According to the most recent South Florida Pest and Disease Hotline, whitefly pressure continues to build across the region, with populations reaching high numbers. This is especially true in older cucurbit and fruiting vegetables at or close to harvest.
Whiteflies feed on various hosts but the crop that’s proven to be most vulnerable is older tomato fields that should have been terminated by now.
Growers and scouts on the east coach report that pressure is building in older eggplant and tomato. Whiteflies are migrating out of these crops and putting pressure on nearby fields. Whiteflies are also causing problems in some pepper.
In Homestead, whitefly numbers are high in tomato and other crops. Tomato yellow leaf curl virus, which is vectored by whiteflies, is also high in most tomato fields. Some hotspots are also present in beans.
A few hotspots of adults and nymphs have been reported in snap benas in Pahokee and Clewiston, Florida.