What is a Thrip? I'm new to gardening and it sounds like this is something I need to keep off my roses!

I thought Bayer was used to improve disease resistance, how would it work against thrips?
Luxrosa

cindryn, the singular and plural are the same - "thrips". They are very small, thin insects and constitute an insect order of their own - Thysanoptera. There are predatory thrips, but the most notorious ones are all plant feeders and can be very serious pests on roses!

The pesty ones have a real fondness for feeding on petals. They drag their saw-shaped jaws across the petal surface, slicing open the petal in the process and then lapping up the oozing juices from the wound. The petal heals itself, but produces a brown scar.

While the feeding damage is small, once there are enough brown scars the petal no longer looks beautiful, but dingy. It also drops sooner and may not develop to full size, either. The damage one thrips causes isn't noticeable, but the damage hundreds of thrips cause is seriously so.

You can find them on virtually any garden flower. The damage caused is more noticeable on some flowers than others. Roses are among the worst that way. Thrips seem to be more attracted to light (or yellow) colored blossoms, but I'm not sure if that's true or if it's only that we notice the damage more quickly on light or yellow colored blossoms.

luxrosa, I meant the Bayer insect killer. I bought the concentrate this year since last year I used up about 10 of the pre-mixed bottles.

A friend recommended a systemic for thrips. Her rationale was that the thrips hide way down between the petals and sprays won't reach them. They systemic got rid of them and they never came back.

(For new gardeners: A systemic insecticide goes in through the roots and the poison gets into the sap. The insect die when they feed.)

mkrkmr, I have been using a systematic and was a week off :) did it today. Some of the roses are new and didn't get the systematic until today. I was able to spray any bloom that had even a slight opening. I don't see any new live thrips.

I seem to have them on one rose only - Yves Piaget. Such a big beautiful flower that never opens because of thrips. I guess I need to use the Bayer. Have tried to go without but it's ruining the show to have those buds look like they do.

FWIW, Dr. Cairns told us long ago that, with systemic insecticides administered through the roots, very little chemical reaches the new growth, where the buds are.
It would stand to reason then that the newer growth and developing buds might not have enough of the chemical present in the plant tissues to kill insects such as thrips.

Jeri Jennings

Buford, you need to spray the blooms that have not opened at all, so they can open. The thrips are in them and if they are not open, that is why. Spray every bud in your garden, or not at all.

I've never had a big infestation of thrips, but even if I did, I don't like to use sprays or insecticides. If the buds are closed, the thrips are already inside and pretty well protected. Most of the systemics are organophosphates that will kill good bugs. Bayer is imadicloprid, and I've read that it kills thrips on foliage, not flowers. I fight bugs in my garden by not overfertilizing (they love the tasty new growth that nitrogen encourages), spraying with water, and cutting off and disposing of infected blooms. I think most of the info in the California pest note would apply anywhere -
Anita

Here is a link that might be useful: Thrips Pest Note

Thank-you.
I had thrips last year Buford. I had no idea what to do with them, so I let them go. However we had such a dry winter and spring that I purposely let my soil dry out. Only to the point of not doing in the roses. I had noticed that the roses in the driest, hardest soil only feet from the thrippy roses did not get the thrips. So I'm hoping it worked! So far no thrips (I know I should not say this, it may do me in, lol)

Does one see adult thrips "run" back into the ground? I ask this because a new gardening friend has seen some creature destroy her roses in bud, then scamper back down into the ground. She claims the "creature" was an inch or so long. I have never heard of anything like that around here before. I said I would ask y'all about it! She is an organic gardener too, and does not want to break out the Bayer, but she would order nematodes if she knew what kind might work.

GGG

Thrips are so miniscule, it is hard to see them on the plant given their color but the brown damage is evidence of them and then you can open the bloom and see them as they appear the color of the damage or less. I hardly see how anyone could see them scampering except on a rose bloom itself.

The imadclorid (sp) did kill the thrips. I can still see them in some of the open blooms, but they are dead. I don't see how I can avoid new foliage and growth in the spring when I'm trying to get my roses to grow. I lost most of the spring flush last year to thrips because I waited. I'm hoping that by spraying now early on, I can limit how much I have to spray.

Pat, I did spray some of the closed buds, if I could see some color. Will the spray penetrate? Any bud that was slightly open on top, I've been able to spray inside the bloom and they seemed to open a lot more yesterday. It's going to be hot and dry this week, so I'll avoid watering to see if that helps.

Last year I had them on all my roses, even a dark red like Mr. Lincoln.

Does any dormant spray help with thrips? I haven't used dormant spray the last 2 years and maybe that will help next year?

Buford, please keep them down there.

Carla

Cemetery Rose Said:
Bayer is imadicloprid . . .

Yes, and -- just FYI -- it is also the active ingredient in Bayer Advantage for fleas.
And Bayer Advantage for fleas is contraindicated for individuals who may have seizure disorder, as it is a known trigger for seizures.

Some exhibitors, who don't wish to spray generally, will use a small hand sprayer to carefully JUST spray buds with Orthene or some other insecticide which will act systemically in that area. Thus they kill Thrips without wide dissemination of insecticide where it is not needed. If this is done early in the morning, before the bees are out and active, damage to the bee population can be minimized.

Jeri Jennings

Carla, I'm trying!

Jeri, I've been only spraying the buds with a small spray bottle. I don't do a cloud like spraying. I don't have any open flowers yet, so no bees are around.

Does one see adult thrips "run" back into the ground? I ask this because a new gardening friend has seen some creature destroy her roses in bud, then scamper back down into the ground. She claims the "creature" was an inch or so long. I have never heard of anything like that around here before.

That sounds to me like an earwig. Some people regard them as out & out pests, while others don't think they eat the flowers so much as hang out in them. They're often about 1" long and will drop to the ground looking for a hiding place if you disturb them.

You make it sound like so much fun, Pat!

okay so what is the least toxic way to get rid of thrips?

I don't know of any. I've thought about simply flushing the slightly open buds with water to flush them out. Or maybe use something like baking soda water on them.

When I was spraying my buds, there were no bees around. Now I have a lot of bees, so I will not spray. I've not notice the thrips still being here, but they may be.