Question
hi , my angel plant is 3 yrs old this year my leaves were curling, so I found white flies. I sprayed water on the top and underside of each leaf, then I washed each leaf with dish soap and my leaves are still curling.I set it outside now and the tree is just loaded with new leaves and a few new branches. what is the problem?

Answer
Dear Paula, White flies suck the juices out of plant tissues and cause the new leaves to curl since they don't get enough nutrients and moisture to grow completely and normally.  Once the leaves have curled, even if you kill off the white flies, they will not resume the normal shape.  You will just have to wait for new leaves to come in.  However, just water and dish soap is fairly ineffective for killing the white flies.  May I suggest that you get a product containing Spinosad?  Spinosad is an organic ingredient that is extremely effective against pests that feast on your plants.  As soon as a bug starts to eat a Spinosad sprayed plant, it will become sick, stop feeding immediately and will die within a few hours.  It doesn't harm beneficials that are not eating the plant.  If you can't find this product locally, try Amazon.  I found some and it came within two days.  I have heard about this product for a few years, and was quite impressed with how quickly it worked.  It's especially good for bugs like white flies, scale insects, and aphids.  If the new leaves are still curled, you may still have white flies.  They will be on the underside of the leaf and look like just a spot or something, but there is a young whitefly inside each one, so if you see that, then you still have white flies on your plant.  Often we don't notice them unless there is a cloud of white fluff every time the plant is disturbed.  So if you have new leaves coming out that are still curled, look again for the pests, spray with Spinosad, and your angel trumpet should recover fairly quickly.  You may have to spray a few times to kill all the larvae.  I hope this information helps.  Good luck, Melissa