What can you tell me about thrips?

[mehitabel]

I have a Phal I-Hsin Spot Eagle 'Montclair' that keeps trying to bloom, but the new buds never develop. It is NOT bud blast, so pleeez don't offer that.

From a little reading, I suspect thrips, but I'd like to know what Geeks with some experience of thrips have to offer.

[E-Jag]

Mehitabel, thrips look like tiny black pieces of thread. They eat leaves and flowers alike, leaving a thin, nearly transparent, silvery spot. I suspect I may have this problem on one of my phals and a den. I hit them with Bayers. We'll see if that works.

[Brooke]

If your buds look like they have had the inside sucked out, it is thrips. An organic product that will eliminate thrips is Spinsoad - you should be able to find it at a big box store.

Or plant a few hundred daylilies and they won't bother with your orchids.

Brooke

[Hummer344]

Yellow sticky paper attracks them also. Not a cure but it keeps the numbers down

[mehitabel]

Thanks, hummer. I read on some discussions of thrips in roses about *blue* sticky paper. I've been thinking of getting the yellow, anyway.

[Hummer344]

Don't know about "Blue Sticky Paper". I do know that the only rose that I have that they affect is a yellow one. Thus, Yellow sticky paper. LOL Works for me

[elitebettas]

if you have thrips you WIll know it, most devastating insects, you'll see stippling, silver patches over the plants foilage and leaves, pray you don't have them because they are not at all easy to get rid of

[digitalgate]

you look for the damage it does on the flowers like crawling mark(bite mark). miniature crawl mark (bite mark). Spray with melathion till the whole plant is wet.

[jerrymeola]

All the symptoms mentioned are correct.

Flower buds shrivel and dry (juices sucked out)
Spots on flowers when open - often deformed - it is not necessarily a virus - treat for thrips first
silver spots or shine on leaves (thousands of bites)

What is not mentioned is that they have a 28 day life cycle so lay eggs almost constantly. You need to assume that you have a new generation birthing every three days. Whatever you use you need to treat 4 times in a week to 10 days.

I use Vermi-liquid which is organic and kills them instantly. It can be sprayed on developing buds and flowers before an infestation without effecting the developing flowers. It can kill the eggs as well but it never gets all the eggs. Any insect poison will work Orthene being the most common in commercial nurseries.

[digitalgate]

Originally Posted by jerrymeola

All the symptoms mentioned are correct.

I use Vermi-liquid which is organic and kills them instantly. It can be sprayed on developing buds and flowers before an infestation without effecting the developing flowers. It can kill the eggs as well but it never gets all the eggs. Any insect poison will work Orthene being the most common in commercial nurseries.

this is some thing i want to try for a very very long time.

[mehitabel]

Thanks for the added comments, ette, jerry and digital. I have a Phal I-Hsin Spot Eagle (small flowers about an inch in diameter)whose buds just don't open right. They form a hard little nut with petals about 1/4". I've seen the flowers, and this isn't what they're supposed to be. Nothing wrong with the foliage, tho.

If the spraying doesn't work, I think I'll just chuck it. Not one of my favorites anyway. I don't have a place to isolate it.

[E-Jag]

Just as a follow-up to my comment above, I doused the phal I think had thrips (didn't actually see any but leaves got all silvery and limp) with Bayer Advanced Rose and Flower Insect Killer - which says it kills thrips - then sprinkled the leaves a couple of days later with cinnamon. The problem seems to have gone away. The leaves still look and feel rough but are stiffer and the new growth looks great. My first experience with thrips.

[Joe Geoffroy]

Where can you buy, " Vermi Liquid"

Joe

[mehitabel]

And update on mine: I sprayed mine with Safer's every couple of days for three or four times. I never saw any thrips or evidence of them besides the shriveled up bud/flowers which happened all summer. Today a normal flower flower opened. So I guess they are licked

Joe Geoffray, Jerry Meola who posts here on Geeks sells the vermiliquid. Look up his name on the members list.

[jerrymeola]

An alternative treatment, is the use of Bayer Ant Killer or Bayer Fire Any Killer in granular form.

The active ingredient you should be looking for is Beta-cyfluthrin sometimes written
B-cyfluthrin

Sprinkle a little on the surface of the pot and it acts as a slow release poison. I try not to use it or any poisons. It is extremely toxic to bees and aquatic animals, but works very well.

[kmarch]

Like mehitabel, I have also successfully used Safer's Soap applied according to the label directions.

[Hobby Orchidist]

Thrips can severely damage the flowers of Vanda's. They will start their work even before you can see the flower spike coming out. They will also damage the roots of your vandaceous orchids. If you see indented rings around the roots of your Vanda's, that is the result of Thrips.

I grow Vanda's outdoors in Miami, Florida. Thrips are a constant problem in this environment. In this environment, I have found nothing that works except Orthene.

However, be careful. You must decide for yourself if you want to use a chemical like this.

Pros:

1. It is very good at controlling thrips. I use it once a month and I have no problems with thrips in an environment that is full of them.

Cons:
1. A toxic chemical.
2. It STINKS BAD.
3. Breathing and skin protection required to apply.
4. No entry into the sprayed area for ONE DAY after spraying.
5. You must READ and UNDERSTAND the directiongs for safe use.

[JLu]

Thrips are really easy to kill, but they are really easy to get again. Not because of the need to kill all life stages, but because they live outdoors by the billions and billions in hot, dry weather. They live in hay fields and the such. They lay eggs inside buds and the larva eat the flowers normally causing necrotic spots on the flowers when they open and often deformity as well.

The very effective and mostly non toxic product to use is Conserve SC. It is basically not toxic at all to humans and most other bugs. Read about it and obtain from rosemania.com. They rate Conserve the best thrips product they have ever offered. Their recommendations are usually very accurate. I've used it when necessary with great results.

[Schlyne]

I was curious to see if there was anything biological that could be applied and found this article to be informative and interesting:
Greenhouse IPM: Sustainable Thrips Control

[mehitabel]

Thanks for the article, Schlyne. Very informative-- I never thought about keeping a vegetation-free zone around a greenhouse, tho it does make sense.

Jlu and Hobby Orchidist, thanks very much for the suggestions. I never want to have those again, that's for sure.

[NancyG]

Bayer Advanced Rose and Flower Insect Killer . I use this also. I probably spray all my orchids at least once a month with a diluted solution. In the last 6 months my orchids have been blooming without shriveling up before the buds get a chance to open.