I need some help here ladies and gents... I have thrips and I don't know how to treat... I use marathon in my plants so how did this happen... I am more then sure I got them when we had a nice week of cool weather about 4 weeks ago and I opened the french doors to let in the fresh air behind the stands.... I am freaking out here so could someone please help me.... Are all my plants going to die? Do they spread to all of my plants? Like kohlerias? Sinns? What about my cuttings? HELPPPPPP PLEASE.
Hugs,
Susan
Thrips
Marathon is for mealy bugs in the soil..................not for thrips...........I read that piece that Lin had........good information............but I use more than Raid or Neem Oil. Do you have any AVid?????????????? If not, I would at least start with the blue Raid that you can buy and disbud every plant...............go throw them outside and burn them..................
I have Avid, also neem oil.. I am debudding as I type and taking pictures of my babies before I have no more flowers... I was told by Bayer to use a 12month tree and shrub.. I dont think so.... What if I mix Avid in a bucket and dip them all? Also how much avid should I use? Please pretty please I don't want to loose my plants... Also do I do this to AV',Kohlerias, Sinns?
Hugs and THANKS,
Susan
I too have heard of people putting their plants inside big black garbage bags and spraying raid in, tying up the bag and leaving them for 24 hours but I didn't remember what bugs they were trying to eradicate.
Susan, I know it is discouraging but I agree with gail ... remove every bud from every plant and put them in the garbage outside. I think thrips feed on buds and new growth?
Oh, I just found this information, check it out: http://www.optimara.com/doctoroptimara/diagnosis/thrips.html
So, I wouldn't panic if you can use regular insecticide like Raid on the plants! It should kill the little buggers. I think you might have to spray again in seven to ten days too ... just to be sure you got them all ... wouldn't want new eggs hatching!
I have never used Avid but I have heard a few folks talk about it ... Gail, you use that product don't you? I would think you would want to use it on everything in the vicinity, including non gesneriad plants. If you don't, they will just transfer themselves right back to the plants after you've sprayed/dipped/treated. You want to make sure you kill all of the little buggers on any and all plants inside the house.
I like the raid idea as I am thinking in the same lines as you to put the whole tray into a black bag and close... Ok so after I debud these suckers I am going to buy raid and KILL KILL KILL did I say Kill??? I don't mind the blooms coming off so long as my plants will make it.. .I am taking pictures and will post them later or tomorrow after work... Thank you all so much.... I was going to dunk my plants in safer soap at a watered down level...LOL This is before I heard for you all....LOL
Hugs,
susan
Susan..........it is very simple to use Avid and I promise it works beautifully. You will just be spraying every plant (not drenching at all)......turn the plant around so that you spray well.......................do it on all your plants.............all kinds.........turn the lights off afterwards........
Then come back a week later and just spray them on the shelf (don't take each one down)
Then come back the third week and spray just like you do the second week. If you have Avid..........don't mess with the Raid.................it isn't nearly as effective and you don't want to lose your plants.
In fact, when I have thrips, I didn't even take each plant off the shelf. I just sprayed in place....turned the plants around and sprayed again. I unconditionally your plants will be fine...........don't forget to disbud every bud or flower....................first..................
You will be fine.............You won't even need a gallon of spray.........you have to use whatever you mix right away so don't mix more than you need. I believe the instructions on Avid show how many drops to use for smaller containers...............do you have a spray bottle where you can measure exactly .
Yes Gail I do have a spray bottle and thank you so much... I am hoping to do the spraying tonight or when ever I get these buds off... I have 8 trays to go... My lungs are bothering me from hubby spraying for ants outside and I am hoping the Avid does not do me in... I will have to move my bird also... It is in the 60's here and I may take them outside to spray what do you think? As I am debudding I am also triming leaves.. Heck they needed that anyway...LOL I am also taking pictures to show how long the leaves have gotten on some.....Ok back to work... Thank you all again.
Hugs,
Susan
by all means take thoses birds away from where you are spraying, i would hate for you to lose them also.
good luck, does'ent sound so bad now.
bonnie
Ok stopped for dinner and I have 3 trays to go... I am thinking (now thats bad) that if I don't get to spray tonight all my plants are not going to be dead in the morning... Oh my bird is our buddy and she never stays out when fumes of any kind are used.. I don't even use my oven with the auto clean... Nope drop birds dead as dead can be...LOL I am much more calmed down now and thank you all.... You want to know how I found out I had these? I take sleeping pill at night and lay down for them to work.. Well I picked up my book from Dibley's and was looking at the pictures.. Well I seen a picture of a bud that looked kinda moth eaten on the tips...I will post a picture later. I stopped and then read the reason for them showing this picture... It said it was thrips... They told you to take a bloom and tap it over a white paper and I did this this morning and low and behold they were there...... I freaked... Are these the little bug that fly over your plants like a gnat?
Thanks again.
Susan
I don't think Thrips are flying insects, but rather crawling, like the Aphids. White Flies and Fungus Gnats are teeny little fliers though.
You would really recognize a white fly.............they are white and everywhere..............they don't usually come in my house...........they would rather stay outside where the hibiscus are. (lol)
My white flies are fond of my tomato plant, 4 o'clocks, and gourd vines.
Oh I have seen them and these are not that... After reading and typing to all you it is thrips... Looks just like the picture in the book... Ok back to cutting the last two trays...
Thank you everyone....
Hugs,
Susan
RID I'm told also works well to eradicate thrips
Just mix 1/2 tsp. RID per 1 quart warm water and spray then every 5-7 days for 3 weeks.
The above from here:
http://www.reedsgreenhouse.com/thrips.htm
What is RID? Lice shampoo?
Good article!
I believe you are right--RID is lice shampoo--stands to reason--would be like an insecticidal soap!!
And safer to use, agree? Made for human use in contact with the skin and hands. Still precaution always needs to kept in mind.
I didn't know to use RID............gotta remember that one.................makes good sense..............and a lot more economical...............
I thought they took that off the market for people? I have 32 pictures that I took of my plants and sure now that I know what I am looking at a couple of them I can really see the damage and thrips. They use Frontline in Europe for head lice but not in the US as it does not have any insecticide in it...
I am going to post a few pictures on the forum but not all as I am to tired...
Thank you everyone...
Hugs,
Susan
I see RID is still advertised. Made by Bayer.
http://www.ridlice.com/elimination-step1.html
Susan - thrips won't kill your plants. I understand your being upset but you will take care of it. Don't worry.
I am good now.. Really I am but at first I did not think that... I have all buds off all plants tomorrow after work I spray. I am not a person who flips out but today proved to me not all the time LOLOLOL
Hugs,
Susan
Umm Susan,
The jar of granules I gave you last week is Imidacloprid which kills thrips. Here's a quote from the MSDS:
" Uses:
The most widely used applications for Imidacloprid in California are pest control in structures, turf pest control, grape growing, and head and leaf lettuce growing. Other widespread crop uses are rice, grains/cereals including corn (maize), potatoes, vegetables, sugar beets, fruit, cotton, and hops. Target insects include sucking insects (e.g. aphids, whiteflies, leafhoppers and planthoppers, thrips, scales, mealybugs, bugs, psyllids, and phylloxera), beetles (e.g. longhorn beetles, leaf beetles, Colorado potato beetles, rice water-weevils, wireworms, grubs, and flea beetles), and others (e.g. lepidopterous leafminers, some diptera, termites, locusts, and fleas).
When used on citrus, coffee, cotton, fruits, grapes, potatoes, rice, soybeans, sugarcane, tobacco and vegetables as an insecticide spray, it is sold under the trade names Admire, Confidor, Connect, Evidence, Leverage, Muralla, Provado and Trimax.
It is marketed as Premise for termite control and Advantage in the US and Europe for flea control on pets. It is also sold under the trade names Merit, Admire, Confidor and Winner, as well as Hachikusan (in Japan)."
Terri
This message was edited Oct 23, 2008 12:06 PM
Some one told that Merit has a new product with lots of Imidacloprid (like a giant amount compared to the 1 percent I have in my Avid)
Well, it's not new but there is a Merit 2F came out in 2004 (also called Premise 2) that has 21.4% imidacloprid.
In 2003 Merit 75 came out, it has 75% imidacloprid and Merit Tree injection came out 2007 and has 17.1%.. There are a lot of different strength Merit products but I am not aware of any new ones for this year.
I personally wouldn't use anything stronger than 1.1% for plants that are in a house because it's a tight enclosure, tighter than a greenhouse anyway even if it hasn't been shown to be a carcinogen. The fact that it's a nicotine derivative is a red flag for me..
Just as an FYI, Advantage for killing fleas is 9.1% imidacloprid.
Hey Terri,
Well Gee I forgot all about that..LOLOLOL I used my Avid and also found the other bottle I could not find for several months ...LOLOLOL I do have a bottle of Conserve SC coming and will use that when it gets here... then use it again in a week.... I am taking a break then have to eat dinner...
Thanks Terri for your help and everyone else also...
Hugs,
Susan
A hybridizer friend is the one who showed me where one could buy the one with 75% on ebay at a reasonable price. He and 3 other hybridizers bought it.........but I am glad you said that the 1% in the house is better. I almost bought it for about 50.00 and glad I didn't now.............
Conserve SC (Dow Chemical) will only work on leaf eating insects, not sucking ones so if you get mites or mealybugs you will need to use a different pesticide.
And, the biggie Avid, made by Syngenta. If you are taking any of these be very careful about being around this pesticide:
seconal, nembutal, amytal, valium, xanax, depakene, valproate, depacon, divalproex, Valrelease, depakote or depakene
The primary ingredient is abamectin which enhances GABA activity same as do the drugs I mentioned above. If too much abamectin gets in your system (from inhaling the overspray or even eating from something that the spray may have drifted onto) it could lead to a potentially toxic overdose.
My goodness, how frightening. I wonder why the warnings aren't given. I use Marathon for mealybugs, etc............and AVid for cyclamen mites and thrips.......
I took depakote for 20 years and nothing ever happened to me but that is very scary.
The warnings are on the labels but usually they are not in easily understood language.
And, most of the time, nothing extreme will happen that you will notice but others might because you seem to be a little more "down" or "up", which could be a result of getting the little "extra" boost from the chemical you are using on the plants.
Incredible..........maybe we are living like they do in China???????