Thrips 101: Introduction to Western Flower Thrips

Thrips 101: Introduction to Western Flower Thrips

There are several different types of thrips (singular and plural form)…believe it or not there are actually beneficial thrips out there Today we are going to be talking about the dreaded Western Flower Thrips.

Description:
Adult thrips are small slender insects about 1/20 inch long. They vary in color from light to dark brown. Wings are narrow and fringed, giving them a feathery appearance. Adult thrips are capable of flying. Nymphs are active, light-colored, wingless insects. The mouthparts of adults and nymphs are designed to rasp plant tissues then suck the juices. The last nymphal stage is spent in the soil. It’s the adults and nymphs that do most of the damage.

Thrips are tiny, but you may notice signs of their presence, such as black, shiny speckles (droppings), silvery stippling (masses of tiny discolored scars on leaves) or, in severe cases, deformed growth. Thrips feed by using their mouthparts to pierce plant cells and suck out their contents. Damaged plant cells collapse, resulting in deformed plant growth and silvered patches and flecking on leaves.

Thrips are like mites in that they prefer hot, dry conditions. When it is hot and dry populations will multiply rapidly. However, they can reproduce at almost all temperature and humidity levels in indoor garden. As with any bug that plagues our gardens, early detection is important because symptoms of feeding often go unnoticed until serious damage has occurred. Also, small populations are easier to control than large ones.

Damage:
Damage to the leaves results in light colored silvery patches or streaking, often with blackish thrips droppings in the vicinity.
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Life Cycle:
Eggs are laid in plant tissue and hatch in 3-5 days; nymphs feed for 1-3 weeks on your foliage, then rest in the soil or on leaves until they molt into adult form in 1-2 weeks.




Biological Control:
Tapping the flowers or foliage of a few plants gently over a sheet of white paper will dislodge thrips and make them visible. Plant tapping can be used to determine if thrips are present, and to gain a rough estimate of their numbers.

The three most popular natural predators I see recommended for thrips are the minute pirate bugs, thrips predators and nematodes.
Pirate Bugs will voraciously attack thrips. The one downside to using Pirate Bugs is that they are only effective in the veg/mom/propagation stages of growth. Pirate bugs can’t reproduce under 12/12 so they are useless in the flower room. There have been efforts to locate strains of pirate bugs that would continue to actively reproduce under short day length conditions. However, currently Pirate Bugs are not an effective control for 12/12 gardens…only 18/6.

Thrips Predators are actually predatory mites and are tan-orange in color and similar in looks and movement to the spider mite predator. These guys work good at keeping populations under control but you need to have the predator population built up and established early in the crop, even before evidence of thrips. These predators provide a means of control in the foliage but will not eliminate thrips in your garden.

Nematodes have been suggested as another possible solution for thrips control. The problem inherent in the use of nematodes is that only a small portion of the thrips population will be present in the soil at any one time. Also, some pupation takes place on the plant, where there obviously aren’t any nematodes. Because nematodes have little or no effect in the habitat where adult and larval thrips are found (the plant’s foliage and buds), there is little prospect of these nematodes being highly effective, at least not without very frequent use.

There are all sorts of recommendations for products that you can purchase that are supposed to eliminate thrips. I have personally tried neem oils, dormant oils, insecticidal soaps, pyrethrins, diatomaceous earth, sm-90, you name it I tried it. I found some of these more effective than others, but nothing would effectively eliminate the population in my setup….until I found Spinosad.

Spinosad (pronounced "spin-OH-sid") is derived through the fermentation of a naturally occurring organism. Spinosad is derived from a naturally occurring soil dwelling bacterium called Saccharopolyspora spinosa, a rare microorganism reportedly collected from soil in an abandoned rum distillery on a Caribbean Island in 1982 by a vacationing scientist. It has not been found in nature since that time, and was subsequently described as a new species.

Spinosad works by contact and by ingestion. Contact occurs either by direct application to the insect or by movement of the insect onto a treated surface. Ingestion occurs as insects feed on treated substrate (such as foliage). While control via contact is highly effective, control via ingestion is 5 - 10 times more effective.

Spinosad has a unique mode of action that is different from all other known insect control products. Spinosad causes excitation of the insect nervous system, leading to involuntary muscle contractions, prostration with tremors, and finally paralysis.
Spinosad has several attractive features when compared to most other insect pest control products:
- It is derived through the fermentation of a naturally occurring organism;
- It is highly active at low use rates;
- It is active by ingestion and contact exposure;
- It has less impact on certain predatory beneficial insects; and
- It is active by a mechanism unique among known insect pest control compounds.
- It has quicker speed of control;
- It has no special handling or use restrictions.

Spinosad, with its unique characteristics, does indeed fit a class of its own, and offers fantastic results for the hobby gardener. No other naturally sourced material has its' combination of excellent contact and residual efficacy on target pests and safety to beneficials, aquatic organisms, and mammals.
Spinosad-based products have been registered in more than 30 countries for control of termites, ants, thrips and much more. Common names that spinosad is marketed under are “Monteray Garden Insect Spray”, “Bulls-eye”, “Entrust”, and more. There are retailers that sell these products online or through mail order…you can have this product shipped to anywhere in the country…or world.

Publications on Spinosad for further review:
http://www.trevorwilliams.info/Spinosad_pubslist.htm

Summary:
-Thrips leave silvery white patches on your foliage with little black specks.

- Pirate bugs appear to be inadequate during 12/12 because of diapause induced by short days which stops oviposition by females.

- Nematodes seem poorly suited for biological control of thrips because they are ineffective on foliage and can only be used against thrips in soil. Because the majority of the thrips are on foliage, control of thrips populations with nematodes is not achieved.

- Thrips Predators will keep populations from getting out of control but will not eliminate a population.

- Neem oils, dormant oils, insecticidal soaps, pyrethrins, diatomaceous earth, sm-90, and the like will keep thrips populations under control but rarely will eliminate them completely.

- Spinosad is the answer for the gardener that has been plagued with thrips!!

** pics from mynamestitch and iogrow

Excellent post. My experience with sprays and thrips was it knocked them out twice as easy as mites.. if it hits them. Mites are idiots compared to thrips that see well and scurry to hide. My other experience is when I had a small outbreak I could nail one of their life cycle stages once or twice and it knocked them out but once they got fully colonized I had to use nematodes in the soil cause mine was full of thrips, even found the bastards underneath my 5gal buckets. if I get them again I might have to check out the new magic juju.

The only thing that worked for me long ago was an involuntary shutdown. Towards the end there I killed alot of 'em by hand, by that point i was going kookoo! They do seem a bit more intellegent than other pests. I could see them running to their tight little spaces, some of them would jump and I could feel them popping against my face. Spinosad sounds interesting though. The nice thing is that they don't come back like mites, say, from old equipment, pots etc....In the future I would probably take new cuts of everything, dip them in whatever, and start over.

What a nighmare, I don't wanna talk about it anymore lol.

Yeah these things are up there on my list of p.i.a. pests, they really are smarter than most as you fellas described. often people mix up spring tails with these as they jump about in the soil too, good post, never tried spinosad but I think I will give it a whirl.

I have some bugs that in winter appear in my hydro reservoirs, I think they may be related to this, they look like large brown aphids and swim in the water, you can see them crawl across hardwood / carpeted flooring in a line like ants too..no idea what they are, was hoping they were related to thrips but looking at the life cycle photo they don't look much like those.

real buggers indeed! and since they are so small and zippy it makes me even more frustrated! squash em!

heya aeric...thrips can and will overwinter/hang around long term if you let them.

I wouldn't worry about the thrips anymore though guys...seriously this stuff works wonders. I have absolutely no fear of these little buggers anymore...I have a 100% effective control in the cupboard...no worries

Bring on the thrips...

You may have a point Kokua I may have just been lucky, I don't want to give the wrong info to anyone. To elaborate I didn't sterilize with bleach, but just used weaker cleaners like H2O2, hot water, etc....and they didn't come back. Standard recommended advice would be to use bleach.

It's nice to know there's something out there that should be effective were they to make another appearance.

AWSOME ARTICLE KOKUA!!!!
do you have anything for aphids?

but kokua wht about the root zones?? will this effectively kill the larvae

edit also reading about spinosad being cancer causng agent, carcinogenic etc....yet when i read the informatino on worms way they say its safe for humans, plants and fruit and its OMRI certified...no im confused.....


i know you are against mosquit dunks?? right?? someon help meout here please?? im going ape shit here.

BTW excelent info...you really are awesome for taking your time and doing this work....ill post my results..ordering the stuff 2-morrow(just got paid!)

As posted in nycdfan's thread, here's the MSDS for the monterey garden insect spray... kind of a big blob of info, but:

MONTEREY GARDEN INSECT SPRAY Page 1 of 4 Issue Date: 05/02
SECTION 1. PRODUCT AND COMPANY IDENTIFICATION
Chemical Product
MONTEREY GARDEN INSECT SPRAY
EPA Reg. No. 62719-314-54705
Common Name: Liquid insecticide.
Chemical Description: Spinosad.
TSCA/CAS No.: This product is a mixture – there is no specific CAS No.
Manufactured For
Lawn and Garden Products, Inc.
P. O. Box 35000
Fresno, CA 93745-5000
Emergency Phone Numbers
Emergency Telephone: DAYS: (559) 499-2100 EVES.: (559) 435-2163
CHEMTREC (24-Hour Emergency Number): (800) 424-9300
EPA National Response Center: (800) 424-8802
SECTION 2. INGREDIENTS
CHEMICAL CAS NO. % TLV OR PEL RQ (lbs)
Spinosad Spinosyn A 131929-60-7 0.5 *N.A. *N.P.
Spinosyn D 131929-63-0
Inert Ingredients, Total Including: 99.5
Propylene Glycol 57-55-6 Proprietary N.A. N.P.
* N.A. - Not Available.
* N.P. - Not Pertinent.
SECTION 3. EMERGENCY/HAZARDS OVERVIEW
Off-white to tan liquid suspension with low odor. May cause eye irritation. Product is toxic to molluscs and bees. Not D.O.T. regulated.
HEALTH: 1 REACTIVITY: 0 FLAMMABILITY: 0 ENVIRONMENT: 0
(0=Insignificant 1=Slight 2=Moderate 3=High 4=Extreme)
SECTION 4. FIRST AID
Eyes: Hold eyes open and rinse slowly and gently with water for 15-20 minutes. Remove contact lenses, if present, after the first 5 minutes, then continue rinsing eyes. Call a poison control center or doctor for treatment advice.
Skin: Take off contaminated clothing. Rinse skin immediately with plenty of water for 15-20 minutes. Call a poison control center or doctor for treatment advice.
Ingestion: Call a poison control center or doctor immediately for treatment advice. Have person sip a glass of water if able to swallow. Do not induce vomiting unless told to do so by the poison control center or doctor. Never give anything by mouth to an unconscious person.
MONTEREY GARDEN INSECT SPRAY Page 2 of 4 Issue Date: 05/02
SECTION 4. FIRST AID (Continued)
Inhalation: Move person to fresh air. If person is not breathing, call 911 or ambulance, then give artificial respiration, preferably by mouth-to-mouth. Call a poison control center or doctor for further treatment advice.
NOTE TO PHYSICIAN: No specific antidote. Supportive care. Treatment based on judgment of the physician in response to reactions of the patient.
SECTION 5. FIRE AND EXPLOSION HAZARDS
Flash Point: Not determined (aqueous suspension).
Test Method: Not applicable.
LEL Flammable Limits: Not determined.
UEL Flammable Limits: Not determined.
Autoignition Temperature: Not determined.
Flammability Classification: Noncombustible.
Known Hazardous Products of Combustion: Not known.
Properties that Initiate/Contribute to Intensity of Fire: None.
Potential For Dust Explosion: None.
Reactions that Release Flammable Gases or Vapors: Not known.
Potential For Release of Flammable Vapors: None.
Unusual Fire & Explosion Hazards: Under fire conditions some components of this product may decompose. The smoke may contain unidentified toxic and/or irritating compounds.
Extinguishing Media: Water fog, carbon dioxide, dry chemical or foam.
Special Firefighting Procedures: Wear positive pressure, self-contained breathing apparatus and full protective clothing. Avoid smoke inhalation. Contain any liquid runoff.
SECTION 6. SPILLS AND LEAKS
Containment: Prevent product spillage from entering drinking water supplies or streams.
Clean Up: Collect liquid or absorb onto absorbent material and package for disposal.
Evacuation: Not necessary.
SECTION 7. STORAGE AND HANDLING
Storage: Store in original container only in a cool, well-ventilated, dry place at temperatures above 40oF. Do not store near food or feeds. Do not stack pallets more than two (2) high.
Transfer Equipment: Transfer product using chemical-resistant plastic or stainless steel tanks, pumps, valves, etc.
Work/Hygienic Practices: Keep out of reach of children. Avoid contact with eyes, on skin or on clothing. Avoid breathing vapor or spray mists. Wear long-sleeved shirt and pants, waterproof gloves and shoes plus socks. Wash with soap and water after handling. Remove contaminated clothing and wash clothing before reuse. Do not contaminate feed and foodstuffs.
SECTION 8. PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT
Eyes: Chemical dust/splash goggles or full-face shield to prevent eye contact. As a general rule, do not wear contact lenses when handling.
Skin: Impervious gloves and clothes.
MONTEREY GARDEN INSECT SPRAY Page 3 of 4 Issue Date: 05/02
SECTION 8. PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (Continued)
Respiratory: Not normally needed. If use generates an aerosol mist or respiratory irritation, use NIOSH-approved dust/mist respirator (such as 3M #8710).
Ventilation: Recommended but no TLV established.
SECTION 9. PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL DATA
Appearance: Off-white to light tan liquid.
Odor: Low odor.
pH: Not available.
Vapor Pressure: Similar to water.
Vapor Density (Air=1): Not available.
Boiling Point: 212°F (100°C).
Freezing Point: Not available.
Water Solubility: Dispersible.
Density: 1.09 g/ml.
Evaporation Rate: Not determined.
Viscosity: Not available.
% Volatile: Not available.
Octanol/Water Partition Coefficient: Not available.
Saturated Vapor Concentration: Not available.
SECTION 10. STABILITY AND REACTIVITY
Stability: Thermally stable at typical use temperatures. Some componenets of this product can decompose at elevated temperatures.
Conditions To Avoid: None known.
Incompatibility: None known.
Hazardous Decomposition Products: Hazardous decomposition products depend on temperature, air supply, and the presence of other materials.
Hazardous Polymerization: Not known to occur.
SECTION 11. POTENTIAL HEALTH EFFECTS
Acute Effects:
Eyes: May cause slight eye irritation.
Skin: Prolonged exposure is not likely to cause significant skin irritation. A single prolonged exposure is not likely to result in the material being absorbed through skin in harmful amounts. Did not cause allergic skin reactions when tested with guinea pigs. LD50 (Rabbits) > 5000 mg/kg.
Ingestion: Single dose oral toxicity is extremely low. The oral LD50 for rats and mice is >5000 mg/kg. No hazards anticipated from swallowing small amounts incidental to normal handling operations.
Inhalation: Single exposure to concentrate mist is not likely to cause adverse effects.
Systemic (Other In animals, has been shown to cause vacuolation of cells in various tissues and
Target Organ) Effects: changes in blood and serum biochemistry. Dose levels producing these effects were
many times higher than any dose levels expected from exposure due to use.
Cancer Information: For Spinosad, laboratory animal studies were negative.
Teteratology: Spinosad did not cause birth defects in laboratory animals.
Reproductive Effects: For Spinosad, in laboratory animal studies, effects on reproduction have been seen only at doses that produced significant toxicity to the parent animals.
MONTEREY GARDEN INSECT SPRAY Page 4 of 4 Issue Date: 05/02
SECTION 12. ECOLOGICAL INFORMATION
Algal/Lemna Growth Inhibition: Not known.
Toxicity to Fish and Invertebrates: Highly toxic to marine mollusks on an acute basis. Moderate or slightly toxic to fish.
Toxicity to Plants: Not known.
Toxicity in Birds: Practically non-toxic to birds on an acute basis.
SECTION 13. DISPOSAL
Do not contaminate lakes, streams, ponds, estuaries, oceans or other waters by discharge of waste effluents or equipment washwaters. Dispose of waste effluents in accordance with state and local waste disposal regulations. Also, chemical additions or other alterations of this product may invalidate any disposal information in this MSDS. Therefore, consult local waste regulators for proper disposal.
SECTION 14. TRANSPORTATION
D.O.T.: Not D.O.T. Regulated.
Other Shipping Description: Insecticides and Fungicides, Liquid.
NMFC Item 102120, LTL Class 60
SECTION 15. REGULATORY INFORMATION
CERCLA: None.
SARA TITLE III, Section 313 Toxic Chemicals: None.
PROPOSITION 65 (CA): None.
STATE RIGHT-TO-KNOW:
Chemical Name CAS No. LIST
1,2-Propanediol
(Propylene Glycol) 57-55-6 PA1
PA1 = Pennsylvania Hazardous Substance (present at > or = to 1.0%)
SECTION 16. OTHER
All information appearing in this document was based on data provided by third party sources and was compiled to comply with the Federal Hazard Communication Standard and the California Hazardous Substances Information and Training Act. The information is believed to be accurate as of the preparation date, but is not warranted as being the final authority in the use of this product. This information does not purport to be legal or medical advice.

thanks for posting that miss nycdf!!

Cancer Information: For Spinosad, laboratory animal studies were negative.
Teteratology: Spinosad did not cause birth defects in laboratory animals.

nycdfan...can you link us up to the place you read that it causes cancer? The info miss posted says it doesn't. I haven't treated the rootzone itself. I didn't have to. I treated the foliage 3x over a period of about 14 days and that was it...no more thrips. I can imagine it would be effective in your rootzone. I try to keep my soil food web as intact as possible so that I can take full advantage of my organic fertilizers. I don't know if the spinosad would negatively effect the micro's or not...it very well might.

digital hippy...aphids are an easy one. I will pm you with details.

kokua thank you.
ill post the info we found about spinosad causing cancer...i hope we can dinf it again...after that link we found many others praising its good uses.

So is this product only good for vegging clones/seeeedlings?? my bloom room is wel into flower...some plants are on week 4.5 and others are simply on week 3.....its prolly not a gooood idea to use it on them right???

I don't know to be perfectly honest. I treated in veg and didn't worry about flower. I don't like spraying anything in flower...I let the girls that had thrips in the flower room just do their thing while I treated the veg. The thrip infested plants will finish fine and wont compramise the final product...other than yield.

At 4.5 and 3 weeks I might apply at least 1x to knock the populations for a loop. If you spray thoroughly enough you might be able to rid your 12/12 with one application!

I like baccus He is a good guy and a good grower.

thank YOU so much uve been ever so hepful!! i mean really above and beyond excellent info and help ,you got a golden heart and K+ 4 sure!!!!

were having a hard time finding that same exact link(where it mentios the carcinogens)...all were finding links to now is how SAFE spinosad is compared to other agents...so ill take the regular precautions, and wear eye protection gloves and a small respirator when applying...is it good to "wash off" the spinosad with a water foliar spray?? a day or two after the first treatment??

i just ordered the spinosad should leave monday and arrive sometime during the week(worms way is quick for me!) my question is HOW much to use?? per gallon of water?? what is the dilution ratio or the application rate?? again thank you so much kokua!!

No worries...I love to help other that need it and want it. Don't mind baccus either...he might have been really high lol Shoot me a pm if you can find that link...I would appreciate it.

mosquito dunks are fantastic control for thirp larvae...but only work on larvae, not necessarily adults or nymphs.

The active ingredient in mosquito dunks is bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a naturally occurring bacterial disease of insects, perfectly 100% natural

The downside to the mosquito dunks is that Bt is susceptible to degradation by sunlight. Most formulations persist on foliage less than a week following application. Some of the newer strains developed for mosquito control become ineffective in about 24 hours. In addition...Bt-based products tend to have a shorter shelf life than other insecticides. Manufacturers generally indicate reduced effectiveness after two to three years of storage. Shelf life is greatest when storage conditions are cool, dry and out of direct sunlight. My problem is that I don't know how long my garden center has had them on their shelves...and I don't even want to think about how old they were before they put them on their shelves...(how long was it at the mfr and distributor?)

Bottom line...I have used MD with moderate to good success and other times I have used them and seen nothing. I attribute this to the 'shelf life' and old product.

baccus is right on with his advice...you can cruble and sprinkle MD's on the foliage and in the soil. And depending on the 'freshness' of the dunks...you might see some posative results. BUT NOTHING LIKE WHAT THE SPINOSAD OFFERS.

Nowadays...I put the mosquito dunks in the same group as the sm-90's and pyrethrins and soaps and all that other stuff that works...but none even come close to the effectiveness of the spinosad for thrips.

dose as the label tells you too....I never wash off anything, except oils. Just spray it on and leave it....its fine.

^^ thank you man...i guess i owe baccas a "sorry dood" and yea i guess he was really high...and just not in the moood to type al that info in a chat window cant fault him for that..he is generaly a cool cat....and thanks again for all the info i guess ll thats left for me to do is receive my spino saf and treat my veg area!

ill let the bloom room alone till its finished..and then what should i do??? clean up thoroughly, wash the wallls with a chlorox bleach/ water solution?? i have carpet in closet...should i just spray some diluter spinosad on the ground/floor area of the bloom room- when im finished flowering?? just incase?? i wanna clean that whole area(simply because my blooom rooom[walk in coset] is a foot away from my enclosed home made vegitation partition i made with polyvinyl and woood LOL)....i actually sleep feet away from the veg area(altho it is enclosed for the most part when the 12/12 hps comes on i open the polyvinyl at night i cover it up....is it a bad idea to be spraying this stufff so closely to where i sleep every night???

thanks again kokua!! u rock!!!!!!!

I am not a scientist...and I didn't formulate spinosad, however I did stay at a holliday inn last night

I wouldn't worry about it though...in all seriousness. Spinosad is a live culture, a microorganism. It hasn't shown any harm to mammals...especially humans. My grow room is less than 3 feet from where I sleep at night...I haven't noticed any ill effects yet...yet. lol But that doesn't mean anything really... I might drop dead in 10 years cause of this...you never know.

Carpet is a no no for any grow room...for lots of reasons. It is a perfect 'safe harbor' for all sorts of nasties...mold, pathogens, bugs, etc. If you can...rip that shit up and put down something a little less giving. I tore out my carpet in the height of my thrip problems...and guess what I found down underneath the carpet padding? If you can't rip the carpet out...I would spray with the spinosad. Use caution though...I haven't tested this stuff on carpet to see what it does, if anything. My advice on that would be to test a small corner piece of carpet and wait a week. IF you notice anything you don't like...then don't spray.

Spinosad works by direct contact...or by ingestion. Theoretically you could spray the carpet and when the thrips came in contact they would be killed. But how thoroughly would you need to drench the carpet to get 'contact'...I don't know.

It is good practice to tear down and clean walls, floors, and all surfaces thoroughly in between runs. This will only make your job as a caretaker much easier. Remember, preventative maintenance is the best kind of maintenance in an herb garden.

^^ hell yea my thoughts exactly, i was thinking of (after spraying the carpet down with spinosad), to screw down a piece of tarp under the 1k watt light.....and effectively cover the surface of the closet. Obviously wuldnt be ripping out the carpet but deff would become a barrier for the thrips....and yes after i finish up whats in the closet ill do a nice cleaning. The veg side ill just spray down with spino sad,,,i hope the 1 qt bottle lasts long enough...does that stuff go a long way?? i sure hope so! Thanks again for the help dood you sure know how to help people out man you are awesome!!!!! thank you thank you!!

Hey kokua whenever you get online can you help me figure out how to apply this spinosad? it jost arrived in the mail today!! i wanna get started on killing them right now!!! the label calls for 4 table spoons per gallon of water!! thats a hefty ammount is that about correct??? please let me know as soon as you can i wanna apply some ASAP!! i pray it works...if this doesnt work im ordering 1500 lady bugs!!!

Well im incredibly happy to report to you that the spinosad seems to have worked....with oneapplication i see ZERO thrips today.....me & missnycdfan inspected every single leaf we could(obviously we missed a few here nthere) but where we would normallly see thrips we saw NOTHING, i actually think i saw a carcass or two...either they just fell off int he soil below(wich i sprayed withs pinosad) and died, or they went to the carpet..wich i also sprayed with spinosad!
So far so good....so i will pray two more times.....once per week?? is that how it goes kokua?? i still have the bloom room to contend with( i took the 2.5 week old kodiak gold lady and sprayed her down even tho i know once shes put back shelll get some thrips on her..but at least im tyring...i also lycol-ed and spinosaded the walls and carpet leading to veg area and im trying to not touch the veg area once ive touched the bloom room! i dont expect to get them alll at once..but in time i will eradicate these guys as soon as i harvest the kodiak golds!!! thats fer sure!!!!! i might cull a 90 day ISS plant simply because she owuld fuck up the whole time frame!! the kodiaks are almost finished(with the exception of the 90 day ISS pheno and the 2.5 week old seedling kodiak)so i can jusst harvest the KG, kill the 90 dayer, spray the 3 wks old KG female..and then take verything out shut down for a a good 12 hrs(put the single KG female in the veg side while i clean the bloom room heavily ...with bleach/water combo and lycol). Wish me luck!

but i wanna give a major thank you to KOKUA that spray apparently so far has worked on the veg side...ive looked several times with two sets of eyes(me & missnycdfan) and we both agreee something deffinitely worked..because we see ZERO thrips in the veg area!!! i will check regularly, but if i dont see anything should i continue the recommended one spray a week for 3 week schedule?? and again i will do my best between now and harvest to lycol the carpet and spino sad the areas linking both grow areas!!
thanks again KOKUA for the amazing thread, information and most of all your efforts and intellect...much K+++++... have a great weekend!!!

its great to hear you are seeing positive results!!

I would continue to spray...1x per week for 2 more applications.

It was pretty easy wasn't it? lol Spinosad rules!