[jerrymeola]

You need to understand the life cycle of thrips to understand why so many people are having problems with controlling them. They are easy to kill.

They have a 28 day life cycle and lay eggs constantly. Eggs hatch about every 3 days so unless you are treating with a contact spray like soap or Bayer's every three days you will not get rid of them. They are very easy to kill with almost anything but they just keep hatching. This is the method I recommend. I use organic Vermi-liquid (worm tea) every two weeks as a preventative.

Systemics go into the plant and constantly kill (for about 30 days) eliminating that generation.

When you see buds being eaten you need to start all over again.

The two best (and still reasonably affordable) are orthene soluble (hard to find the non soluble is not as effective) and beta-cyphutrin, which comes as a granular slow release and a liquid to dilute and spray. Both cyphutrin are available from Bayer and carried by Ace hardware. Most commercial growers use systemics because one spraying controls large areas.