Insects diurnal

Cabbage Whitefly

Aleyrodes proletella

The Cabbage Whitefly may be tiny, but its presence is unmistakable in the garden. Look closely at the underside of your kale leaves to find these waxy, winged wonders living in hidden colonies.

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Quick Identification

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Size

1.5 mm (0.06 inches) in length; wingspan is approximately 2.5 mm (0.1 inches)

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Colors

Adults are covered in a white, waxy powder with two distinctive dark grey or blackish spots on each forewing.

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Key Features

Two dark spots on each forewing
Covered in white waxy powder
Found almost exclusively on the undersides of brassica leaves
Cloud-like flight when disturbed

When You’ll See Them

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Activity pattern diurnal

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Peak hours 10 AM - 4 PM

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Season July-October

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Diet Phloem sap from plants in the Brassicaceae family, including kale, cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower.

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Habitat Backyard vegetable gardens, allotments, and agricultural fields.

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Behavior

The Cabbage Whitefly is a sedentary sap-sucker that spends nearly its entire life cycle on the underside of leaves within the brassica family. They are social in a passive sense, often congregating in massive numbers to feed. When the host plant is shaken or brushed against, the adults take flight simultaneously, creating a brief, swirling cloud of white before quickly settling back onto the leaf surface.

As they feed on plant sap, they excrete a sticky, sugar-rich substance called honeydew. This honeydew can accumulate on the leaves below, often leading to the growth of black sooty mold. Unlike many other garden insects, they are quite hardy and can remain active on winter crops like kale and Brussels sprouts even as temperatures drop, making them a permanent fixture in many vegetable patches.

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Camera Tips

Capturing the Cabbage Whitefly requires a macro lens or a camera with a very close minimum focusing distance, as they are far too small for standard wide-angle trail cameras. Position your camera just inches away from the underside of a brassica leaf, particularly one that shows signs of white waxy residue. Kale is an ideal host plant for photography because its textured leaves provide plenty of nooks for the insects to gather, offering a more interesting visual composition than flat cabbage leaves.

Lighting is your biggest challenge. Because these insects are covered in a reflective white wax, a direct flash will often result in a featureless white blob. Instead, utilize diffused natural light. If your camera setup allows, place a white reflector (even a piece of cardstock) on the ground to bounce sunlight upward toward the leaf's underside. This fills in the shadows and highlights the delicate dark spots on their wings without overexposing the subject. Setting your camera to a high aperture (f/8 or higher) will help ensure more of the colony stays in focus across the curved surface of the leaf.

Since these insects don't move much unless disturbed, motion-triggering can be unreliable. We recommend using a time-lapse setting, capturing a frame every 60 seconds during the peak heat of the day. This not only ensures you catch the insects but can also create a fascinating video of the colony shifting and feeding over time. If you want to capture the 'cloud' effect of them flying, you'll need a high frame rate (at least 60fps) and a trigger-ready setup that you can activate by gently tapping the plant from a distance.

Similar Species

Species that look similar or are commonly confused with Cabbage Whitefly.

Glasshouse Whitefly

Lacks the dark spots on the wings and is generally found on indoor or greenhouse plants rather than outdoor brassicas.

Small White Butterfly

Significantly larger (wingspan up to 50mm) and has a different wing shape, though both are white and found on cabbages.

Frequently Asked Questions

Cabbage Whitefly are diurnal insects, meaning they are most active during daylight. They are most likely to take flight or move between leaves during the warmest hours, typically between 10 AM and 4 PM.

To attract them, simply plant their favorite food sources: brassicas. Kale, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and cabbage are guaranteed to draw them in, especially if the plants are left in the ground into late summer and autumn.

They feed exclusively on the sap of brassica plants. They use their specialized mouthparts to pierce the leaf and drink the nutrient-rich phloem, which can sometimes weaken the plant if the infestation is heavy.

Yes, they are incredibly common in suburban environments. Any garden or allotment growing winter greens or summer brassicas is likely to host a population of these hardy insects.

The easiest way to tell the Cabbage Whitefly apart is by the two dark grey smudges on each forewing and their specific preference for cabbage and kale; other common species like the Glasshouse Whitefly have pure white wings and prefer indoor plants.

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