By Clint Thompson
Vegetable growers must plan ahead when managing whiteflies. It starts before the season even begins; really, even before the prior season ends, explains grower Elizabeth Malek with Lipman Farms. She spoke about whitefly management during a panel discussion at the Citrus & Specialty Crop Expo in Tampa, Florida.
“You have to think about the start of your next season before the end of your current one. That all starts with a good cleanup program,” said Malek, who also stresses scouting for the insect. “The other thing you need to think about is implementing a monitoring program during your fallow period and then having a management program with whatever information that you can find.
“I highly recommend getting a scout to come and look at your fallow fields. If you don’t have one then consider hiring one. You need to survey your farm for volunteers. Do you have any? Where are they? How many are there? Do they have whiteflies? Do they have virus? Volunteers carry a lot of problems, so you need to know where they are.
“You can develop a management plan once you know what the populations are doing on your farm.”
Whitefly infestations are significant because of their potential impact throughout the year. They typically migrate from winter vegetables to spring vegetables to agronomic crops, like cotton, to fall vegetables and back to winter vegetables. The buildup of whiteflies is concerning since their feeding injuries in vegetables can lead to virus transmission, including cucurbit leaf crumple virus, cucurbit yellow stunting disorder virus, cucurbit chlorotic yellow virus, squash vein yellowing virus and tomato yellow leaf curl virus.
Malek understands the costs associated with a whitefly management plan but believes its implementation has long-term benefits.
“I would argue it’s an investment into your next crop. It will save you in the long run, because if you have a tight management program when they’re actually manageable, then you’re spending a lot less in the future having to spray the same populations over and over again. There are many benefits to implementing a fallow field management program.”