Our condo building has a long hedge between our building and the next. It has developed a major whitefly infestation. It is 50 years old and a story and a half tall. I can only find one service that seems to specialize in pest control as well as usual trimming services. Of course, it has mixed reviews. The hedge is 140 feet long. I know it will be costly, but it is a huge privacy issue and would cost even more to remove and replace it. What should we be asking and how can we tell if they know what they're doing? We would like it to be treated with the least toxic solution, of course, to protect birds and squirrels. Any input at all would be appreciated. Thank you!

Your extreme white fly outbreak and your proposed solution reminds me of the Tussock Moth epidemic we had in eastern Oregon/Washington during the early 1970s. The caterpillars were severely defoliating Douglas-firs and white firs in the region. It was bad. The US Forest Service panicked and aerial sprayed thousands of acres with 2,4-D. You may remember coverage in the press?

So, a state park with old growth firs growing in it, all of which were heavily infested, put the trees up for sale to timber buyers. There was an auction. The successful bidder was given three years under the contract terms to cut down the trees.

The buyer did not cut the trees the following year. They held them in reserve for when the log market might improve during the three year period.

What happened? The trees flushed out the following year! They were not dead after all. They had enough reserves to regrow their foliage.

But a contract is a contract, so the state park became a clear cut.

Moral of the story: insect infestations are on a boom/bust cycle. The worse the infestation, the sooner the insect population crashes.

Maybe this pertains to you?

If it was me, I'd wait. The hedge could maybe withstand the infestation and recover. The gamble is worth it.

Please let us know what you end up doing!

Feast and Famine with bugs always, may depend on the type of hedge as well, find out what it is, then find out if it is always a host to those whiteflies before you make up your mind.

It is a Ficus Benjamina

OOPS. It was DDT they sprayed, not 2,4-D.

Thank you

The first thing I would do in that situation is contact your local extension agent. They can probably give you some basic info.... has it happened before in your area, what the outcome will most likely be and what your options are. The University of California has some great extension agents. Get as much info as possible before you make a decision. etc.

Debbie, I have no idea what an extension agent is.

Here are photos

Those photos show what look to me like tent caterpillar nests.
I searched "whitefly" and saw no mention of webs.
Maybe you have tent caterpillars?
And maybe some flies just get stuck to the webs?
Look inside those clusters of webbing and see if there are tiny caterpillars.
Let us know, please. I couldn't be more curious

I'll take more pics tomorrow. What you are seeing may be spider webs.

Look inside the webs. If you have caterpillars, you will see them swarming about.

If you have spiders, that's good news. Spiders eat flies. Tent caterpillars eat leaves.

Hi Nancy,
This is a link to your extension agents. They are the agricultural experts in Los Angeles county from the University of California that can help you a lot. https://celosangeles.ucanr.edu...

On this page you will see...." Have a Gardening Question? Email [email protected] with a description of your concern or question. Attaching photos will help the Master Gardener diagnose the problem. OR, you can phone in your concern or question by leaving a detailed message at (626) 586-1988. " Their volunteer master gardeners often will come out to your property to look at the problem and give you advice.

Thank you so much Debbie!

I contacted the Master Gardener Program and they replied (thank you again, Debbie) recommending we trim the hedge back to get rid of dead wood and regularly hard spray with water before any chemical treatment and that should "keep them in check". I will move forward with this with the HOA and keep you posted. I so appreciate everyone's input!

White Flies are tricky. Usually when a plant reaches maturity and is healthy, white flies are not a problem. They usually go for young plants or new leaves. They can be treated with an insecticidal soap (spray) on the underside of the leaves. Here's the problem. White Flies have a 3 day life cycle, which means, the plant needs to be sprayed at least every 3 days until the treatment resolves the problem. Additional spraying maybe needed to keep on top of it.

As a follow up, we did have the hedge severely cut back and hard-sprayed with water. We have also had a lot of rain, which helps. Our neighbor hung lots of lacewing cards. I'm afraid, now that the rainy season will be over and the hedge gets thicker, they may come back. (Of course we would have to take stronger measures if that happens.). Would it help at all to release ladybugs, or would we need 10,000 to do any good?

If the ladybugs were released, they prolly wouldn't stick around, chuckl. Have you considered anything like sticky tape? Or are there good bugs in this as well?