Managing Thrips

[Shadeflower]

Thx Keith.
I like ladybugs. I've never seen that many at once which must feel awesome too releasing them all.

It's been a week, I did have to treat one plant but most grow spaces have been clear.

Claw, it's ironic we have managed to eradicate them at roughly he same time!
Maybe it's just winter and they are all hibernating... Ok I should be more positive but hard, caught the stupid virus at the moment. Feels like my lungs are coated in honey.
My dog got it too I think. He's had a dodgy stomach and coughing also. Still debating which has been worse. I felt terrible for a week but the thrips have been a headache for a good year. And they cost me a couple of orchids!

The only thing I will add to this is that if the damage appears on flowers then like the video pointed out you have a very healthy population of thrips.

I have been looking at my roots. They nibble on the roots and that is where the damage is noticeable first - if one is really observant but even then I still think it takes 2 months for the damge to show. They can have several parties in 2 months until the damage does show.

attaching latest plant showing thrip damage and then no damage

[Clawhammer]

Originally Posted by K-Sci

I didn't know imidacloprid was safe as a drench. It's a systemic, so I suppose that's a good way to get it throughout the plant.

Something just as valuable as what worked, is what you tried that didn't work. Do you mind telling some stories

What didn't work:

1.) I tried this program in the middle of the summer when everything was in bloom and the catasetinae were fully leafed out. It will very difficult to eliminate a greenhouse wide thrip infestation without taking this action. I also had thrips in my African Violet collection (I believe The Violet Barn was the OG source of my infestation) and had to deflower/debud those to defeat thrips.

2.) I tried my program with only Conserve (high end spinosad). This used to be the go to for thrip eradication but they have developed resistance. My thrips (western flower thrips) were particularly resistant, which is one reason why my previous attempts failed.

3.) I was thwarted by trying to preserve special blooms. So often thrips survived because I didn't want to treat a first bloom or a very special annual bloom. Tough decisions have to be made. Eventually I figured out if I moved the plant to another room early in spike, I could treat it and eliminate the thrips in time to enjoy the bloom.

PS Hope you and your dog recover quickly Shade.

[K-Sci]

Originally Posted by Clawhammer

What didn't work:

Thanks for sharing. I did a double take reading an article that referred the the Western Flower Thrip as "WFT." That's perhaps appropriately close to "WTF".

-Keith