careful not to "bust" the good guys with the bad

Sammy, I can just imagine your neighbors watching you vacuum your garden. "Marge, Sammy's gone off the deep end. Out there Hoovering the dirt."
Renee

Sammy I am in favor of anything that gets rid of the thrips. I now have them 11 months of the year. Let me know if it works.
Nancy

We all know how thrips can just ruin the looks of a rose bush. Since I don't want to spray, there are no good answers for getting rid of them.

Now I have begun growing tomatoes, and the squash bugs put pin holes all through them. (I think they are squash bugs). Cucumber beetles, I could catch them in flight. I intend to put some Borax in the bag, and I think that would work well for me, and still the tomatoes will not have been touched by a chemical. That means that when I want a tomato, I pick off the cherry ones and eat them as I work in the garden. What a thrill.

A member of the Oklahoma Forum said that some Organic companies or gardening companies sell dirt devils or dust busters that were for that purpose. I cannot find them.

Trying to catch a cucumber beetle in flight is so aggravating. They slip away, and light on my roses again.

Hosenemesis, my neighbors understand me. I know they are laughing, but they are very nice.

greybird, that will be a problem, but with the number of squash bugs that I am getting, there may not be too many good bugs.

Oh, Nancy. Every so often when I wish I were living in Florida, I realize that Oklahoma may have a few advantages. I'll let you know if it works.

Sammy

I would think if the Dustbuster is strong enough to vacuum up bugs, it would be strong enough to grab rose petals, tomato blossoms, and things you don't want vacuumed. Sounds like too much work to me unless the nozzle is so very tiny that you can specifically target just the bugs, and then it would be a never-ending job. The cucumber beetles are take over when the JBs leave, but I don't notice any damage.

I want to try the blue sticky traps for thrips. I saw them in a catalog. you can hang or post them around the garden, worth a shot.

thrip traps

Trouble is, when thrips are on, the supply of them is, for practical purposes, infinite. They fly into the roses from a multitude of host plants.

If you have much trouble with cucumber beetles, it's possible a vacuum might be an effective way to catch them. Hand-picking them isn't easy, for me.

We have a small vacuum that was in the attic. I am going to try it with the cucumber beetles and the squash bugs. I think if I get it close enough to the roses, it might work.

Michael or anyone else, do you know what the host flowers are for the thrips before they attack the roses?

Sammy

Sammy, I noodled around on Amazon and didn't find a unit that physically should do the trick, but didn't have a lot of time.

Imho, I would not get a DustBuster because you're stuck with the wide mouth opening. What would work better, would be a small portable with a shoulder strap that you could hook a hose to (also easier to wave than a DB). The hose end might be fine as is, but an attachment like you have on the vacuum at home that provides an adjustable side opening on the nozzle would also give you adjustable flow. You might also experiment around with the little, micro attachment kits that they sell for computers. Adjustable flow and a small array of nozzle ends might be just the ticket for a variety of flower and leaf structures and sturdiness. Cordless would be a plus.

We recently had another gnat infestation mostly in the kitchen area of the house, probably attracted to some apples that I had laying on the counter. A superior method to get the little suckers than swatting, is to use the vacuum with tubing attached to the hose end. AND, the best technique to get the them before they fly off when they notice the motion of the tubing is to put the end to about 4" of where they have landed, steady the tube, then in one motion quickly bring the end of the tubing toward them. I'm not unsteady, but it seems that they notice the tube end more if you do it all in one motion AND you are now close enough for them to be in the updraft if they try to fly off. In our case, they seemed to be around more in the morning and especially around when it's time to make dinner. After you pick up a dozen or so, you'll find the whole experience very satisfying ;-)

After y'all pick yourselves up off of the floor laughing at this picture, I dare you to try it ;-) Many of you may know how long these things plagues last, especially when you see the 'big fat' ones become lots of little tiny ones. Each day you'll notice a lot fewer and all without spraying. The DH laughed too, but now they're all gone again.

The one we found in the attic is Black and Decker, and it does have an attachment. It is not operated by a battery, and does not have a strap, but it will give me a chance to see if that works.

Have you ever tried fly paper for gnats? We used to get them from time to time, and I would use the fly paper almost like what you described. I would by the fly traps (paper) that comes in sheets, and swoop it down, not touching the fruit. It would take a few days, but would work well.

Sammy

Sammy,

Reproductive hosts for thrips are too numerous to mention. Clover is one. They are found in meadows and many field crops as well as yards and gardens. In my garden I see thrips on daylily and daisy flowers. There are immature thrips (wingless nymphs) on the foliage of roses and many other plants. When they develop wings they fly to light-colored objects.

Fortunately they usually aren't bad for most of the season around my place, which is mostly woods. I just ignore them nowadays.

Sammy, I've hauled a shop vac around the yard hooked to one of those long orange extension cords during a summer deluge of japanese beetles. JB's are pretty slow moving, so not that hard to vacuum them off the roses.

Hey, I've vacuumed those gnats around bananas in the kitchen too. It's fun to see how many you can suck up at one time with the vacuum hose.

I think the blue sticky paper for thrips is worth a try too. Good luck with your dust buster, Sammy. Gean

Yes, you can do the sticky tape but DH thinks it's unsightly and I can't disagree when we're talking in the kitchen. In any case, vacuuming is better because it is a) more proactive in catching them and therefore reducing reproduction cycles and b) more fun ;-)