Growing Dicyphus Hesperus Controls Whitefly on Mullen Banker Plants

Whitefly are a problem for all gardeners. When indoor gardening they pose an even bigger problem (or at the very least a more annoying one).

The pesky insects suck and gather sap from any most things you grow, destroying all your hard work, and as they are so tiny, they are really difficult to prevent.

Their small size means they can fit through many wire mesh and screens to get at your plants and any vegetables you may be growing.

Many people don’t realize though that a bug called Dicyphus Hesperus are a way to fight back!

Dicyphus Hesperus Can Help Indoor Garden Growers

Dicyphus Hesperus are a species of bug from the Muridae family.

They are a natural predator, but one of their focus targets are the eggs of the whitefly, as well as whitefly themselves.

Many indoor gardeners have real issues with whitefly. Whole indoor garden boxes can be destroyed over a period by this almost invisible destructor.

This means if you have issues with your Mullen Banker plants because of troublesome whiteflies, the Dicyphus Hesperus can help come to its rescue.

Dicyphus Hesperus’s method of attack on whitefly is very effective.

These bugs are voracious feeders and will lay their eggs onto the undersides of the leaves.

The whitefly eggs are then eaten by these hungry Dicyphus Hesperus bugs.

How to tell if my plants are infected with Whitefly?

It can be quite easy to tell if your plants have been infested by these bugs. If you look at the underside of the leaves you will notice a circle or ring of white.

This is your whitefly larvae and eggs growing up inside the leaf.

They really are tiny. A fully mature Whitefly can easily fit on the very tip of your fingernail, and you may not even notice. The brilliant white a slight giveaway though.

It is estimated that these small bugs can produce 20,000 in a single day. And their offspring can start to produce almost instantaneously.

The whitefly is a voracious feeder, consuming all the plant nutrition and causing some nasty symptoms. The most common ones are stunted growth, poor growth, leaf dieback, chlorosis and finally death.

How To Get Rid of Whitefly, Without Using Pesticides?

Remove Whitefly Without Pesticides

Whiteflies are annoying. Very annoying in fact.

You really don’t want them anywhere near your indoor garden because they will eat almost anything in their path.

They may also carry diseases that can kill your plants.

But what can be done?

If you try mass amounts of insecticides you are likely to poison your plants, and next time you will have to buy new plants instead of organic ones.

So, what is the solution?

The answer comes in the form of – you guessed it – Dicyphus Hesperus, that lays its eggs in the bodies of whiteflies, eventually removing them.

This is a natural way to eliminate whiteflies without chemicals, and it can even be used to control other pests like aphids and spider mites as well.

The Mullen Banker Plant Attraction Effect

Mullen Banker is a plant that is well known in the gardening industry to attract whiteflies and other nuisance insects that feed on the plant while not eating the plant itself.

It was named after botanist William Mullen who was the first person to classify the plant – and home remedies have seen the Mullen Banker plant leaves to be used as a home antiseptic.

Mullen Banker is a low-maintenance plant that is pest resistant and is easy to grow, which is why it’s so popular amongst indoor gardening enthusiasts.

Although it can be grown indoors it can also be grown outdoors, it’s very versatile and resilient and is extremely popular in the US.

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