Hello all.

I made a horrible discovery three days ago when I found thrips making their selves at home on my plants! They seem to only like the lower canopy of the plants maybe because its cooler down there. The top canopy is about 80% unaffected by them mainly because of the heat from the HPS and the strength of the fans blowing... too rough for them I suppose!

Im growing Original UK Blue Cheese cuttings (luck me ) and an unknown Indica strain which smells quite lemony. Does anyone know of an Indica strain that smells lemony?

They're growing in Coco and on Canna Coco A&B nutes atm. Later on they will be getting Boost and PK 13/14.

They are also 6 days into flowering (12/12).

Ive ordered some SB Plant Invigorator and sticky traps but they wont come until thursday do you think ill be ok till then? There not gonna multiply to rediculas levels in 48 hours are they? Their reproduction atm seems to be at a slow rate im not sure why... maybe becuase of the heat and dryness.. i dunno ... maybe its a good thing I suppose!

Advice appreciated!

Good luck getting rid of them.

You are going to have to declare some severe chemical warfare on them if you really want rid. Or just accept them. Don't seem to have that much of a negative effect to me.

Scotts Bug Off used to be quite good at dealing with them, when I used to try and get rid of them.

Hi there

thrips cause leaf damage - starting point for fungus LSF

damage to leaves makes the plants harder to read - IMO

Greens sell 1 product (yellow when mixed)

If you use a product after week 4 flower you may end up smoking / ingesting it

hope this helps

hb

Ask healthystealthy hes got a degree on thrips

PLANT VITALITY PLUS, KILLS SPIDER MITE, EGGS & LARVAE!! I used it on Thrips about 8 weeks ago. Killed everything in sight and also acts as a stress reliver. Just type PLANT VITALITY PLUS, KILLS SPIDER MITE, EGGS & LARVAE!! into ebay search and you'll find it.. Good luck!

The SBPI arrived today . I just give them good soaking while lights, and fans on, I know u shouldnt do that but I wanted to see how they reacted to it. The SBPI killed alot of the thrips but most survived maybe becuase the solution dried up too quickly while the lights and fans were on.

I was dreading scorching them but they didnt so thats good!

Will I get better results if the lights and fans were off?

Another vote for scotts bug off here!

I found an effective, quick and cheap way of dealing with them.

B@Q's bug free. this works on its own a little however what i did was..

My bug free ran out and i needed something to be going on with.

there was alittle bug free pest control liquid left in the bottle, i took the cap off and put in a small amount of washing up liquid type stuff, gentle type (designed for hand wash) and then added 300-400 ml's of water and shook the container.

The liquid was ever so slightly soapy with the fragrence of bug free. i saw a 70% deduction with the level of thrips in 24hr.
If you continue to have problems or get a problem in the future with thrips, try it out.

Ive made 2 applications of SBPI and ive noticed a substantial redutcion in their population. I do still find the odd few orange larvea lingering around which is expected, but no adults (i think).

Its gonna take a few weeks to break the life cycle and by then they should be eradicated.

Staying on top of it should reduce their numbers to nill!

Stick with regular applications of SBPI as it's the most non toxic spray you can get but does need to come in contact with the thrips to kill them.

I need to be careful using SBPI cos it contains Nitrogen as a foliar feed. Would u recommend slightly lowering my normal feed say 2ml or 5ml to compensate the foliar application?

Depends how sensitive your plants are to Nitrogen, I'd certainly watch the leaves and at any sign of overfeeding cut the nutrients down.

Any one seem to have more trouble with thrips with blue cheese than other strains?

Finally changed up genetics after 2 years+ with Ice and Chrystal. Got a combination of all three in now. Have gone back to nuking the thrips last two grows, but at the moment the blue cheese are looking TERRIBLE, showing signs of servere thrip infestation, have sprayed them twice so far with the Scotts Bug Clear, but doesn't seem to be helping. The Ice and Chrystal are pretty much 90% clear.

Getting a bit worried that the Blue cheese are not going to make it

hmmm... interesting post, maybe just coincidence but I am growing blue cheese & also have the little bastards! The bug clear that they sell most places now (B&Q, Homebase & garden stores in red box - concentrate, or red sprayer) does not list the active ingredient as pirethrin anymore. Now says that it contains 5g/L acetamiprid.

I am looking for info on if this change means that it's no good??

Some thrips are way easier than others to live with, some types dont breed so fast and can be lived with, others can be as bad as spider mites imo, ive had thrips, that when ive been harvesting they bite me and the wife and the dogs, the ones that bite you ive found do the mosts damage.

There is ways of preventing them from pupating in coir/compost, sharp sand about a inch thick on top of your pot, stops them getting into your growing mediums.

Unfortunatly the only way i have ever shifted thrips as a compost grower is with systemic pestecides.

Bom!

I never knew thrips could get that big?!? I would have thought that their mouths are far to small. Especially as it is supposed to be hard to see them with the naked eye?

Anyway, my experience is that they don't spread that fast but they are tenacious and hard to get rid of. If you are using a chemical, the important thing is to use once every 3 days for about two weeks. This should break their cycle. It did for me anyway.

I'll put what I'm using here (in the states), but only because I have found it effective as well as seeming to be the healthiest chemical alternative out there.

AzaMax™
Botanical Insecticide, Miticide, and Nematicide

AzaMax is a natural product with a broad spectrum of pest control and broad plant applications. AzaMax is made from special Azadirachtin Technical extracted using patented extraction technology from Neem, a tree known for it’s innumerable benefits. AzaMax contains Azadirachtin A&B as active ingredients and more than 100 limonoids from it’s special technology. The special feature of AzaMax is that it does not use hard chemical solvents and uses food grade formulation ingredients. AzaMax is licensed in all 50 states.

AzaMax is an antifeedant and insect growth regulator and controls pests through starvation and growth disruption. AzaMax effectively controls spider mites, thrips, fungus gnats, aphids, whiteflies, leaf miners, worms, beetles, leafhoppers, scales, mealy bugs, nematodes and other soil borne pests. Best of all, AzaMax can be applied up to the time or day of harvest. The product is exempted from residue tolerance, thus there is no harmful residue on veggies, fruits, herbs and flowers etc. Truly, AzaMax is a product of Nature in tune with Technology.