Thrips

From: eduardo gomes goncalves <eggon at guarany.cpd.unb.br> on 1997.09.27 at 02:50:18(1349) Dear aroid people, Some time ago I asked some help with the control of slugs that was chewing my living collection. I have follow your tips and the monsters are controlled. Now I have another enemy to fight. THRIPS!!! They are under the leaves of a lot of plants (Arisarum, Zantedeschia, Urospatha, Dracontioides, Gearum, Typhonodorum, etc) and causes golden spots in the blade. Seriously attacked leaves can dry out completely. I checked the horticultural links at the IAS home page and found out it could be the Greenhouse Thrip (Heliothrips haemorroidalis), that grows in warm and humid environment. Obviously, it can be another species (remember: I'm living in a tropical country and there are insects everywhere!), but it matches very well the description. They are said to occur only in greenhouses there in the USA and Europe and mine aren't greenhouse plants. Meanwhile, Brazil itself is a big greenhouse! I'm completely stupid about pest control. What should I do? Thanks in advance, Eduardo. +More P.S. Who will be the next enemy in my garden? Martians?

From: "Julius Boos" <ju-bo at classic.msn.com> on 1997.10.01 at 03:27:20(1359) ---------- Sent: Friday, September 26, 1997 10:50 PM To: ju-bo@msn.com +More Subject: Thrips >>>Dear aroid people, Some time ago I asked some help with the control of slugs that was chewing my living collection. I have follow your tips and the monsters are controlled. Now I have another enemy to fight. THRIPS!!! They are under the leaves of a lot of plants (Arisarum, Zantedeschia, Urospatha, Dracontioides, Gearum, Typhonodorum, etc) and causes golden spots in the blade. Seriously attacked leaves can dry out completely. I checked the horticultural links at the IAS home page and found out it could be the Greenhouse Thrip (Heliothrips haemorroidalis), that grows in warm and humid environment. Obviously, it can be another species (remember: I'm living in a tropical country and there are insects everywhere!), but it matches very well the description. They are said to occur only in greenhouses there in the USA and Europe and mine aren't greenhouse plants. Meanwhile, Brazil itself is a big greenhouse! I'm completely stupid about pest control. What should I do? Thanks in advance, Eduardo. P.S. Who will be the next enemy in my garden? Martians?<<< Dear Eduardo, Are you sure that they are thrips? Here I am sometimes attacked by aphids and red spider mites, and I use a systemic insecticide called "Marathon" which works, even on some scale insects. If you can not get Marathon where you are, a strong jet of water to wash them off, the use of a soap (NOT detergent!) soultion sprayed on them, or the use of a dilute sprayable insecticide are the only things that I can think of recomending at this time. Cheers, and good luck! Julius ju-bo@msn.com

From: eduardo gomes goncalves <eggon at guarany.cpd.unb.br> on 1997.10.03 at 13:43:12(1377) Dear Julius, Yes, I'm sure about it. They are ugly thrips. The youngsters are whitish and don't fly. The adults are dark brown and fly. I have seem both stages and there is no doubt they are thrips. I tried soapy water and didn't work (now they are just clean thrips). I tried a piretroid insecticide to garden plants and they liked it. I think they are insecticide-addicted! Now I think I have to try something stronger. Obviously I'm also proceeding lots of hand picking but they are too small (approx. 1mm long) and it is a boring work. Dynamite would work but I think my plants wouldn't enjoy it. I will try some clues that people told me and will tell all of you what happened. Sincerely, Eduardo. +More > Dear Eduardo, > Are you sure that they are thrips? Here I am sometimes attacked by aphids and > red spider mites, and I use a systemic insecticide called "Marathon" which > works, even on some scale insects. If you can not get Marathon where you are, > a strong jet of water to wash them off, the use of a soap (NOT detergent!) > soultion sprayed on them, or the use of a dilute sprayable insecticide are the > only things that I can think of recomending at this time. > Cheers, and good luck! > Julius > ju-bo@msn.com > > > >

From: Krzysztof Kozminski <kk at netgate.net> on 1997.10.03 at 18:10:14(1380) On Fri, 3 Oct 1997, eduardo gomes goncalves wrote: > Yes, I'm sure about it. They are ugly thrips. The youngsters are > whitish and don't fly. The adults are dark brown and fly. I have seem > both stages and there is no doubt they are thrips. I tried soapy water > and didn't work (now they are just clean thrips). I tried a piretroid > insecticide to garden plants and they liked it. I think they are > insecticide-addicted! Now I think I have to try something stronger. > Obviously I'm also proceeding lots of hand picking but they are too small > (approx. 1mm long) and it is a boring work. Dynamite would work but I > think my plants wouldn't enjoy it. I will try some clues that people told me > and will tell all of you what happened. Have you tried spraying with one of the mild varieties of horticultural oils? These are typically labeled 'ultra-fine' or some such and can be used on living plants in leaf. These sprays work by suffocating the sprayed critters, and will take out any insect whatsoever, scale included, while at the same time being very benign on other life forms (although I would not want to breathe in the mist). I tried it on big-leaved aroids: Alocasias, Xanthosomas, and Remusatias with no ill effects. Recent treatment of Spathicarpas (which have acquired scale) may be too recent to tell (other than the scale is dead), since it happened 2 days ago). The only problem is that the sprays work only on direct contact, and may need to be repeated several times to take out anything that you missed or whatever was buried in the soil at the application time. KK

From: newton at cin.net on 1997.10.04 at 03:16:54(1382) eduardo gomes goncalves wrote: > > Dear Julius, > > Yes, I'm sure about it. They are ugly thrips. The youngsters are > whitish and don't fly. The adults are dark brown and fly. I have seem > both stages and there is no doubt they are thrips. I tried soapy water > and didn't work (now they are just clean thrips). I tried a piretroid > insecticide to garden plants and they liked it. I think they are > insecticide-addicted! Now I think I have to try something stronger. > Obviously I'm also proceeding lots of hand picking but they are too small > (approx. 1mm long) and it is a boring work. Dynamite would work but I > think my plants wouldn't enjoy it. I will try some clues that people told me > and will tell all of you what happened. > > Sincerely, > > Eduardo. +More > > > Dear Eduardo, > > Are you sure that they are thrips? Here I am sometimes attacked by aphids and > > red spider mites, and I use a systemic insecticide called "Marathon" which > > works, even on some scale insects. If you can not get Marathon where you are, > > a strong jet of water to wash them off, the use of a soap (NOT detergent!) > > soultion sprayed on them, or the use of a dilute sprayable insecticide are the > > only things that I can think of recomending at this time. > > Cheers, and good luck! > > Julius > > ju-bo@msn.com > > > > > > > > Eduardo: A sense of humor is paramount to success. Tim

From: Chris Marsden <Byway at compuserve.com> on 1997.10.05 at 04:59:31(1388) Julius et. al, > > Yes, I'm sure about it. They are ugly thrips. The youngsters are > > whitish and don't fly. The adults are dark brown and fly. I have seem= > > both stages and there is no doubt they are thrips. I tried soapy wate= r > > and didn't work (now they are just clean thrips). I tried a piretroid= > > insecticide to garden plants and they liked it. I think they are > > insecticide-addicted! Now I think I have to try something stronger. > > Obviously I'm also proceeding lots of hand picking but they are too small > > (approx. 1mm long) and it is a boring work. Dynamite would work but I= > > think my plants wouldn't enjoy it. I will try some clues that people told me > > and will tell all of you what happened. > A sense of humor is paramount to success. Au contrare. I'd go with the Trinitrotoluene (TNT). = On a (slightly) more serious note, now that you have clean thrips, go for= the jet-wash. We are talking about serious cleanliness here. Try putting the whole plant in (_rain_) water for a day, 2 days, 3 days, heck... go for a week if necessary. The thrips will drown (ideally spray them with some soapy water first - there may still be some specks of dirt= there). IME the plant doesn't mind it as long as you don't make the container into permanent living quarters. Oh... and don't forget to completely cover it with water. Otherwise you will have Robinson Crusoe thrips. (Or should that be _clean_ Robinson Crusoe thrips?) Kindest Regards, Toby Marsden +More PS. I think the reason why the soapy water didn't work is that the treatment was first prescribed for aphids. The long molecules in the detergent let the water lay on the skin of the aphid, drowning/suffocatin= g it maybe? Aphids do, I believe, breathe through their skin. Thrips, mayb= e, do not. Great idea for the thrips though, soapy water. Normally if there'= s anything wrong with my plants I spray them with (new, improved - of course) fairy liquid (lemon flavour works well, I'm told) mixed with wate= r. If it's aphids, they drown/suffocate, if it's a virus, at least it's cle= an and, of course, my plants get their (biennual) bath.

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