Evening all,

My friend rang me a couple of days ago to let me know that the plants I took my clones from have thrips.

Well, my plants were potted up and ready for vegging at the weekend and I didnt notice anything, however upon closer inspection tonight I have certainly got thrips! The plants are only small and I am wondering what the best course of action would be to take now? Should I spray the clones with some Scotts Bug Spray and "Safer" soap as per instructions on here or shall I cut my losses and bin the clones, bomb my room and start over?

I am guessing as I have caught it really early I might be able to control them but I am worried about harming the clones (about 6 inch tall) aswell?

I checked every single leaf and only one was damaged and clearly had a thrip munching away on it. The rest seem fairly clean at the moment (or too small to see by the naked eye)!

Thanks for any advice in advance. I plan on spraying them tonight at lights out so any hints or tips would be really appreciated

Give them a blast of "scots" bug clear..the big red gun available in b&q,check the back of the bottle as the word "scots" is in small print.

goodluck!

p&q

eta pic:

Derris is recommended by the RHS and works.

i would not use scotts bug clear on cuttings mine died .
when i used pest off however that worked fine

e2a some error

Thanks for the advice so far, very much appreciated.

I have just returned from that well known diy chain and I did indeed buy that exact spray p&q cheers I also bought the concentrate aswell to mix with some "safer" soap when I find some. B & Q didnt have any mores the pity

I am slightly concerned at your comments though toastedsuppy. The clones have been in Coco for about 2 weeks now and when we re-potted them at the weekend the roots were coming along nicely so I think they are established ok, where yours still in the rooting cubes? Here is a pic of mine to give you an idea of size -

Click to view attachment

Maybe I will give them a light spray tonight before I go to town on them when I order some safer soap?

A couple of hours to decide yet as lights arent off until 9.30ish so any more advice would be gratefully received as always.

Cheers

666

It was Owderb who advised me a few years ago when I had them mate & I was 3 weeks in flower....one good blast was all I needed and there was no effect to the final product.

With them little ones all i can advise is go easy with the spraying,Im sure they will be fine.

Search thro this section tho theres shitloads of ways of killing them If your not to sure with the "scots"

p&q

Cheers P & Q,

I decided something surely must be better than nothing and gave them a good spray just now. Lights are now off, ventilation is off and room is sealed. I must admit I am somewhat concerned covering the plants in anything but hopefully all will be well and it will kill the little buggers before they start.

How did you spray the one in flower? Do you spray the buds? I have one in flower in a tent I was just finishing off but fearing the worst that it is also contaminated I should really give give it a spray anyway. I just wasnt sure whether to do the buds or not so left it at the moment

I covered the buds with paper/party cups mate..worked just fine.

p&q

Cheers mate, although I might struggle with that.

I took some clones off her just before putting her in flower and instead of a nice cola I have about 30 tiny buds dotted around. I wasnt going to finish her off knowing she would do that (not enough time or space to veg her longer to recover) but I thought small buds are better than no buds but I didnt intend on getting thrips

3 weeks left on her and she is in a tent so may just get lucky as the thrips dont appear to be "airbourne" as yet. Mind you, she is looking sorry for herself as she is my last soil plant before everything will be coco and admittedly I arent being spot on with the nutes as all of my attention has been getting these infected clones going

Well they made it through the night

They dont look too bad at all considering I sprayed them lastnight. Unfortunately I found another larval "maggott" thing moving on one of the clones again this morning and I saw a few flying things moving between plants (not many though) so I guess I didnt get everything. I left 3 sticky traps out over night and between them they only caught 2 UFOs (could be anything they are so small, could even be loose coco) so I dont think I am too badly infested at all but I think I still have a few lurkers left behind either in the coco, on the plants or in the air.

Does it take a couple of days for these things to take full effect? I see alot of people leave it a week in between sprays so I am guessing yes.

My "safer"soap will arrive tomorrow so I am going to follow the instructions here (cheers UK420) -

http://www.uk420.com/boards/index.php?auto...showarticle=482

Should I leave it a week first though? Is there a minimum time period between sprays or is it a case of if their still there give them another spray?

Also I have some gnat off. Is it worth using this in the water? Do thrips use the coco to lay their eggs? It worked fantastic with fungus nats last year but I dont want to use it if it wont make any difference!

Sorry for all of the questions but you know how it is. The last thing I want to do is cause me more problems by over spraying or something

Thanks again in advance

Good news Fella!

Pity about the lurker tho..Im sure once it has a feed it will die. Systemic insecticides are absorbed into the plant tissues and are taken up by sap-sucking insects when they feed.

Id just keep an eye on them reguarding further treatment..in my case one good drench worked but mine were larger and in bloom.

Sticky traps are good for any airborn nasties aswell.

Theres also something that loves to live in coco that ive been reading..just cant remember their name .....springtails

But from what I remember they are more of a nuisence then anything else & cause no damage to plants.

Goodluck.

p&q

Thanks again p&q

Yeah I read a post about those white fly things that like to live in Coco but dont do it any harm. I dont appear to have those..........yet

I will like you said, leave it a few days and keep a close eye on them I guess. I will probably knat off tonight (unless I hear any different) and just hope it does the job and stops them breeding anymore

I think I could have been fortunate and caught it early unlike my friend who is 3 weeks from the cut and has a bad infestation apparently What will happen to his if he just leaves it? Will the buds be "bad" or full of them?

In my opinion mate Id leave off the gnat off (unless you get better advice) I wouldn,t be spraying 2 different sprays to such young plants.

Not sure about your mate either..3 weeks from chop is a tad close for spraying anything,unless theres something else in the market that enables you to spray up untill harvest?

From what Ive read they will munch their way thro a crop and shit everywere..hold on tho Im not sure if its the leafs they eat therefore yield will be effected or the actual buds?

Someone will give better advice than me Im sure..till then have a wee search buddy..

p&q

Cant remember the last time i never seen a thrip in my grow they wont F off.

Yeah I see what you mean about 2 different things at such a young age. Maybe I will leave it off my clones for now. I told my friend about them munching and shi**ing everywhere but he said the same as you, not much he can do at such a late stage. He said that apparently they arent crawling over the buds but are on the leaves however I read that the adults lay their eggs in the buds so maybe the buds are all full of eggs I dont know?

I have just been up again and a sticky trap has definately caught a flying black thing this time. I dont have a magnifying glass but it does look suspectly like a adult thrip. Better on the sticky trap than on a plant though.

heavengrower - how do you deal with your thrips mate? Have they ever done any serious damage to your crop?

Thanks again peeps, most appreciated

Another quick update for anyone who is interested,

The plants all look totally clean at the moment. The sticky traps have only picked up 1 more flying black thing (same as yesterdays) within 24 hours so I am guessing that the Scotts Bug Clear has worked a treat!

My safer soap arrived today so I am still going to do a spray mixed with the Scotts concentrate as per OT1s instructions to give me piece of mind more than anything but I will leave this until the weekend to give the plants some time to recover from their 1st spray on Tuesday.

Thanks again for the advice peeps

I'll let you know how I get on.

Thats great news fella

So whats your mate decided to do? Let me know how he got on in the near future please.

All the best

p&q

Cheers mate,

I spoke to him lastnight and we discussed it for abit and I honestly dont think there is much he can do at such a late stage. He couldnt spray the plants now really as it is so close to harvest, nevermind covering the buds with something being virtually impossible. Apparently someone might be taking some predators round today but he didnt know much about it really.

I am at his house next week and he wants me to look in his room. Proper reluctant because of the thrips. Is there any added protection apart from a bath and a full change of clothes before I see my plants afterwards? I am guessing just being in the same house as thrips coud lead to me bringing them back to my house again? Maybe I will not spray my plants again until I have been to his house, leave it a day and give them a good spray with the concentrate and safer soap? hmmmm

I wouldnt mind though, he wants me to help him trim

Pull a sickie

Give yer man a hand thrips aint major as long as you catch them wich you have..just tell him for next time.

Enjoy the trimming

p&q


ps tell him preds are useless in flower.

Will do mate cheers. Out of interest, why are they no good in flower?

All still seems clear for me now. Hopefully it will stay that way after tomorrows visit to my friends. Which I cant pull a sickie now incase he has read this thread

they need more than 12 hrs light to be active

what colour sticky traps are you using ! yellow for gnats (small black flies)
blue for thrips

Cheers Bart, I didnt know any of that

I didnt know you could even get blue sticky traps! Mine are yellow btw. Glad I used the gnat off now yesterday as from what you said I guess my sticky traps have caught 5 gnats as oppose to thrips. Not suprised mind, I always have the odd gnat during each grow. Do I get the blue ones from diy stores aswell or is it better to try an actual garden centre? Always worth having some out to spot early infestations.

Thanks again bud

garden centre would be best bet
youv given them a blast of scots that should sort them out

Yeah it seems to have worked a treat I think I will pop to the local garden centre this afternoon and pick up some blue sticky traps anyway. What with me coming and going from my friends thrip infested grow over the next few weeks paranoia has gotten the best of me Im afraid

Thanks again Bart

Is that not just for Phytoseiulus persimilis ? Because the spider mites become bitter and unpalatable as they go into diapause ?

Appologies if I'm wrong Bart.

Hi all,

Just a quick update,

No sign of any thrips now............touch wood. I didnt give them another blast with the horticultural soap when it arrived as like I said all seems clear.

1 quick question though if someone could help. As I am going in flower in a week would you recommend me giving them one last spray prior to this to give some protection to the plants? I sprayed them when they were only youngish clones and now they have alot more leaves on do you think it would be a good idea or is it not worth it if the thrips are gone? Is the plant still protected from the 1st spray as such? (due to systemic properties of scotts bug clear)

Thanks again all

Glad you got rid of them mate..niceone!

One more blast as a preventive measure should be fine I rekon.

Ive sprayed it at 17 days flower before with no effect to the final product.

p&q

Cheers mate, yeah just what I thought about a preventative measure. It didnt do them any harm before so I should be ok this time