# Tiny white flies that rise when the plant is shaken: likely causes and fixes

> Tiny white flies that rise when the plant is shaken on cannabis is most often Whiteflies. How to tell them apart, the fix for each and what recovery looks like.

Also called: whiteflies, white flies, little white moths, white bugs flying.

Run the checker with this sign: https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/diagnose/?at=whole&s=whiteflies

## Likely causes, most likely first

### Whiteflies (Possible)

- Kind: Pest; urgency: Deal with it this week
- Fix: Yellow cards; identify the species; release Encarsia formosa (greenhouse whitefly) or Eretmocerus (warmer rooms, silverleaf whitefly) plus predatory mites; keep sprays out of flower.
- Recovery: Card counts fall within 3-4 weeks; parasitised black nymphs appear.
- Confirm: Sticky cards for 1-2 weeks: Hang yellow cards at canopy height and lay one flat on the medium surface; add blue cards for thrips. Count catches every 3-4 days. Rising counts of small dark flies at the medium mean fungus gnats; slender insects mean thrips; white wedge-shaped fliers mean whiteflies; winged aphids mean a colony nearby.
- Confirm: Magnifier check of leaf undersides and new growth: Use a 10-20x loupe for spider mites, thrips, aphids and whiteflies, and a 30-60x lens or clip-on phone macro for broad and russet mites. Check the undersides of 10 affected leaves across several plants and the newest shoot tips, in white light. Look for moving dots, eggs, shed skins, webbing, slender insects with black specks, and glassy specks on new growth.
- Article: [Whiteflies on cannabis: life table, temperature, parasitoids and IPM](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/pests/whiteflies.md)

## Note

Guidance, not a guarantee. The checker weighs common causes against what you tell it; confirm with the tests before you treat, change one thing at a time and watch the new growth.