milagro

I have just discovered that my beautiful plants have an infestation of what I believe are thrips. They appear as tiny whitish elongated walking insects. Haven't seen them fly or jump but they run like hell.

I caught one and stuck him under 60X. He is brown, small head, 6 legs long fattish body that looks like a THRIP! (looked them up in one of buzz's insectology books).

I did a search and saw that you can order predator bugs to eat them (don't have time). Safer's soap; does/doesn't work. Even if it does I live in Spain they won't have that brand, what else would I look for?

Are there any insecticides that wouldn't be harmful to me (the smoker to be)?

My plants are 25 days from harvest, with nicely forming buds, lots of trichomes and these bas**ards are dancing in my THC!

Any ideas?



milagro

it's 1984

A couple days ago I bought an electronic pest repeller. Got spiders in my house (tropical area), and wanted to get rid of them and also try it in my grow area. Says it gets rid of mice, cockroaches, spiders and other pests. It's worked in my bathroom, and I'll either get another one for the grow room or move it in there.

Says the pests can't stand the ultrasonic waves and just leave the area, which appears to be what happened in my bathroom.

Imagine many companies make them, but this is a Black and Decker and cost about $6. It's about palm sized and just plugs into any outlet.

Fgid1

Hey compadre, try this site bugspray.com/article/thrips.html put your own www. its comercial. Lots of info including this,

"A few thrips
can easily go unnoticed; a large infestation can
decide the local plants are not enough to eat and
once they start stinging people and pets, you will
surely know they are present!"

Whoa, they sting (Maybe that should say bite or suck) people

1984, my folks tried those ultrasonic pest boxes. They sucked. Granted this was the 80s, maybe theyre better now. Glad its working for you

davepotdave

but that's all they are as I've never had thrips.
I have had fungas gnats.
And I use safers to conltrol them and fly paper.
but yours don't fly......
I did a quick search on ask ed and came up with this.

http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/2967.html

The magic word that keeps reappearing for insect control is pyrethrium.

You can try dish soap, or go to whatever you have there for a garden center and see what they have.

you can also try taking them to the shower and wash them off, that might get some, I think tradeco was doing that......

maybe a nice more knowlageable member will drop in with more advice.....

__________________
"EX-TERM-A-NATE THE DOC-TOR"

buzzmobile

Make some yellow and/or blue sticky traps first. Look for an insecticidal soap or horticultural oil for spraying. Be sure to test spray a portion of your plant with the oil before treating the entire plant because some oils will burn your plant. Be persistent and thorough. There is no easy remedy for them. Avid does list them as a control but it is a pretty strong chemical and not cheap (it is however very effective).
Thrip IPM

buzzmobile

Mendrel

I agree with Buzz, Avid is the shiznite. But especially with how close you are to harvest it might be tricky. I wouldn't want apply it sooner than two weeks before my flush which gives it about 3 weeks to wear off. Though I've seen a statement that it has a halflife of 6 hours in a thin film in the presence of light. So it should wear off fairly quick, but still. Cheapest I've found is $100 for 8oz. But that bottle will last for awhile. I've used it twice. It seems to keep me free of pests for about 6 months, until the seasons change, and then they try to move in again. But it works better than anything else I've seen.

__________________
I came. I grew. I....uhhh...I forgot.
----------------------------------------
The guide for growing is the Grow Guide.
Three threads you should read before posting. New?
-- Acceptable Use -- Grow FAQ -- Perqs of GC.com --


“You never really leave a place or person you love, part of them you take with you, leaving a part of yourself behind.”

Dr Kellogg

I don't know thrips, but if they are like fungal gnats they breed in the soil. Control the soil, control the infestation. I introduced nemotodes into my soil a few weeks back, and within about 10 days I went from having about 40 gnats a day getting stuck on my sticky traps to ZERO.

Best of luck.

Dr. Kellogg

milagro

Well I went out today and found very little. No insecticide soaps, no Avid, no sticky traps or sticky substance to make traps (although I saw flypaper it was white with stencils of flies on it).

There are a couple of insecticides that seem to me to be deadlier than anything I want to deal with. I'm going to Madrid tomorrow to some garden center to see what's to see. Maybe I'll check with the grow shop guys. They call them trips here.

I'm seeing more and more. Don't know if it's because there are more and more or just cause I know they are there now.

I'm thinking of trying some kind of homemade stuff just because I'll know what's in it. I sure don't want to poison my plants or myself with pesticides.

I read that the thrips don't like garlic plants (can't find any) so I'm thinking about making a garlic, capsacin, maybe even tobacco type spray. Kinda like the one jay made but less suicidal and not to burn the house down.

Any thoughts on homemade remedies?



milagro

Mendrel

A pair of tweezers, a big bowl and lots of patience
As long as it won't flavor your buds in a bad way, at this point, the bugs need to go.

__________________
I came. I grew. I....uhhh...I forgot.
----------------------------------------
The guide for growing is the Grow Guide.
Three threads you should read before posting. New?
-- Acceptable Use -- Grow FAQ -- Perqs of GC.com --


“You never really leave a place or person you love, part of them you take with you, leaving a part of yourself behind.”

Fgid1

Hmmm, I dunno if pepper spray will kill em. I bet itll knock em way down though. Theres my recipie on page 1 of *bird*, no garlic in it though. Jay? Hes the guy who boils his right? I asked someone about why they did that. Why do they do that?