Sorry, my cure is for the even more pernicious Midge. I have had thrips in my garden as well but only very mildly and I do not have the horrible Chili Thrip which I expect is what you are fighting. I would look into the life cycle-I know they live and feed on flowers and in case of the Chili Thrip on the foliage as well-they must doubtless lay their eggs there but where do they pupate? What sort of stages do they go through and how long...look for a chink in the life cycle. Insects are usually more vulnerable at some point or other...that is what I used for Midge..it pupates in the ground so I put down a heavy paper barrier with mulch during the winter and trapped them in the ground. I did not use chemicals because I wanted what ever it was that ate them to get back to work. I doubt you will have that luxury. Sorry I cant be more help.

patricia

That's very interesting about the paper, Patricia. I've read that they pupate in the soil, but I couldn't tell what pupate means :)) Guess: come out of their 'cocoon'? Nevermind, I can google it.

I'll think about the paper. And do some research at some point. I read your reply on the other thrips post, and yes, thankfully, they're not Chili thrips.

Thanks. And I'm glad I don't need your midge recipe.

Sherry

If they have a pupal stage when they are in the ground then you can get them...it is a stage that is not normally sensitive to chemicals since they are not eating or exposed. You normally get them in the spring and then when it cools down in the fall? We can have them all summer as it is cooler here. If your beds are arranged so that you can put down a barrier with mulch then you can reduce the numbers. If you try to do this while they are activily growing and reproducing the mulch will only provide them with a nice soft bed-wait out the spring flush and put down barrier during the summer lull and then again in the winter. This had the merit of reducing weeding as well but precludes underplantings while you are fighting your bug..I use newspaper in several layers-it breaks down eventually and I just put down more-the mulch is to hide the ugly paper...good luck.

patricia

Oh, Patricia, you're an angel. That's exactly what I wanted to do in an effort to keep the roots cooler in hot August and September, but you said do it in the winter so I didn't want to mention it. It's wonderful that it fits in with there breeding schedule. I don't know if we get another outbreak in the fall. This means I'll have to buy a bunch of mulch, but I had to anyway so this is good. I'll have to start saving my newspapers.

BTW, it sounds like you're saying this will end them. Is that the case?

Thanks!

Sherry

Sorry-nothing will end them-they are a natural part of the garden-what you want is to get them back in check-to where you basically dont notice them-a few spoiled flowers here and there. I treated my infected bed for Midge for 3 years. I did not have any damage that I could say for sure was Midge but I didn't want to take a chance. I am sure I still have it but what ever it is that eats them is back on the job. This is all part of something called Integrated Pest Management-and management is the operative word. Trying to kill them all kills their predators as well and next time Thrips get blown into your yard from the Neighbor you are defenseless...presuming you could kill them all-not a likely senario since people have been trying to kill them for forever.
So I would do like others have said-remove infected blooms to reduce the adult population as much as possible-wait for the summer lull and put down your paper barrier and cover with mulch..I would do that again during the winter. The mulch does not have to be really thick-the paper is the barrier. I have heard some people say that deep mulch will dry out and keep water from reaching the ground..not a problem here. The winter pupae will be in the old mulch of course-cover it up with a new layer of paper and mulch-and report back next spring.

patricia

Thanks, Patricia.

"what you want is to get them back in check-to where you basically don't notice them"

Got it!

Sherry

Not all insects make an out & out cocoon, and for that matter not all insects pupate. Thrips sort of do and sort of don't. The typical thrips life cycle has two stages where it looks like an immature thrips, but doesn't move around very much (or at all). Those two stages are called the pre-pupa and the pupa. Thrips pupae are very different in appearance from fly, or beetle, or moth pupae. Those three go through a full pupal stage where the pupa looks nothing like either the immature or the adult.

Thrips aren't quite like that. I wouldn't be surprised if most thrips pupate in the same places where one finds immature thrips (but I'm not certain about that last part, either).

I have read that thrips mate "on the wing". In other words, while in the air. I honestly feel that all we can do is endure them in the spring. They have been a bane to gardners for a long time and no one has come up with a truly effective cure.

The only way I have been able to knock the numbers way down is to remove buds, seal them in a plastic bag, throw them in the garbage, and wait for the next batch of flowers. By then, the thrips invasion has about run its coarse. I've learned to accept this. When I do this, I start getting decent roses. Belindas Dream is starting to actually look pretty.

Sandy

I put blue Dixie Party Cups, on a tomato stake, with STP Oil Treatment spread on them, out in my rose garden. Every week when I wash off the royal blue cups and reapply the Oil Treatment, I find dead thrips stuck all over them. Before I did this thrips were giving me fits. Now I barely notice them on the roses. They seem to like my blue cups better. Maybe thrips are like so many other rose-lovers, searching for a true blue rose!

garden4510, thanks for this tip. I have read that flower thrips prefer blue to yellow or white and also have read that cups work better that strips (in Florida anyway.) Since I couldn't find them for sale, I figured they must be homemade, so I appreciate your how-to. This is definitely a plan!!

Sherry

Very cool- I only have two roses bothered by thrips but I also will try this out..I wonder why STP?

patricia

Garden4510 - that's a good tip to try- thanks. I guess you are putting the cups upside down since you say they're on a stake. You say the STP is on the cups..you mean the outside of the cups? But that might get rained off. I don't know if it would matter, but if it's working for you, I want to try the method that works. How many of these cups do you put out? Funny about thrips looking for the blue rose-

I am wondering whether BT ( bacillus thuringiensis) sp? would work on insects that pupate in the soil. Isn't a pupa like a little maggoty thing? BT works on mosquito babies and caterpillars before they metamorphose. I would think it might work on midge and thrips in the soil. I think it's non- toxic to people - not sure what else it's non- toxic to.
Linda