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Once you get Thrips... is it too late?

Your best bet is to attack the source, that being said, what a big source that is to tackle...
 
I had a white fly infestation around my hoose, and when I really looked into it, I noticed there was a huge colony on my large/dense olive tree. This presented a huge problem also. Now, I cannot say which would be easier to get rid of, white flies or thrips, but for my situation, I was not able to totally get rid of the pests in the olive tree, but I was able to control it. 
 
I just got a concentrated spray that connects to your hose from the big hardware stores, and sprayed the whole tree as best I could. It took a few treatments, but I can hardly find any infestation anymore. This has lessened instances of white flies on my surrounding plants.
 
That is the best I can give you... 
 
Natural bug hunters like the lacewing larva and mantises are great, but are hard to keep localized. If you do try natural, DO IT FIRST. spray after as a lot of beneficial bugs are very susceptible to chemical sprays. Ladybugs even more so.
 
Ok, update:

I've decided the Pyrethrin spray is not the (complete) solution to getting rid of the Thrips.  Following MrGrowGuy's advice to not burn the plants by rinsing 5 minutes after, unfortunately still opens the plant up to any new thrips as soon as I walk away and everything is rinsed off.  Every day i'd check my plants after a good spray and rinse from the day before, and sure enough the Thrips were cruising quickly as usual as if nothing ever happened. Yes, I thoroughly sprayed the soil and everything.  

After reading many positive reviews, I've moved on to Spinosad. What's good about using this organic product is that it's a bacteria, and while possible to kill on contact - more importantly embeds itself into the plant cells so that when the Thrips begin to snack - they ingest the bacteria and it kills them.  

Not messing around anymore - I went and grabbed some Monterey Garden Spinosad spray and finally a real hand pump.  After only spraying once, I can already notice a HUGE improvement.  The Thrips are almost non-existent.  There are still a few, but i've noticed the ones I do find are either dead or moving extremely slow and are basically on their last breath.  No more hide-and-seek every time I move a baby leaf!   Does not fry the plant like the Pyrethrin did, so I'm not as worried to rinse.  
 
You also get WAY more bang for your buck - for the Spinosad, I paid the same amount for 1-pint concentrate as I did a windex-sized (24-oz) spray bottle of FoxFarm Pyrethrin (Don't Bug Me). Mixing with water, 1 pint of Spinosad is equal to the amount of 42 FoxFarm Pyrethrin sprayers!

I'll be giving all plants a good spray every few days if necessary, along with some blue sticky-traps coming in the mail which I will hang above the plants since Thrips are attracted to the color blue (having a blue painted porch may not have helped).  Will also consider MrGrowGuy's advice on spraying the big tree, but for now I have enough to experiment with.  


spinosadtotherescue.jpg
 
Thanks for the update! I am glad things are looking upwards!
 
I have the same bottle of Monterey also. It works pretty well. 
 
 
I hope the best for ya, GL!
 
 
The one good thing you can take away from a predicament like this is experience which truly is invaluable.
 
Not helping with my comment, but had to comment on your containers - Those look awesome! I want some! How many gallons are they?
 
Cool deal Joe!

I used captain jacks dead bug brew (spinosad) I sprayed 3 times 4 weeks ago, 1 every three days. I haven't seen a thrip since. I also sprayed 1/3 of our huge orange tree. There known for thrips. I also sprayed all dirt and grass/ shrubs close by the garden.

Thanks for the update!
 
crow said:
Not helping with my comment, but had to comment on your containers - Those look awesome! I want some! How many gallons are they?
Click to expand...
 
Which ones?  :)
 
Probably belongs in another thread, but here goes:
 
The burlap fabric ones are my giveaways - since they can be planted directly into the ground and will fully decompose within 3 months. The perfect air-pruning giveaway solution.
In my photo above are the 2-gallon size.
 
http://www.geopot.com/products/g-natural
 
 
The black / plastic ones are for me, and those would be the Air-Pots - #5 (3.9 gallon - 14.6 liter (5 gallon equivalent)).  

http://air-pot.com/garden/

Doing my research it seems there are many benefits of Air Pruning the roots. Fabric essentially does the same thing - which you can grab the standard black ones from GeoPots, SmartPots, RootPouch, etc. I could have gone "cheap" and went with the .50¢ Wal-Mart bags - but I really don't care to have bright blue advertisements in my backyard, I get enough of that outside of my home. In addition, the blue color would have only attracted MORE thrips.  

The debate rages on through various forums - and many saying Air-Pots are a ripoff and don't provide any better growth / yield than fabric pots and the extra money is not worth it.  I still decided to go with the plastic Air-Pots- not only am I a sucker for technology, I like the idea that these are re-usable... indefinitely (up to 10 years or more).  At first glance it would seem that the fabric pots are just sooooo "eco friendly" compared to these plastic ones, but considering I'd have to buy them every year since the fabric won't last, would outweigh not only cost compared to the Air-Pots, but the amount of wasted shipping & boxes, etc. Not only that, the Air-Pots are made from recycled plastic anyways... so take that, mr. fabric.  :party: Oh, and when you have to move the pots - I like that the plastic won't flex,  so your soil and roots won't get bothered.  Oh, and all the talk of water leaking out the sides- B.S., just make sure you have them oriented correctly and pack your soil on the edges - zero leakage!

Since my previous 4" containers became rootbound, I went ahead and grabbed a bunch of their "prop cells" - which are just small versions of the big ones.  I now just want to start the whole process again.  Now if they can just change those plug colors to something other than BLUE!!  :)

baby_Air_Pot.jpg


 
 
I've noticed some of my plants are starting to show a light green splotches on the leaves.  I assumed any burn holes / brown spots were just from where some bugs had laid eggs directly into the leaf, and that the yellowing was a minor deficiency of some sort and would be fixed once settled into the new soil along with the elimination of the Thrips.  

Aside the obvious dirt on leaves salt residue from Epsom spray, do the yellow blotches on the leaves ring a bell to anyone?  My best guess is lack of Potassium..

pepper_Virus_Deficiency.jpg
 
Well, once you get Thrips - it's not too late.   :)  

I've gotten a pretty good handle on those pests with the combination of Spinosad and Sticky Blue traps placed in the yard.  Turns out the abandoned house next door who has an overgrowth of weeds is most likely the breeding ground for those suckers - which are then attracted to the pink flowering trees in my yard. (Apparently Thrips are more attracted to the color Pink than blue, as per a research study).   

All of my worries about diseases, etc. were certainly overblown being a complete Noob to all this. My only concern is height, as some of them (especially the Trinidads) are so short and bushy I wonder if they will ever go vertical.   

Not bad for 1 month of growth? :


ajilimon2.jpg

 
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