I have had success with the Ortho Insecticidal Soap spray as soon as I see them,but have never had a real severe case before.I sprayed some last night.
Betsy

I just sprayed some myself last night! I had the creepy crawlies and itched like mad all night - I thought I was going to go insane!!!

I saw one on my rose bush and picked it off, not realizing that there were somewhere close to a trillion little green thrips all over this poor plant. I sprayed the Ortho Insectical Soap like mad and when I went out and checked it this afternoon there were only a few thrips on it.

The bad thing about the soap is that it's only effective when sprayed on the insect - it doesn't prevent further infestation. At least that's how I read it.

I'm itching now that I've started thinking about it again. Ugh!

Good luck.

Thrips, as far as i'm concerned, are a burrowing insect. They get inside the plant. It requires a systemic insecticide, and you have to spray every ten days 4 or 5 times. It works but is a pain in the butt.

I read a few years ago that you can take a yellow plastic cup and coat it with vaseline, then put it on a stick in the garden. Change it every day and it will reduce, but not control, the infestation. They like the color yellow.

You can just wait them out and they do get better. If you do not use any chemicals then other pests help control them.

Wade,
I've got legions of the little buggers this year. I've sprayed with insecticidal soap and pyola, but they're still going strong. The ladybugs are here, but there are not enough of them to take care of the problem. What kind of systemic would you recommend? I've never used one before but I'm sick of the aphids and thrips I had this year.

Debra

Yes, tell us the name of the systemic stuff, Please. I can't even walk out on my porch, they are swarming and biteing. They are even stuck to my screen door!

I've used the Bayer 6-week systematic in the past and it worked very quickly and lasted thru the entire bloom season. I'm not using it anymore and have been trying to find another way. Guess I'll go look for some yellow cups...

Wildflower,
If it worked very well, why are you trying to find another way? Did it kill the beneficials too?

Debra

I haven't sprayed in quite a few years. Back when I did, I used Orthenex. I'm not sure what to use now...I think it has all changed. I bet you can go to Home Depot and read the labels and find something.

Since I moved back to the city from the boonies, I don't have much of an insect problem. I still have some thrips, but they seem to not bother the established plants. The reds do have their bad days though.

One time I had a visitor rant and rave over my flowers and then in the end, chose a Madly Red bloom that was destroyed by thrips as her pick of the day. The mottled look has its benefits at times.

I had the UGLIEST Lavender vista bloom open this morning, all deformed and funky! And I had stellas open yesterday that were a pile of mush by the end of the day. Its like a trillion little flower vampires are out there draining the life out of my plants! I can't take this, ill spray the whole community if I have to. I was wearing a pink t-shirt yesterday and walked outside to get my son off of the bus, and they attacked me, I had them all over me, my skin was crawling. I have never seen it this bad before, I hope they go away soon!! Like now!! Im going to go to Home depot today and see what they have, hopefully something will work. -Jessica

Debra, I'm sure it kills everything in it's path...I just don't like using any type of insecticide but have made an exception and used the Bayer the last couple of years on the daylilies only. There was a post here earlier about it killing earthworms (with the Bayer I have you mix with water and pour around the base of the plant). I've decided to either just live with thrips or find something that targets thrips only and lets everything else live.

Some of the descriptions of the insects behavior mentioned in this thread, leads me to believe it's not thrips at all that you have. "I was wearing a pink t-shirt yesterday and walked outside to get my son off of the bus, and they attacked me, I had them all over me," "I can't even walk out on my porch, they are swarming and biteing. They are even stuck to my screen door!"
I've never seen thrips or aphids for that matter that flew and attached people. As Wade stated thrips are normally a burrowing insect and affect the buds of dl's making them appear to have bumps, then when the bloom opens it's deformed and mottled in color. I think some of you are talking about aphids, and Jessica, I have no idea what you're talking about unless it's the tiny biting insect we refer t as "no-seeums". Now those little buggers will attack you and they have a big bite, although they are hard to see. Anyone else have any ideas on this subject?
Jan

This is what they look like, but of course very tiny smaller than an eighth of an inch. But some of them had wings and were flying around everywhere. They are not so bad today for some reason. I was like the terminator out there last night with the spray bottle! Heres the pic-
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The ones that are here, are this color and not black or brown. I know that there are different species of thrips, but don't know what species these ones are. Hope the pic helps Jan. -Jessica

Thrips are tiny...less than 1/16th of an inch. They can be seen crawling on flowers. Sometimes when I collect pollen a few will crawl around on my kitchen counter.

Other than on blooms during bloom season, I never see them at all. If you are planning on spraying for thrips, you may want to hit them again three times prior to Winter to keep down the carry-over for Spring. Then start again when they start growing. This may eliminate the damage for next year.

I read that thrips hate garlic and to plant it among your daylilies.Might help.

how the heck did you get such a good close-up??? He would make a good pet. Kinda looks harmless...I was expecting a barracuda look.

I did a search and found the pic. The ones around here look like that but tiny. There are pics of what they look like to us, and close ups. I know some thirps are beneficial and eat the thirps that we know and hate. Other bugs that eat them are the Minute pirate bug, and predaceous mites. I think I read that the ones with wings are males and they swarm during mating. I also read that when they land on your skin that they "taste" you to see if you are a plant. This causes a red bump or rash. I wish I had a camera that could get a close up like that! Hope this helps anyone else with this problem. They are thank goodness not that bad today, but they are still on my poor Stella.