Silverleaf whitefly in vegetables

Summary

Silverleaf whitefly, Bemisia tabaci are a sucking pest of a range of vegetables and field crops.

Their feeding can cause significant direct feeding damage, cause physiological changes in plants i.e. uneven ripening, cause sooty moulds to grow and transmit viruses.

This pest arrived in Australia in the early 1990ies but only arrived into the Riverina and Sunraysia in 2009.

It is particularly difficult to control as it readily develops resistance to insecticides.

This primefact covers different whitefly species found in vegetable crops, the lifecycle, hosts, damage caused and management options.