into towns because there are just so many about, due to the hot Summer and mild Autumn.

These adults, which are less than 2mm long, have developed the white wax so their yellow bodies are no longer visible. I thought they were tiny moths but actually they’re ‘true bugs’ or Hemiptera. They are a food source for other insects including ladybirds and lacewings.

As you can see, they are annoying and the bad news is that females can lay 150 eggs with 4-5 generations a year…

The waxy little critters cause a horrible mess on the underside of brassica leaves. The honeydew they excrete can attract sooty mould. Spraying with water regularly may help; weak detergent too, but these are only good against the young or new adults. Or you can just hope that cooking the brassicas gets rid of everything that you don’t fancy eating … 😖

On the right of this photo you can see one of the young nymphs, known as scales. These are a different species from greenhouse whitefly.