pepper spray to repell thrips?

[brian zimmerman]

I've got a fairly bad thrip problem right now, basicly eating leaves over night. ( making the leaves metalic and see threw over night ), i went out tonight and cought them in the act so i know exactly whats cuasing it ( some red spider mights to but not many )

i found and made up a batch of pepper spray consiting of

4 jalapeno peppers
1 large onion
1 whole bulb of garlic

mixed with 1 gallon of water, boiled then steeped on low for 2 hours.

i sprayed my plants right beffor the sun went down then went out and inspected the leaves. i found only 4 thrips across 4 plants so im wondering how much i may have cut down on the population.

im hoping i comitied thrip geniside but im not shore if it helped at all.

i sprayed them to the point of driping and the soil being wet so i dont think i could have a problem with to little.

i just wonder how large the infestation must have been for it to cause that much damage over night.

[Tracydr]

I'd add some soap or oil to the mixture.

[brian zimmerman]

i wont add soap, have no intentions of doing that.

will adding oil to the mixture keep it on the leaves longer? after it dries off they seem to come back, and im wondering if that has to do with a lack of ( sticking agent ) if you will. so will oil give it the sticky that im looking for? and if so how much oil per gallon? im thinking 2 tbl spoons.

[RayR]

1.5 tablespoons per gallon would be plenty for oil. Neem Oil would be best. You don't want to overdo oil and never spray in the sun. You'll still need to put a few drops of soap in there to emulsify the oil.