Pests in Greenhouse

[Jane0o0]

Sorry to pester you all again! But I was looking on Amazon at the Greenhouse White Fly Traps that are sticky strips you hang from your greenhouse that seem to be quite effective for white fly and lots of other pests but I'm reluctant to purchase reading comments saying bees unfortunately get stuck on it too.

Is there anything I can use to prevent these critters attacking my Tomato Plants when I put them in.

[Snoop Puss]

Marigolds maybe?

[bikermike]

I've used fly paper in my greenhouse for the last 5 years - I've not had a bee stuck to it. Generally, Bees tend to come into the greenhouse and try to get out again by flying up, and I have my fly paper down low by the plants - maybe that helps

[DannyK]

Encarsia wasps. They worked on my house plants.

Maybe a few sundew plants. Mine catch small flies but not strong enough for bees.

Vacuum cleaner.

[Jungle Jane]

Companion planting leaves you with no worries about other insects getting caught. Whitefly don’t like to nest near French marigolds because they exude a natural pesticide from their roots,I usually sow about fifty marigolds & plant them everywhere,slugs like them too makes them easy to find at night with a torch.

[nickdub]

The thing with a lot of pests is that they start from limited numbers, though they can build up rapidly if they have favorable conditions.

What that boils down to in practical terms is that if you had a white-fly problem last year you need to take serious measures to combat it - if however you didn't have any white-fly last year, with luck and a bit of care about not bringing them in a on plants you get, then you won't have a problem this year.

I've gardened for 50 years and seen a lot of pests, but never had any white-fly to deal with.

[muck lover]

Hopefully the cold weather this year will kill of some of these pesky varmits.

[Jane0o0]

Thank you for all the replies. I am growing Marigolds so will plant sit them next to all my Tomato plants just in case. This is my first year growing anything so just wanted to make sure I don't get any as I wouldn't even know what to do if I did.

[Snoop Puss]

Whitefly are difficult to deal with as they take to the air very readily. Anything else is manageable if you don't mind using the squish and squash technique!

[muck lover]

That sounds like a good idea. Although really, mostly things do grow without major problems provided they are given decent soil and some water. As long as you keep an eye on your plants and catch an infestation early there usually isn’t a problem. Last year in my poly tunnel predators arrived all by themselves. Some of the greenfly turned into little Golden blobs and I believe this is due to a predator called aphidius. I planted goodies for lacewings and ladybirds like limnanthes and pot marigolds, crocuses and strawberry plants.you only need to intervene occasionally and typically that only involves squishing a few greenfly now and then.

[carly]

Just started sowing in the greenhouse today
In one of my old pots with soil from last year there appear to be a few very small flies look like they have greenish wing and about 2-3 my long hovering around soil. Should I worry and get rid of this soil?

[carly]

Actually on closer inspection they have transparent wings.... wondering if it is gnats? There are no plants in there at the moment but they are hovering around last years soil... it’s pretty dry.
Also have a bag of John inner which is pretty moist. I have just sown using this

[Martin H]

Sounds like fungus gnats. I have them in my greenhouse too. Try to water plants from below whenever possible - if the surface of the compost is dry they don't seem interested.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=804

[carly]

Sounds like fungus gnats. I have them in my greenhouse too. Try to water plants from below whenever possible - if the surface of the compost is dry they don't seem interested.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=804

Thank you
Never had them before. But I have had soil and compost from last year sat in containers.... I took them out and forgot our soil is quite clay so some of the soil is still moist even though hasn’t been watered for a few months! Should I get rid of all this soil?

[Martin H]

Should I get rid of all this soil?

It's up to you. Personally I re-use all my old compost but always start seeds off in fresh stuff just in case there are any nasties overwintering in it. The fungus gnats don't seem to care, they hang around both.