Related Links

  • Science Fair Project Guide

Project Summary

Difficulty  5  –  7 
Time required Long (a couple of weeks)
Prerequisites Plants with whitefly infestation for testing different treatments.
Material Availability Readily available
Cost Average ($50 - $100)
Safety Adult supervision required. Follow manufacturers instructions for safe use of commercial whitefly treatments.

Donate to Science Buddies


Internet Safety Tips
Get educated about online safety
with help from Symantec.

symantec.com/norton/familyresources

Objective

The objective of this project is to determine the most effective treatment for whitefly infestations on garden plants (e.g., Hibiscus, tomato, pointsettia, and others). Potential treatments for comparison include: soaps, oils, biopesticides, insect growth regulators, or insectides. The different treatments are compared to each other and to a treatment of water alone.

Introduction

Whiteflies (see pictures in Figure 1, below) are a group of related insect pests whose larvae, like aphids, get nutrients by sucking juices from plant leaves and stems. In addition to the primary damage they cause by depriving plants of vital nutrients, whiteflies can cause harm in other ways. They secrete relatively large quantities of honeydew, which encourages the growth of harmful fungus, and may also attract other harmful insects. Whiteflies can also transmit viruses which cause disease in plants.

bandedwinged whitefly greenhouse whitefly
silverleaf whitefly sweet potato whitefly
Figure 1. Four different species of whitefly (clockwise from top left): bandedwinged whitefly, greenhouse whitefly, sweet potato whitefly, and silverleaf whitefly (Fasulo et al., 1995).

Whiteflies have predators, including some parasitic wasp species, and ladybugs. Using broad-spectrum insecticide treatments to try to control whiteflies can lead to killing off these predators, and to the development of insecticide resistance in the whiteflies that survive.

Biorational pesticides are more focused methods of chemical control that aim to manage the pest species with the minimum amount of disturbance to non-target species. Biorational pesticides for whitefly control include insecticidal soaps and oils, and insect growth regulators, which kill by delaying larval development.

In this project, you'll compare the effectiveness of different treatments for controlling whiteflies.

Terms, Concepts and Questions to Start Background Research

To do this project, you should do research that enables you to understand the following terms and concepts:

Questions

Bibliography

Materials and Equipment

To do this experiment you will need the following materials and equipment:

Disclaimer: Science Buddies occasionally provides information (such as part numbers, supplier names, and supplier weblinks) to assist our users in locating specialty items for individual projects. The information is provided solely as a convenience to our users. We do our best to make sure that part numbers and descriptions are accurate when first listed. However, since part numbers do change as items are obsoleted or improved, please send us an email if you run across any parts that are no longer available. We also do our best to make sure that any listed supplier provides prompt, courteous service. Science Buddies receives no consideration, financial or otherwise, from suppliers for these listings. (The sole exception is any Amazon.com or Barnes&Noble.com link.) If you have any comments (positive or negative) related to purchases you've made for science fair projects from recommendations on our site, please let us know. Write to us at scibuddy@sciencebuddies.org.

Experimental Procedure

  1. Do your background research to make sure that you are knowledgeable about the terms, concepts, and questions above.
  2. As you learned when doing your background research, accurate identification of the particular whitefly species is important, since there are differences in control strategies. Use the ID Key webpages from the Whitefly Knowldedgebase, or seek help from a local greenhouse expert or county agricultural extension agent.
  3. Based on your background research, select 3–5 different treatments for testing.
  4. Before any treatments, take photographs and perform counts to determine the level of whitefly infestation. Record the results in your lab notebook.
  5. Clearly mark the different garden areas (or different branches of the same plant) for each treatment.
  6. Prepare and apply the different treatments according to the manufacturer's instructions. Be sure to follow all safety instructions when spraying.
  7. Use a plain water spray as a negative control.
  8. Continue to perform whitefly counts and take photographs for each treatment area at regular intervals for two weeks. Record the results in your lab notebook.
  9. Make graphs of the whitefly counts vs. time for each of the treatment areas.
  10. Which treatment is most effective?

Variations

Credits

Andrew Olson, Ph.D., Science Buddies

Sources

This project is based on:


Last edit date: 2006-11-03 16:30:00


Career Focus

science career image If you like this project, you might want to think about career opportunities in Zoology.

Ever wondered what wild animals do all day, where a certain species lives, or how to make sure a species doesn't go extinct? Zoologists and wildlife biologists tackle all these questions. They study the behaviors and habitats of wild animals, while also working to maintain healthy populations, both in the wild and in captivity. Learn more about this career: Zoologist and Wildlife Biologist.




Join Science Buddies

Become a Science Buddies member! It's free! As a member you will be the first to receive our new and innovative project ideas, news about upcoming science competitions, science fair tips, and information on other science related initiatives.


Support Science Buddies

If this website has helped you, won't you consider a small gift so we may continue developing resources to help teachers and students?

 



 

Science Buddies gratefully acknowledges its Presenting Sponsor
 
It's free! As a member you will be the first to receive our new and innovative project ideas, news about upcoming science competitions, science fair tips, and information on other science related initiatives.


Science Fair Project Home      Our Sponsors      Partners      About Us      Volunteer      Donate      Contact Us      Research Grants & Outreach      Site Map

Science Fair Project Ideas      Science Fair Project Guide      Ask an Expert      Blog      Teacher Resources      Parent Resources      Student Resources      Science Careers     


Privacy Policy Science Buddies

Copyright © 2002-2009 Kenneth Lafferty Hess Family Charitable Foundation. All rights reserved.
Reproduction of material from this website without written permission is strictly prohibited.
Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms and Conditions of Fair Use.