You must have some super thrips. I have 3 Traviata's and none have thrip problems. One thing the blooms do seem to be prone to is blight (or something like it). The effects of the fungus does mimic thrip damage. If you pull the petals apart, do you actually see the little critters?

Actually, I haven't had much thrip damage the last couple years, maybe it takes time for their predators to catch up. Also, I don't use insecticides except to target the japanese beetles and try just to spray the beetles and not the rose itself.

I have never seen a thrip. I've pulled apart blooms, shook them over white paper etc. but there is definite damage from the regular thrips and chilli thrips. I spray weekly with fungicide but I'll do some research on it. Thanks

I had thrips several months ago, on the roses also the hibiscus... I sprayed with Bayer 3 in 1, and then followed up with Rose Pride, and they seemed to be gone, I have not seen any since... and you can see the damage, the hibiscus drops the buds and doesn't bloom, also the roses, even the Knock-outs got the buggers pretty bad, so I now watch pretty close.... sally

teka2, I had thrips all spring. They were less and less after May and pretty much ended at the end of June. Duchesse de Brabant had them the longest. If you look down at the base of the flower, you can definitely see the teensy bugs crawling around. I'm told that hot weather is the end of them.

Some of my dark roses had them, too. I didn't see much if any damage on Bermuda's Anna Olivier, Arcadia Louisiana Tea, Hermosa, Maman Cochet (bush), Gen Schablikine, SDLM, Mme Caroline Testout, Carnation, City Girl, Marie Nabonnand, Mme Abel Chatenay, Mme Antoine Mari & Mme Antoine Rebe.

Even Louis Philippe, Monsieur Tillier & Mrs B R Cant had them. Clotilde Soupert and Jean Bach Sisley had less. It seemed like my backyard had them way worse than my front yard.

The thrip magnets were Duchesse de Brabant, Reve d'Or and Maman Cochet Climbing (they ended on MCC before the other two). I forget if Rosette Delizy was really bad. I think so.

I hope they're not coming back here until spring - or never!

Sherry

Despite the thought that they prefer light roses,some of my dark roses are the worst, Traviata and Don Juan are just plain ugly with thrip damage.

I have long, long, long wondered whether this oft-heard/read assertion has ever been carefully tested (scientifically in a controlled experiment), or whether it's simply something we believe & always tell each other because on the pale roses it's far more easy to see the damage they do to the petals.

In addition, there are many species of thrips (not all of which are pests). They constitute an entire insect order (just as the whales-porpoises-dolphins, primates, & rodents are three of the mammal orders). So it could be that in one part of the country you face one set of thrips pests that feed more on pale-flowered roses, but in another part of the country you face a different set of thrips pests that may include a species that loves certain dark red roses.

(For instance, here in the Boston area I do not have to deal with chili thrips. There are other pests I contend with, including winter moth, but as of now I don't have to think about chili thrips.)

You must have some super thrips.

There are several thrips pest species that function best (& so cause the most damage) when the weather is "nice" or "warm" (as compared to cool, cold, or "hot"). For instance, a particular, and relatively recent, thrips pest in Florida, southern Georgia & southern Texas is chilli thrips (Scirtothrips dorsalis). That thrips is a tropical/semi-tropical thrips that probably will remain in "The South", perhaps even only the Deep South, as well as the southern West Coast (if it gets there). If you search these rose forums using "Chilli Thrips", I'm sure you'll find lots of posts where this pest has been sworn at by Florida rosarians!

The common flower thrips, though tiny, are definitely visible to the naked eye, whereas chilli thrips, I am told, are not. However, chilli thrips do a distinctive pattern of damage to the young foliage. When I gardened in Florida, we had a little trouble with flower thrips during the spring flush only. It is the same here.