Poinsettia recsue from white flies

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The poinsettia is making a full recovery after being completely denuded of leaves by white flies.  I re potted and fertilized it after spraying with bug-be-gone.  After a few days I moved it from the house to outside under the patio where it received 1/2 days sun.  The flies did not return and now it is starting to leaf out nicely.  I have been fertilizing it every 2 weeks with miracle grow and am ready to start pruning to bring it back down to size.  Click on the poinsettia label to see the other posts about this subject.

Update on Poinsettia Rescue

3rd & 4th instar nymphs 

Well, the concoction I made up the other day is not working.  Today I saw a white fly emerge from the poinsettia plant as I tapped it.  I decided to put one of the leaves under a microscope at 100X and sure 'nuff there they were...about 6 nymphs on the leaves.  I could not find any eggs which gives me hope.
 Lady Stickfigure banished the plant from the house and my reply could only be, "Yes, your Linesse."  I promptly curtsied and left with a pitiful looking poinsettia out to the patio.  Its fate is hanging on the edge of doom.

At right is a drawing I made of the little creatures.  I compared them with some online pics and they look pretty close.

That plant sat out on the patio all summer last year and really took off.  But when I brought it into the house the flies went to work unopposed.  I figure they must have been prayed upon outside to such an extent that they could not do much damage.

I gave it another dose of the pepper/soap concoction and left the plant outside to see what happens.

Poinsettia rescue

I'm working on the fall garden log that I made up in 2013 while we are having this cold spell.  I have it all in a spiral-bound notebook and am in the process of putting it into a book using Microsoft word.  I would like to offer it as a download to provide a snippet of our fall garden experience.  I'm hoping to have it finished by the time the garden demands my full attention.

I had problems with the poinsettia in the south window.  We bring it in each year to overwinter.  It was attacked by white flies and almost died.  I tried this that and the other but finally had success by first taking it to the garage and using the sprayer from the facet to wash the critters off.  Next I picked off the worse leaves and rubbed out the nymphs with a small artist's brush. After that I made up a concoction of jalapeno peppers, water, and dish detergent.  I didn't have a blender so I ran the peppers through an old antique meat grinder I had, then strained it using an old T-shirt.  What ever you do DON'T TOUCH YOUR EYES UNTIL YOU WASH YOUR HANDS FIRST....OKAY, WEAR GLOVES. :)  I sprayed that plant top to bottom and both sides of all leaves.  Afterwards I re-potted the poor fellow and gave it a light dose of liquid fertilizer and placed it in a north window.  It is now showing signs of recovery by little leaves sprouting out after about 4 days there.  I don't think I'll have to say Kaddish over it, thank heaven.  It's very beautiful and I've tried to shape it to look bonsai-ish.  It needs another pruning but I'm going to wait until it has fully recovered to do that.  Check out this 21 year old poinsettia bonsai.of Nigel Saunders.  Mine is only 4 years old and will probably out-live me if I can manage to keep it alive. :)

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