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Anyone use this for thrips?

Exo

Tastes like chicken!
I'm getting some bayer advanced rose and flower insect killer to use on my neps to kill some thrips that have been harrasing me for a while now and was wondering if anyone else used this on neps before. I know one person who has and he said it worked and didn't cause any damage to the plants, has anyone else tried it before?
 
Imidacloprid right?
I used it on some neps and dews, both were fine but it killed all the sphagnum.
 
Imidacloprid right?
I used it on some neps and dews, both were fine but it killed all the sphagnum.

Ah....so I should cover any live sphag with some cling wrap or something....good to know.
 
cover it? the stuff i got was systemic, you water stuff with it and everything in the pot gets blasted with it.
Btw, i used it a year ago and sphag still wont grow in those pots :p
 
cover it? the stuff i got was systemic, you water stuff with it and everything in the pot gets blasted with it.
Btw, i used it a year ago and sphag still wont grow in those pots :p

Errrrm.......hmm....I only have two neps potted in live sphag.....and none of them seem to have thrips.....perhaps I should not spray the two in live sphag? ???
 
....and none of them seem to have thrips.....perhaps I should not spray the two in live sphag? ???
If all of the plants are in the same area, they probably have some level of infestation & not treating them will allow them to act as islands of safety for the pests and recolonize the other plants when it's safe ... imo.

Ok then, this stuff is a spray......and it contains cyfluthrin and imidicloprid.
Hopefully your thrip ID is accurate because if you actually have mites, imidacloprid is not effective.

I've used this to treat scale on Cephs & VFTs a few years ago iirc and there was no issue with LFS dying.
 
I've also used the Bayer spray (following label directions) with no ill effects, and it hasn't affected live sphagnum...
 
  • #10
Go with Neem Oil. Worked for me.
 
  • #12
Thrips are very difficult to control. Part of it lies in identifying the species and understanding their life cycle - timing is important. Some spend part of their life cycle in the soil or actually burrowed into the plant tissue itself.

Try Spinosad.

Ron is correct. Imidacloprid acts as a hormone mimic with some species of mites and can stimulate egg production

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7429.html

Chemical Control

Although thrips damage to leaves is unsightly, thrips activity does not usually warrant the use of insecticide sprays. For instance, while thrips damage on citrus or avocado fruit may look unpleasant, it does not harm trees or affect the internal fruit quality. When damage is noticed on ripening fruit or distorted terminals, the thrips that caused the injury are often gone. It’s not until later when tissue grows and expands that injury caused earlier becomes apparent. While viruses vectored by thrips may cause plant loss, insecticide sprays are not recommended to prevent viruses because thrips are not killed fast enough to prevent the transfer of the virus to new plants. Prevention of thrips infestations is the only way to prevent infection by thrips-vectored viruses.

No pesticide provides complete control of thrips. In comparison with other insects, most thrips are difficult to control effectively with insecticides. Reasons include thrips’ tiny size, great mobility, hidden feeding behavior, and protected egg and pupal stages. Improper timing of application, failure to treat the proper plant parts, and inadequate spray coverage are also common mistakes and can be more important in influencing the effectiveness of treatment than choosing which pesticide to apply. Before using a pesticide, learn more about your specific plant situation and the biology of your pest species. Often you will learn chemical control cannot be effective until the next season when new plant growth develops. If insecticides are used, they will only be partially effective and must be combined with appropriate cultural practices and conservation of natural enemies. Greenhouse thrips is an exception; because it is sluggish and feeds in groups on exposed plant parts, thoroughly applying most any insecticide will kill this species.

Narrow-range oil (Sunspray, Volck), azadirachtin (Safer BioNeem), neem oil (Green Light Garden Safe), pyrethrins combined with piperonyl butoxide (Garden Safe Brand Multi-purpose Garden Insect Killer, Spectracide Garden Insect Killer), and (at least for greenhouse thrips) insecticidal soaps (Safer), can be somewhat effective for temporary reduction of thrips populations if applied when thrips are present and damage first appears. These materials have the benefit of allowing at least a portion of the natural enemy populations to survive because they do not leave toxic residues. Sprays must be applied to thoroughly cover susceptible plant tissue, such as new leaf growth and buds. On plants with a history of severe, unacceptable damage, begin treatment early when thrips or their damage is first observed. Repeat applications (usually 5 to 10 days apart, depending on temperature) are usually required because these insecticides only kill newly hatched thrips and recently emerged adults.

Other insecticides for thrips include spinosad (Conserve, Green Light Lawn & Garden Spray Spinosad, Monterey Garden Insect Spray) and (available only to licensed pesticide applicators) abamectin (Avid). These materials are derived from beneficial microbes and have low to moderate adverse impact on natural enemies. Abamectin and spinosad should be applied no more than once or twice a year, and can be more effective against thrips than the previously listed insecticides. The beneficial fungus Beauveria bassiana (BotaniGard) can be applied to commercial landscapes but is not available for use in home gardens or residential landscapes.

With most thrips species, eggs are protected within plant tissue and prepupae and pupae are in the soil and will not be killed. No pesticide treatment will restore the appearance of injured tissue; plants will remain damaged until leaves drop, injury is pruned off, or new unblemished fruit is produced.

For ornamental nonfood plants, a licensed pesticide applicator can use the systemic organophosphate insecticide acephate (Orthene), but acephate can be highly toxic to natural enemies and it commonly causes spider mites to become abundant and damage plants within a few weeks after its application. Another systemic insecticide, imidacloprid (Bayer Advanced Garden Tree & Shrub Insect Control, Merit) provides some suppression of foliage-feeding thrips only, but it is also toxic to some natural enemies of thrips. Avoid the use of organophosphate insecticides (e.g., malathion), carbamates (carbaryl), or pyrethroids (e.g., cyfluthrin, fluvalinate, and permethrin) because all these materials are highly toxic to natural enemies, can cause dramatic increases in spider mite populations, and are not particularly effective against most thrips.

I've used Bayer Advanced Complete Insect Killer for Soil and Turf (concentrate). It's same formula as the Bayer Advanced Rose and Flower Insect Killer (ready to use spray) - Imidacloprid and Beta-Cyflurthrin. I had root mealy bugs and the recommended concentration for soil insects is 6 times that of the ready-to-use/standard mix. I drenched multiple Genera with the 6x concentration - Sarracenia, Dionaea, Cephalotus, Nepenthes, Darlingtonia, and Drosera - many with toppings or in live Sphagnum with no detrimental effects on the Sphagnum (several species of Sphagnum). The only stuff I've ever seen affect live Sphagnum moss is Physan 20 - kills almost on contact.
 
  • #13
He tried that allrdy, and it didnt work.

Not only did it not work, it caused leaf yellowing on many of my neps and orchids....this seems to happen mostly in plants that get very high light levels.....my growchamber has a beast of a growlight.

---------- Post added at 06:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:05 PM ----------

If all of the plants are in the same area, they probably have some level of infestation & not treating them will allow them to act as islands of safety for the pests and recolonize the other plants when it's safe ... imo.

Hopefully your thrip ID is accurate because if you actually have mites, imidacloprid is not effective.

I've used this to treat scale on Cephs & VFTs a few years ago iirc and there was no issue with LFS dying.

I'm 100% sure they are thrips.
 
  • #14
I'm sorry to dig up an old thread but I just found thrips in one of the 4 pots in the tray with pings. The description fits. They seem to be sluggish greenhouse thrips. Some of them I've seen floating on the surface of water in the tray, some on the foliage.

Since pings are sensitive to insecticides this for me poses a problem. As a knee jerk reaction I have sprayed almost everything (including pings) in my shelf with imidacloprid (Bayer Advanced Rose and Flower Insect Killer (ready to use spray) ) because I know from previous experience that this particular mix from Bayer does not seem to affect pings. But after reading I realize that this may prove futile since thrips can develop resistance to imidacloprid and it is not as effective on them anyway.

What are my options?

In my arsenal I have:
AzaMax (concentrate)
Neem Oil (extract water soluble, no soap)
Garden Safe Brand Multi-purpose Garden Insect Killer (pyrethrin and piperonyl butoxide).
Bayer Advanced Rose and Flower Insect Killer (ready to use spray)
 
  • #17
So yesterday I found the source of these bugs in my plants.
The most number of them I've seen where in the pots where I used Cypress Mulch (bought from petco, used for reptiles) on the bottom of the pots to retain media.
This led me to a bucket where I kept washed cypress mulch and later to the original bag with the stock mulch. So yeah these things come from it.

And now since I knew the source, doing a little research I found out that I think I was wrong with my ID. What my plants had was not thrips. I had these (blue spring tails):

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/wanted/41001-blue-springtails.html
http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/food-feeding/35582-springtails.html
http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k547/gill_za/Grow rack/20111207_001s.jpg - this is one of them caught. What got me confused is that they were slow and did not jump when I poked them.

Man... these little guys actually look kinda cute.. and I nuked them... with pyrethrin, imidacloprid and spinosad. I freaked out thinking I have pests and that I need to leave for a week soon...
It also makes sense now why they got on my pings like bees on honey and only on the dewy side of it. They love carbs and dew is sugary. And it appears that they are beneficial, they control pathogenic fungi and bacteria by consuming spores and microbes.

Oh well I feel sad now, hope some of them survive :crap:


The moral of this story: DON'T RUSH, do your research!!!
 
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