Natural whitefly control

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

A Spanish neighbour has introduced me to a locally used natural whitefly control and it seems to be working. If you want to try it buy some Cola de Caballo (Horsetail) teabags (I got mine in Mercadona). Pour boiling water on 2 bags and leave to stand for half an hour. Squeeze out bags to get every drop of 'goodness'. Make up to 1 litre with cold water and that's it for the prep. Spray onto plants when they are not in direct sunlight ensuring that you spray under the leaves where most of the whitefly and their eggs will be. Repeat every few days for a week to 10 days to make sure you break the breeding cycle.
Cola de Caballo (Horsetail) is marketed as a natural diuretic for humans amongst other medicinal uses although this doesn't appear to have been proved scientifically yet.

[MLA]

My mother used to dilute some washing up liquid with water and spray the plants.

[beachlife]

My mother used to dilute some washing up liquid with water and spray the plants.

This works as insects breathe through holes on their body, the washing up blocks the holes and like you and me if they do not get oxygen they die.

Hope you have had some good news MLA about the issue you were hoping for, if so perhaps we might see you in September.

[Ole Man River]

Thanks Tamara for the very useful info.

[gattaca66]

I've got greenfly, black fly and whitefly (well, my plants have!) as well as some other unidentified crawling things, and have been tackling them with a washing-up liquid spray for couple of weeks. Seems very effective if you keep at it, on everything except the whitefly....so thanks for the tip, above, I'll give that a go!