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Austin MN

I got alittle thrip damage on my plants in the green house of my college. Don't think I have to worry about anything but could it spread disease and what are some effect preventive things? I heard alittle soapy water sprayed on the leaves helps.

5/8/2014 6:48:44 PM

BC, Canada

Let me know if you find out! We have thrip on our rhodos. They really bug me! I have used a variety of noxious substances to reduce their damage. If you are in a greenhouse you are probably still in pots so you have a better chance of controlling them then if they were in open ground.
Some of the same controls as for fungus gnats; foil mulch, sticky traps (blue not yellow), soap (I haven't had much success with it), and Neem oil. Chemical pesticides maybe but as the thrips hide in the soil it is a little harder to get them, pyrethrins don't work as they are a contact pesticide I have used miticide controls but I'm uncertain as to how effective they really were. Spinosad is suggested but thrip seem to already be resistant to it here. A horticultural oil drench seems to ameliorate the infestations but not cure.
Sorry, more doubts than answers, but I feel your pain
Good luck

5/8/2014 9:15:44 PM

Princeton Kentucky

Tough little buggers to try and deal with. Cavitysearch miticides actually seem to help the thrip more than destroy them because it seems that the pesticides kill more natural enemies of the thrip than the thrip itself. Crazy... Seems you have to attack them at the most perfect timing when the newbies are coming out of the soil which is every 15 days or so as very young stage thrip. Heres a good read link on the subject if you all have not already been there. Good luck Tconway.
http://www.ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7429.html

5/9/2014 6:44:00 AM

Bethlehem CT

I would get them planted outside, I'll bet the problem goes away.

5/9/2014 6:45:45 AM

Austin MN

Forgot to mention they will be in the ground next Thursday due to my schools finsls...professor said take a spray bottle with two drops of dove soap and it will help!

5/9/2014 9:26:26 AM

Clayton, NC

In greenhouses, thrips (always plural) are typically more of a problem that outdoors. In greenhouses, we often have high levels western flower thrips whose populations are more often than not resisitant to multiple insecticide classes. Like big moon said, once outside the problem should resolve itself. Typically, pumpkin-susceptible thrips vectored diseases are a low probability (as opposed to Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus that can be a major issues on tomatoes, tobacco and peanuts in the SE). TSWV is vectored by tobacco thrips and western flower thrips.

5/15/2014 1:03:56 PM