subject: Tomato Stake Whitefly Trap [print this page] Trick whiteflies with the color yellowTrick whiteflies with the color yellow. Whiteflies are attracted to yellow surfaces, and you can buy commercially produced traps that have sticky yellow surfaces where whiteflies land and get fatally stuck. In Brooklyn, Ohio, tomato lover Katherine came up with a nifty way to recycle some household items into a sticky whitefly trap at cost that is much lower than the price of commercial traps.
Ingredients and supplies
4 6-foot-long tomato stakes
4 48-ounce juice cans, each with 1 end removed
Yellow paint
Paintbrush
12 yellow or clear plastic bags (like the ones used to cover newspapers on rainy days)
Petroleum jelly
Directions
1.Use the stakes to support growing tomatoes. Or, if youre already using another type of support for your tomatoes, pound in the stakes alongside the plants. Four stakes set every 2 feet will protect a row of 10 tomatoes.
2. Paint the juice cans yellow.
3. Place the painted cans over the tops of the tomato stakes.
4. Cover each can with a yellow or clear plastic bag.
5. Smear petroleum jelly on the outside of the bags.
Yield: 4 supper-sticky whitefly traps.
A whitefly looks just like its name suggests a flying white blur. These pests feed on sap, gathering in large swarms on leaf undersides. If you shake an infested plant, a cloud of tiny whiteflies will take to the air.
Trap whiteflies by placing a plastic bag over an inverted can and coating the bag with petroleum jelly. Put the can on top of stake in the midst of your tomatoes.
