Debra, I don't think most sprays are going to keep them for four weeks this year. I have sprayed several times, and will be spraying more.

kay

As you probably know light colored roses in particular suffer from Thrips, so it is a constant battle for concerned Rosarians. There is a post on the rose forum regarding a new product called Naturalis L that is very encouraging. Naturalis L, so they say, does not harm beneficials either. I can't recommend it of course as I haven't tried it, but the poster on the rose forum has had excellent results with it. I have included the web site for Rosmania who carries this product. You may be interested in it. Also I assume you've heard about the Chili Thrips invasion. They eat not only the blooms but the foliage as well. I would think you are too far north for them, but you may want to check it out on google. Hope this helps....Maryl

Here is a link that might be useful: Naturalis L

Kay - I usually spray with Spinosad every other day, but I was out and had to order it on the Internet. Locally I bought the other product, hoping it would the bugs at bay for at least four or five days.

Debra

I have never seen thrips so big one could actually notice them. Always some bugs want to chew on our gardens!

My Spacecoast Surprise Purple has thripes on it every year. I think I'm going to move it and see if that helps. Out the row from it is Making Whoopee. It is a dark red one and it looks awful so far even though I have sprayed. Sarah
Sarah

Maryl - Thanks for the information about the Chilli thrips. That definitely could be what I'm seeing. They are more than twice the length of regular thrips. I have had damaged foliage on a couple of plants. Since I bought several new cultivars from Florida, I wonder if I have imported these awful Chilli thrips. The Naturalis sounds like a good product, but I'm not sure I want to spend $99 on it. I'm going to try spraying Spinosad regulary to see if I can get these thrips under control. It has worked well in the past. But you do have to spray just about every day.

Debra

Rita - You are lucky you haven't actually seen the little critters. With really bad infestations, I see them crawling on buds and on blooms. It seems the hotter it is, the worst the thrips are.

Debra

Well, I do have to spray. Years ago when I didn't have so many daylilies I didn't have to spray. But now I have so many daylilies I do have to spray for thrips or the blooms get ruined.

I decided to look up thrips in my book about greenhouse pests and beneficials. It seems they reproduce both sexually and asexually. There are 5 instar stages, egg,2 larva stages, prepupal, pupal and adult. The hotter the temperatures, the faster they go from egg to adult. Apparently thrips are really attracted to blue so some greenhouse growers hang blue sticky cards. I was wondering if you could paint stakes blue, smear with vaseline and catch them that way? The blue stakes might not look to bad with daylilies either. Think that would work? I read on the robin that one lady plants white allyssum to attract beneficials that eat the thrips. She says it worked for her. 'The most beneficial spray they have that shows promise is Metarhizium anisopliae, an entomopathogenic fungi. When the spores land on the thrips, they break through to the inside using enzymes and mechanical force. The insect dies within a few days.' Marg