whitefly resistance gene discovered

[Iochroma]

Thought some of you might like to know about this discovery I saw over at phys.org:
http://phys.org/news/2012-09-galapag...-tomatoes.html

[Rockporter]

What a great article to post about, I enjoyed learning about this and am going to keep an eye out for those plants in a couple of years. I wonder if this guy would involve the Dwarf project to get them out there sooner???

Thanks for posting.

[Cole_Robbie]

Thanks for the link.

I had whiteflies very badly this summer. My 80 y/o grandpa has been farming all of his life, worked 30 years doing agronomy research, and had still never seen whiteflies on tomatoes like I had. They loved the hot drought we had for a summer. A few plants apparently got a virus transmitted by the whiteflies and rapidly died. I reluctantly sprayed with Malathion once, and that helped a lot.

[Rockporter]

Cole, I have had a whitefly problem each growing season on my plants. I used many things trying to control them and the only thing I found that worked is the homemade neem oil mix. It's cheap to make and you don't have the problems of chemicals on your skin other than some vegetable oil and a small bit of dishwashing liquid as well as water. I liked using it because it took care of the whitefly very well.

Here is the recipe for ready to use.

1/4 teaspoon liquid dish soap
2+3/4 teaspoons oil (peanut, corn, cottonseed, soybean, sunflower or safflower oils).
2 Cups water
Shake Well and use in a hand sprayer not a hose end sprayer.

Use only Ivory or cheap pink dishsoap, not the dawns of the world today, those kinds will strip the leaves and don't use antimicrobial either.

Spray the undersides of the leaves and the tops when it is less than 85 degrees outside, the sun is down and the plants are not drought or heat stressed.

I used this solution once a week for a couple of weeks and my horrid whitefly infestation went away.

[ginger2778]

Whiteflies are my nemesis. i hate them, and my neighborhood has such a bad infestation that you can see the spirals on bananas, palms have whitefly "snowflakes" just flying and falling from them, they are on ficus, and a certain kind of oak tree etc and so on and so on...


Rockporter, I am very interested in your homemade formula. 2 questions:
1) when you say oil in your recipe, you mean Neem oil right?
2) What type of Neem oil, (pure, or in solution, concentrate or pre mix) and where do you get it?


I have been using neem (storebought) but needed to do it about every 4 days. It's horrible!
Last year I spray painted solo cups lemon yellow, coated them thickly with vaseline, and put them on 3 foot tall posts with a pushpin, which was my homemade yellow sticky trap, and it seemed to help alot, much less population of them than this past year when I didn't do it.Still did the Neem though.

[gixxerific]

Good article that would be great if it coudl come around without too much gene meddeling.

I have never had a problem with them till this year. I had tons of them on a potted plant in my front yard. I just sprayed it down with water as you would for aphids. They have pretty much gone away. Not sure if it was the spray or the cooler temps that made them leave. They migrate away from cold areas so maybe it is the weather. Either way they are more mangable if not gone.

Good luck to you all.

[Rockporter]

Originally Posted by gixxerific

Good article that would be great if it coudl come around without too much gene meddeling.

I have never had a problem with them till this year. I had tons of them on a potted plant in my front yard. I just sprayed it down with water as you would for aphids. They have pretty much gone away. Not sure if it was the spray or the cooler temps that made them leave. They migrate away from cold areas so maybe it is the weather. Either way they are more mangable if not gone.

Good luck to you all.

The whitefly solution helps for all kinds of bugs, including aphids because it smothers them. Using it when it is less than 85 degrees outside and in the evening when the sun is down is best so the oil doesn't burn the leaves.

[ginger2778]

I cut down a banana tree this Am because the stalk was ready and ripening. I noticed the black sooty mold on the outside of the leaves, but when it was cut I could see the entire banana leaf (all of them) was covered about 4 thick in clumps of whiteflies. Must have been several hundred on each leaf. I am ordering ladybugs today because I think there is definitely enough food for them to keep them busy for a while. Gonna do the oil spray too. I just can't stand them.

[Rockporter]

Originally Posted by ginger2778

Rockporter, I am very interested in your homemade formula. 2 questions:
1) when you say oil in your recipe, you mean Neem oil right?
2) What type of Neem oil, (pure, or in solution, concentrate or pre mix) and where do you get it?

The formula is from the USDA(not me) and it works very well.

You don't use neem oil, you can use peanut, corn, cottonseed, soybean, sunflower or safflower oils.

I will update that recipe to clarify.

[kurt]

Understood,just that it would be harmful for us here Florida with our flat standing water enviornment.Our water table is in some places 2ft below ground surface.All our municipalitys have strict pesticide controls and are using beneficial insect control(predator whiteflys seen at wormsway.com mentioned in above posts)We are in shortage of honeybees as it is,and MSDS statement reads "potential"affects on non targeted beneficials not known is scary for me.That is my point.

Product review is conducted according to the policies in the current OMRI Policy Manual and based on the standards in the current OMRI Standards Manual.
To verify the current status of this or any OMRI Listed product, view the most current version of the OMRI Products List at www.omri.org.
OMRI listing is not equivalent to organic certification and is not a product endorsement. It cannot be construed as such.
Final decisions on the acceptability of a product for use in a certified organic system are the responsibility of a USDA accredited certification agent.

It is the operator’s responsibility to properly use the product, including following any restrictions.

[DKelly]

The fungus neither grows nor develops at temperatures above 32°C and is not thought to be pathogenic to humans. It has not been found to be toxic to rats in laboratory experiments and is not considered to be harmful to birds, honey bees,[10] bumblebees or a wide range of non-target arthropods.[3]
Wikipedia with reference.
Paecilomyces fumosoroseus is not a plant pathogenic
organism and does not produce significant detrimental
effects on beneficial insects, including bees and
bumblebees. The only residues derived from applications
of NoFLY are short lived spores, that should not present
any environmental persistence concerns in soil, water
or air. These characteristics make this product an ideal
tool for Integrated Pest Management Programs.
from http://naturalindustries.com/commerc....Brochure4.pdf
It should also be of mention that the fungus occurs naturally in Florida.
I believe the strain in question was isolated from Florida.
Organic Crops


NOP Approved:

This product is approved for organic production by the National Organic Program (NOP), a marketing program housed within the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service, the agency that sets marketing standards. The NOP mission is to develop and implement national standards that govern the marketing of agricultural products as organically produced, to facilitate commerce in fresh and processed food that is organically produced, and to assure consumers that such products meet consistent standards.

OMRI Listed®:
http://www.certisusa.com/omri_certif...I_03012013.pdf

OMRI Certificate
Printer friendly PDF format
This product is OMRI Listed, therefore it is determined by the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) to be suitable for use in certified organic production.

Of course this must be cleared by your certifying agency prior to application.

Again not really sure where you are going with this...if you feel uncomfortable don't buy don't apply...easy enough but for others this is an effective safe product.

[kurt]

I have derived the info you gave me from the(and read) certusa product.Now a Nofly,mixing two products and strains.Please do not want to make a case study.Just made the point that it is not RECOMENDED for our water laden geography here in Florida,that is all. http://nfrec.ifas.ufl.edu/MizellRF/W...g/register.htm

[DKelly]

In other words Kurt you wanted to be right.
Here is the thing Kurt all pesticide labels generally include the terminology you quoted.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pi136
Please look at link from Univ of Florida.

Again the paecilomyces fumosoroseus apopka strain 97 was isolated from Apopka Florida! This I believe is close to many lakes and such.
Furthermore if you had comprehension of the life cycle of paecilomyces fumosoroseus apopka strain 97 you would be put to ease. Basically it survives only on the insect hosts or specially formulated growth media. It does not survive underwater. It does not survive over 32 degrees Celsius. It does not survive in low humidity.

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by kurt

I have derived the info you gave me from the(and read) certusa product.Now a Nofly,mixing two products and strains.Please do not want to make a case study.Just made the point that it is not RECOMENDED for our water laden geography here in Florida,that is all. http://nfrec.ifas.ufl.edu/MizellRF/W...g/register.htm

I just clicked on the last link from Kurt and it does say PFR-97 (The product put out with this fungus in it) has a low incidence of mortality to beneficials, which is good, and is effective on whiteflies as well as thrips, spidermites, etc.
It was discovered in Florida by U of F.
I researched all the links above from both Kurt and DKelly, and I cannot locate where it says it is detrimental to our water table, although one of the links does mention it in a table with alot of pesticides, and has a warning about the watertable at the bottom, but it refers to being careful to evaluate a given pesticide for effect on the watertable, doesn't say this fungus can be bad in particular.
Kurt, can you please tell us where the info is on this fungus being harmful for our area and water supply?

I am intrigued to say the least! I do not want to harm our watertable , so I will try to find out specifically. I think, if all is OK after all with this fungus, I would LOVE to get some!!!
-Marsha

[DKelly]

According to your link from Univ. of Florida you posted lists paecilomyces fumosoroseus apopka strain 97 as low mortality risk. However your study you cited defines low risk as below 50% mortality and no actual numbers are given. If you are trying to prove something you need to cite a more specifically accurate study. Still not sure what you are trying to prove.