RE: Thrips

From: Krzysztof Kozminski <kk at netgate.net> on 1997.10.03 at 18:10:14(1380) On Fri, 3 Oct 1997, eduardo gomes goncalves wrote: > Yes, I'm sure about it. They are ugly thrips. The youngsters are > whitish and don't fly. The adults are dark brown and fly. I have seem > both stages and there is no doubt they are thrips. I tried soapy water > and didn't work (now they are just clean thrips). I tried a piretroid > insecticide to garden plants and they liked it. I think they are > insecticide-addicted! Now I think I have to try something stronger. > Obviously I'm also proceeding lots of hand picking but they are too small > (approx. 1mm long) and it is a boring work. Dynamite would work but I > think my plants wouldn't enjoy it. I will try some clues that people told me > and will tell all of you what happened. Have you tried spraying with one of the mild varieties of horticultural oils? These are typically labeled 'ultra-fine' or some such and can be used on living plants in leaf. These sprays work by suffocating the sprayed critters, and will take out any insect whatsoever, scale included, while at the same time being very benign on other life forms (although I would not want to breathe in the mist). I tried it on big-leaved aroids: Alocasias, Xanthosomas, and Remusatias with no ill effects. Recent treatment of Spathicarpas (which have acquired scale) may be too recent to tell (other than the scale is dead), since it happened 2 days ago). The only problem is that the sprays work only on direct contact, and may need to be repeated several times to take out anything that you missed or whatever was buried in the soil at the application time. KK

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