Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
roselee_gw

Their baa-ack -- Chilli thrips

A couple the few roses that are left have shown the streaked and twisted buds that are characteristic of Chilli thrips infestation. I went ahead and removed them.

One was replaced by the giant red crinum that Barbra passed along. I'm eager to see how it does in the better location. The other rose was replaced with short red foliaged/red flowered canna and short yellow flowered canna from Lowes sale table. They look great in a pot surrounded with red and yellow flowered fruit cocktail shrimp.

I haven't seen reports of either cannas or crinums being affected by chilli thrips. Has anyone else? We shall see.

I have several young agaves generously passed along at plant swaps, and by friends, waiting in the wings to replace other plants that show chilli thrips damage.

YUCCAS: does anyone know (Mara, Joey?) if yuccas can be rooted in the summer? Will the trunk live if left tall? My neighbors have some that I can try rooting.

I'm thoroughly enjoying the changes. It took a long time, but I'm learning to embrace them. They are going to happen anyway so why not?

Anyone else seeing damage from chilli thrips? If so on what plants?

Here is a link that might be useful: Thread with chilli thrips information which I hope you will never need ...

Comments (6)

  • PKponder TX Z7B
    10 years ago

    I'm sorry to hear that Roselee. I am a huge fan of red/yellow/orange color combos and the grouping of the cannas and shrimp plants sound really pretty!

  • bossjim1
    10 years ago

    Roselee, I've been treating with a systemic drench, all the plants where chilli thrips were discovered last fall, on a regular and continuous schedule, and have not had a reocurrance. However, I did find them on the Giant yellow salvia that had not been treated. I pulled it up and disposed of it.
    Jim

  • carrie751
    10 years ago

    I am so sorry these "things" are invading your gardens. Sounds as if they are very difficult to rid yourselves of. Has anyone in North Texas seen any damage from them???

  • roselee z8b S.W. Texas
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Yes, they're back. (spelling correction).

    Pam, thanks. It was pretty inevitable that they'd show up with hot weather. But I'm really liking the things I'm replacing the susceptible plants with.

    Jim, thanks for telling us how you're dealing with them. The thing is I don't generally use chemical insecticides and besides I'm very sensitive to imidacloprid which is the active ingrediant in most systemic drenches as far as I know. The last two times I used it to drench some plants I was passing along I was very, very careful in mixing, using disposible rubber gloves, a mask and holding my breath, but somehow I still got it on my skin. Then the area it gets on tingles and feels numb for hours and my lungs feel quite uncomfortable when I didn't even smell it. It's strong stuff! -- for this body anyway.

    Carrie, chilli thrips have been reported in the Dallas area, but they are probably not as prevelant as they are down south. It would be interesting to hear if anyone if anyone in the area notices them. Three days of temps below 25 is supposed to do them in, but they could survive the winter in a greenhouse, or come in on plants purchased although I think growers are treating plants before offering them.. They're susceptible to spinosad which is considered an organic insectide, but they are developing resistance to it. I'm still hoping that a beneficial insect shows up eventually to keep them under control.

    Yesterday I noticed that new leaves of the pink polka dot plant, fire spike and root beer plants are curling. Not a good sign. It's recommended that new foliage showing damage be cut back and put in plastic bags instead of adding them to the compost pile.

    Chilli thrips are not the end of the world. We just have to try and control the outbreaks the best we can and not expect undamaged leaves and blooms on everything we grow.

  • greentiger87
    10 years ago

    I hate them with a passion.

    I too am very torn about imidacloprid. I have lots of bees in my garden, and I just can't bring myself to use it, or any other neonicotinoid. I'd actually much prefer if there was a nicotinoid that had low mammalian toxicity, but also decomposed extremely quickly and wasn't systemic - but that isn't a pesticide profile that chemical companies have any interest in developing.

    Spinosad works extremely well, but I don't like to use it more than twice a season for fear of creating resistance.

    Ivermectin/Abamectin is another option, but can be difficult for a home gardener to find.

    The real workhorse for me has been.. believe it or not.. insecticidal soap and horticultural oils. Regular gentle sprays onto just the new growth seems to totally control the problem, even on very susceptible roses. Once or week or so has been my schedule. Only spraying the new growth with just a handheld spray bottle has been a lot more realistic than going over everything with a large pump sprayer.

    If the success continues, I won't have to use spinosad at all this year.

  • roselee z8b S.W. Texas
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Greentiger, thanks for letting us know you're having success with insecticidal soap and horticultural oil. Is there a particular brand that combines them, or do you spray them separately at different times?.

0