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Epic Battle

i have been engaged in an epic battle -- woman against the forces of nature.

Anyone who owns a home knows there is always something in need of urgent attention.  This week it was war waged on an infestation of white flies.

I had been noticing that an orange-scented jasmine that I have growing in the side yard has not been thriving.  I was thinking it was due to the dry season we have had and I was including it on my watering schedule, but it just seemed determined not to thrive.  I decided to cut it back and in that process i noticed the dead tips of branches and looked up possible causes.  Based on what I had read, I checked for a couple of likely pests.  Sure enough, i found white flies.

I sprayed with soapy (Dawn dish detergent) water.  I sprayed the next day with neem oil.  It seemed the white flies were no longer lurking under the leaves, but then I noticed that they were rising up out of the surrounding grass, so I started spraying the lawn as well.


This shrub has not flowered at all this year.  I love the orange scent of the blooms.  I hope it survives but it does look quite poorly at the moment.

There is another orange-scented jasmine on the other side of the house.  This one seems healthier but I will have to keep an eye on it.
I trim branches away that touch the siding.  Time to get out there and do that and I hope I don't encounter more white flies.  It does hide the AC unit so I would hate to lose it even though it does bother me that it always wants to reach out and touch the house siding and window.

We shall see what my water bill will be this month.  It was not only the spraying shrubs and lawn, it was the multiple very long showers to get rid of that creepy crawly feeling form imagining white flies settling allover my hair and skin.

Comments

  1. Barbara MApril 7, 2018 at 11:09 PM

    I miss those days of working with shrubs and plants in the yard. I did buy a red tip photinia which will grow into a giant shrub one day but I thought that for today I'll keep it on my sunny balcony and play like I can still garden

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tom at SightingsApril 8, 2018 at 8:21 AM

    Sometimes I think nature doesn't like our manicured lawns and carefully tended gardens. But it does look like a pretty plant, so keep up the good fight!

    ReplyDelete
  3. AudreyJ5April 8, 2018 at 9:21 AM

    Your plant does hide your a/c unit very well. And it is very pretty. Good luck with the growth on the other one. Hopefully it will survive.

    ReplyDelete
  4. RianApril 8, 2018 at 10:13 AM

    It's been too chilly to even check on my plants. Hope to do so in the next few weeks. We do have nice days, but it seems to go from 70's back to the 30's a lot. I too use a soapy mix of Dawn and water. It generally works pretty well if you keep at it. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Arkansas PattiApril 8, 2018 at 11:08 AM

    Hope you have been successful in your battle. Fragrant bushes are so welcome and hopefully rugged.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousApril 8, 2018 at 12:07 PM

    We sometimes get white flies on our plants, but the gecko lizards eat them and our plants recover naturally without pesticides.

    ReplyDelete
  7. SakuApril 8, 2018 at 1:45 PM

    Hopefully your efforts will keep the bush alive. Darn bugs!

    We're still freezing here but I hope that the weather will turn and I'll soon be out getting my hands dirty.

    ReplyDelete
  8. TaborApril 8, 2018 at 1:46 PM

    Neem oil is a good spray for flies. I had an infestation of fungus flies (in the house no less) on my citrus. Fortunately, we took it outside and sprayed and sprayed and the cold nights may have helped.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Linda ReederApril 8, 2018 at 8:36 PM

    We seem to be bugged by outdoor pests of one kind or another most of the time. We try to be organic, but it doesn't always work.

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousApril 10, 2018 at 12:29 PM

    I think to get rid of those white flies will be a great hard work. I have experienced this with my plants in my garden. It also spread to the nearby plants. It slowly spoils the complete plant...

    ReplyDelete

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