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How to combat whitefly on marijuana plants

Whitefly or Aleurodidae (Aleyrodidae) are a family of hemiptera insects that cause significant damage to many types of cultivated plants. One of them are cannabis plants, which is why they are considered pests for cannabis crops and can be combat.

Currently 1,556 species of whitefly are recognized, the vast majority feed on more than 500 species of ornamental plants, wild and cultivated, only some species of whitefly are important crop pests, including cannabis crops.

Whitefly

whitefly eggs

Whitefly pests in cannabis crops

Whitefly has become a pest of worldwide importance. They are insects of the order Hemiptera to which other insects such as aphids, leafhoppers, psyllids, scale insects and cicadas belong, among others. There are four stages of development of the whitefly; the nymphal instar or lavarles stage is the development of the insect until it becomes an adult. It adopts a size of 1 and 1.5 mm in length divided into three regions, head, thorax and abdomen. The body is pale yellow with two pairs of white wings, three pairs of legs and a sucking, stinging mouthparts for sucking sap from plants.

The life cycle of whiteflies varies with climatic conditions in temperatures between 15 and 25 degrees Celsius. A male may live from 6 to 34 days and a female from 14 to 55 days.

Whitefly plague
Whitefly larva

How do whitefly reproduce?

The whitefly reproduces by eggs that are deposited on the underside of the upper leaves, its size is small and its shape is oval or pyramidal. Direct contact with the leaves allows the eggs to survive dehydration and provides them with nutrients during their development.

The ideal temperature for whiteflies is the heat and humidity that they find in summer in greenhouses and where they find their best habitat is in indoor growing cabinets without sudden variations in temperature and humidity, which makes them an ideal area for live and reproduce.

Cannabis whitefly symptoms

The first symptoms of the attack of the whitefly that we can observe in our marijuana plants is in the color of the leaves that begin to turn yellowish, usually starting at the edge of the leaves and ending up drying them out and slowing down growth of the plants and if we do not treat them in time, fungi, bacteria and other diseases caused by said insect will appear, so we recommend fighting them as soon as possible with specific products and not reaching more.