Bug ID help!

[skillz]

Noticed some leaf damage and a few of these guys ... I've sprayed them down a few times with neem oil but have no idea what I'm fighting against...

Any pointers? these look almost brown with the naked eye, but I did spot some that were more green (perhaps smaller/younger)...

some of the leaves are showing white blemishes/damage

this is in my mother/veg tent - let me know how you'd suggest I proceed

 

[Creeperpark]

Looks like thrips. Shake a leaf over a sheet of white paper and catch a few. If they are long, shaped like a small grain of rice, they're thrips! They come in a few different colors, but usually brown, gray or yellow.

 

[44:86N]

THRIP

 

[44:86N]

That's an immature one. Get on top of that shit asap!

I do like the neem product "Triact 70" for suppression.

Acetamiprid is a shorter acting neonicotinoid that is labeled for use in Europe (most of them are not). "Tristar" is a systemic insecticide containing this chemical. Please don't use outside!!!

Safest bet will be "Azatin-O" or another similar product using azadirachtin, which is an insect growth regulator. If you use this weekly, with discipline, it works.

Miss a week, and start all over again.

It's also labeled OMRI. Good stuff, as it gets a whole range of pests including all specie of mites.

Good luck!

 

[44:86N]

This is a great pic, btw. A textbook example of an immature Western Flower Thrip.

 

[buzzmobile]

Spinosad is an inexpensive effective organic treatment against thrips.
https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu.../hortupdate_archives/2004/mar04/Spinosad.html

 

[skillz]

thanks for all the swift replies ... seems like a lot of the pest ID threads I was looking at didn't mention thrips..

the good news is I've already been hitting them with neem for about a week (every other day), and I've found products locally that contain all of the mentioned substances (Spinosad, azadirachtin) - in fact, most of the local neem products I've found contain azadirachtin...

I've read that it's normal to still see thrips after spraying with neem oil, as the thrips aren't killed but will stop eating and won't be able to lay eggs on the sprayed plants... so I guess it's normal that I'm still seeing a few of them after about 3 sprays in the last week?

 

[44:86N]

I've read that it's normal to still see thrips after spraying with neem oil, as the thrips aren't killed but will stop eating and won't be able to lay eggs on the sprayed plants... so I guess it's normal that I'm still seeing a few of them after about 3 sprays in the last week?

As long as they keep looking like the one you showed a pic of -- immature. They do develop wings as an adult, just search images adult Western Flower Thrip. They should not make it to adult stage. The life cycle is fairly quick, and includes pupa stage in the soil.

If spraying, and you can't get control, use two different products 3 or 4 days apart, similar to a mite infestation.

If these are stock plants, consider using beneficial nematodes to eat the thrip pupae. Just search that. There are plenty of suppliers. I don't have any experience with that stuff, but I am going to look into these and other beneficial insects, and plan on trialing these over the summer.

 

[44:86N]

Be sure your label says you can spray that frequently, every 3 or 4 days. The stuff I use is once every 7 days.

 

[skillz]

after more research I believe that I've been hosting these fuckers for several months, just keeping them at bay with Neem oil but never fully getting rid of them - until today (perhaps)... I had noticed the leaf damage in the past but chose to ignore it as it looked quite minor (facepalm), I had never spotted any of them with my x45 magnifier - when I started slacking on my regular neem spray I guess the population started to make it's presence known... Found lots of threads that said nothing worked until they tried spinosad...

Today I got some spinosad and sprayed them down at lights out - I read to treat a second time after 2-3 days to get the next generation and that should finish 'em off for good ... lights just came on, and I spent 20 minutes scoping leaves without finding any sign of 'em...

 

[GoatCheese]

You may have to keep spraying them for 2 -3 weeks to make sure you killed them all. Don’t stop spraying too soon, make sure you got every last one of them before you stop spraying or they will come back. It’s better to spray one or two weeks too long than to stop spraying too early so that they can make a come back.

Yea, neem won’t kill them but will apparently mess with their hormonal system and so will also affect their ability to build a tolerance to bug sprays (spinosad, pyrethrins etc.).If you use only one product on them they can build a tolerance to it evenually .

When i battled thrips some months ago i got rid of them with spinosad, pyrethrins and neem oil-soap.; every other spraying was made with neem oil and i altered with spinosad and natural pyrethrins weekly; This week it's spinosad and neem - next week it 's pyrethrins and neem - and then next week back to spinosad and neem and so on..

 

[buzzmobile]

Consider sticky traps to monitor the thrip population. Blue traps are specific to thrips and leafminers but yellow ones will also work. Yellow cards will trap white flies and fungus gnats.

https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Sticky-Trap-Thrips-Leafminer/dp/B00IPRU4BA

 

[skillz]

You may have to keep spraying them for 2 -3 weeks to make sure you killed them all. Don’t stop spraying too soon, make sure you got every last one of them before you stop spraying or they will come back. It’s better to spray one or two weeks too long than to stop spraying too early so that they can make a come back.

Yea, neem won’t kill them but will apparently mess with their hormonal system and so will also affect their ability to build a tolerance to bug sprays (spinosad, pyrethrins etc.).If you use only one product on them they can build a tolerance to it evenually .

When i battled thrips some months ago i got rid of them with spinosad, pyrethrins and neem oil-soap.; every other spraying was made with neem oil and i altered with spinosad and natural pyrethrins weekly; This week it's spinosad and neem - next week it 's pyrethrins and neem - and then next week back to spinosad and neem and so on..

Ya - I'll be looking to improve my IPM - both in frequency and my arsenal... I found the Spinosad at a local gardening shop and will need to do more research but they had a LOT of other organic options, including pyrethrins, azadirachtin, which was mentioned by someone else above...



I'm still not 100% that my flower tent doesn't have any as well - but haven't been able to spot one, and can't see any leaf damage - where on a flowering plant am I most likely to find them? My flower tent has stronger air circulation and the intake can be quite cool between 64 - 68 during lights off... not sure if this makes it a less prone target for them...

 

[GoatCheese]

If they’re on your flowering plants you should see damaged leaves like on your veg plants.
If they’re not in your bloom tent and you want to keep it that way than i suggest you start vacuum cleaning your place quite often as you keep spraying the veg plants heavily.

 

[skillz]

fortunately the tents are in separate rooms... and each plant going in (normally) gets a spray before going in at least another one spray before before buds form...

I've had yellow traps in my veg tent but they only caught a few gnats,,, no thrips... i'll try to find blue ones and add to flower tent as well.... i had them in a few runs ago and didn't every get more than one gnat (possibly fruit fly... flower tent is in my kitchen)