Thrips control

[Lee]

I am seeing two pests start to show up in the garden.
Aphids and Thrips.
I saw the thread that talked about aphid control, so I will
go read through that later.

However, I wanted to get some feedback on how to control
thrips. So far, they are mostly on the apple trees, but I did
see a couple on one tomato plant. They can spread TSWV, so
I really, really don't want these guys around.

What are good methods to keep them at bay? At this point,
I don't care whether it's organic or not. I'd just like a good
control for the suckers!

In my arsenal, I have neem oil, pyrethrin compound spray,
and liquid sevin.

Thanks for any feedback.

Lee

[amideutch]

Check out this site Lee. Ami

http://www.bugspray.com/article/thrips.html

[amideutch]

Lee, here is another site which is directed at Florida gardeners but some may be applicable to you and others. Ami

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pp121

[David Marek]

I like that Florida site. Tomatoes often get one of the many diseases on that page. I have seen many symptoms that I previously just figured were "some kind of rot" .

Lee, glad to see you have chemicals from different classes. Note that premethrin, deltamethrin, cyfluthrin, and bifenthrin (talstar) are all pyrethriods.

Not mentioned yet are Conserve (spinosad), azadirachtin (Azatin, Bio-Neem), and imidacloprid (several brands). There are resistance issues for Conserve in Florida ( because of repeated over-use), but it is usually effective when tank mixed with Azatin, which is derived from neem. Imidacloprid (commonly used on lawns now that diazinon is off the market) is systemic and is usually only labeled to suppress thrips, and is HIGHLY TOXIC TO BEES (the pyrethrin and sevin, too). There are a few others, but they are not labeled for veggies or outdoor use.

I don't use this stuff on food, they scare me.

A few mail- order places sell predatory insects, which might work if you already have host plants for the pests (apple tree). Predators multiply slowly, can fly away, and are killed by poison sprays, but new batches of pests are always blowing/ flying in as well.

If you don't already have TSWV it might be best to not get all crazy with chemicals and focus on making sure all the plants are healthy and making sure the beneficials have a place to live, too. I wish that worked with Japanese Beetles.

[Lee]

Thanks for all the feedback so far. Right now, I'm just using the old tried and
true method of finger and thumb. (very non-toxic you know!) However it is not
a very effective means of control. (For aphids is works great though!)

I do like to encourage the beneficials to come and stay. I've got lady bugs, praying mantises, and lace wings in the yard right now. But, I don't know if any
of those actually feast on thrips. The lady bugs do a good job on the aphids but
I've never seen anything eating thrips.

I guess I'll just wait and see at this point.....

Lee

[JimM_SC]

Lee,
I seem to remember a post with plans for a thrip trap made of yellow plastic and tanglefoot or some other sticky substance. I got a bad infestation several years ago when I grew garlic too close to the tomatoes and researched it but never built it. As I remember it was from one of our regulars, so maybe they will respond.
Jim
P.S. Spears Tennessee Green is my first to bloom this year - Thanks!

[Lee]

Well, it seems the heavy rains this past week has helped reduce the thrip
population. I haven't noticed any around since the deluge subsided. I'll keep
looking and try to keep this updated as to my results.

Lee

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Lee

I am seeing two pests start to show up in the garden.
Aphids and Thrips.
I saw the thread that talked about aphid control, so I will
go read through that later.

However, I wanted to get some feedback on how to control
thrips. So far, they are mostly on the apple trees, but I did
see a couple on one tomato plant. They can spread TSWV, so
I really, really don't want these guys around.

What are good methods to keep them at bay? At this point,
I don't care whether it's organic or not. I'd just like a good
control for the suckers!

In my arsenal, I have neem oil, pyrethrin compound spray,
and liquid sevin.

Thanks for any feedback.

Lee

Lee, I ended up using pyrethrin and neem oil to slow down the aphids and thrips and it seemed to work pretty good. My big problem came because I kept waiting for the many ladybugs to do their job and they never did. For some reason the ladybugs seemed to want to spend all their time on my beans which seemed to have few if any aphids, while ignoring my tomatoes which were being infested more and more each day. I have over 100 plants with around 70 different varieties so the hand method was impossible especially with arthritis.
I seem to do this almost every year. One of these days maybe I will learn that if you are in the middle of a commercial tomato growing area you can't wait too long or the pests floating in on the wind will bring disaster. It must be the spring optimism that this year will be different.
Didn't see any thrips and only a few aphids for a couple of weeks after using the neem and pyrethrin mix. Tying up plants yesterday evening and ran across some thrips feeding on new stems of a few plants and as soon as I finished I pulled out the sprayer. From the first thrip-aphid invasion I got TSWV on 6 of my best looking plants and I don't want to see that again. I know that I will probably see it some more. Yesteday I noticed the thrips first on my 8 ft tall Gary O' Sena plant which is by far my largest plant. I hope I ran them off before they gave it the kiss of death.