White Butterfly,

[Lickey]

Walking round our new Papaya plantation today, i see that some plants have a leaf curl and are of a bright green colour rather than dark green, and i also see many white butterfly/moth things on the underside of the leaves, question is, are the butterflys eating up some other insect or they creating the problem with the leaf curl ect, spreading it to other plants for eg? thanks for your thoughts and advice with this, Lickey,,,

[chownah]

I get small white butterflies and moths in my garden and was very wary of them at first but have never seen a problem from them. In the US they have the cabbage moth which I am very familiar with. They lay thier eggs on the underside of brassica plants (cabbage family) and these hatch into green worms which eat the leaves and will devastate a plant if present in numbers and left unchecked. In the US if you watch these moths it is quite easy to see what they are doing which is laying eggs....the activity and the eggs are easily seen. I suggest that you observe your moths and find out what they are up to. I don't think that they are eating because I think that adult stage butterflies and moths are not able to eat solid food.

Chownah

[ozzydom]

Lickey, sounds like you have whitefly infestation, they are very common in LoS , they are sap-suckers and are probably the cause of the wilting leaves, they love large leaf plants ,ie.pumpkins,papya.

Here is a bit of a write up on them. quote=

Whiteflies are small flies, approximately 1/8 of an inch long. They are completely white and can be seen flying off your plants, when you shake them. These insects pierce the outer layer of your plants and extract the liquids contained inside. The whitefly can carry diseases and exude a sticky, sugary concentrate of plant juices that can promote mold growth. It also reproduces rapidly and can become a problem in no time. There are two ways to treat an infestation: pesticides and using other insect predators.

PESTICIDES

The first way to rid yourself of whiteflies is through the use of pesticidic sprays. They are easily eradicated with natural sprays. Most gardening and garden supply stores carry these sprays. The most effective sprays are the ones which contain pyrethrum, although you can also purchase an insecticidal soap or make a homemade spray. These sprays are all usually applied in the same way. First you remove all the leaves that are more than 50% damaged and burn them or cure them in a heated temperature of more than 200 degrees fahrenheit(to kill all the remaining whitefly eggs). Then spray a fine mist over the infected plants, twice, completely covering them each time. Repeat this treatment about every 5-10 days, depending on your level of infestation. Your infestation levels should improve and begin to show signs of improvement immediately(within a day or two after every spraying). After spraying it would also be wise to add a few natural predators to keep from using harsh insecticides on your plants.

cheers

ozzy

[Lickey]

Thanks Chownah and Ozzy for your replies, on further inspection of the Papaya today i need to elaborate a bit more, just after Xmas, i found 3 plants to have white fly, they literally decimated all the leaves, all that was left was a white fungus on top of the stalk, and some white spots on the fruit, we went to the local agro doctor and he recommended bordon, this was sprayed on the next day, it seems to have cured that problem, as Chownah suggests, cabbage moth, same thing in UK, but ive watched where they settle and when they leave, there dosent seem to be any activity on the underside of the leaves, these butterfly/moths are a creamy white colour, perhaps there is another problem like mosaic?

5 pm and the lady from the pok-pok shop needs 20kilos papaya tonight, mrs and me go to farm, Mr Poo helps to pick as well, im walking through whats left of old papaya to turn off pumps cos it rained today, suddenly the air is black with flying insects, black, about an inch long, looks like a miniture helicopter in shape, was told by mr poo that because of rain they need to rest off the ground and wont harm the plants, and that they eat smaller insects, not foilage, i hope this is true!! Thanks, Lickey..