In regard to my plants that had chilli thrips last year I'm just going to wait and see. So far the few roses I kept and other plants look okay, but I think chilli thrips become most active in hot weather.

There are a couple of insecticides that slow them down, but since they are lethal to bees and other beneficial insects I'm not going to use them. I'll just see how much chilli thrips damage I can stand. Maybe I'll get used to crinkled brown striped leaves :-) ... I dunno'. I always laugh when I remember Mike Shoup of Antique Rose Emporium suggesting that we look at black spotted rose leaves as decorative little polka dots!

The salvias had them so bad I removed the plants. Also gave away most of the roses. Chilli thrips were messing up the leaves on coral vine and the Texas smoke tree too, but I'm waiting to see how bad they look this year. My confederate jasmine plants don't appear to have them so far, nor do blue plumbagos even though they are subject to them as just about everything is. None on the orange trees yet. So just waiting and watching ....

Here is a link that might be useful: Chilli thrips thread for anybody that missed it ...

Roselee, thank you so much for the response. You are very knowledgeable about plants and their problems and willing to help others!
I too will wait and see what happens but I was worried if this infected plant will transmit the disease to other plants in our garden.
Thanks once again.

I've got thrips on roses too, not sure if they are chili thrips yet. Still researching. So frustrating!

ilovemy roses, how did you determine you have thrips on your roses?

The Houston Rose Society's article on chili thrips points out that the gardener at the Houston Garden Center sprays their roses every 2 weeks with insecticidal soap, and they don't have chili trips. I'm going to try that this year.

Someone on the citrus forum sprays rosemary oil in water, with a surfactant, for asian leaf miners. I'm going to try that for citrus, too, and will use it on some of my roses and see how that does.

You can use a systemic for chili thrips. I asked about this on the OGR forum last fall, and Malcolm Manners said that there isn't enough of the insecticide in the flowers to harm beneficial insects.

Eahamel, thank you for telling us about the Houston Rose Society's information on chilli thrips. Their page on the subject has a LOT of photos of what chilli thrip damage looks like.

It's interesting that soap spray seems to be working. But won't using insecticidal soap every two weeks kill a lot of beneficials too? I understand that when one is in charge of growing roses in a park or dedicated to growing roses in our own gardens, especially if exhibitors, we'll use any means possible to get good results.

But the problem to be most concerned about is what effect chilli thrips will have on our food crops. I just hope some beneficial insects will turn up to control chilli thrips. There must be beneficials that control them in Asia where they come from. But getting them established here will be the problem, especially when food crops are sprayed.

Just some thoughts. Thanks again. I really appreciate the information.

(I shortened this post.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Houston Rose Society's on going page on chilli thrips

This post was edited by roselee on Fri, Mar 22, 13 at 0:26

Ilovemyroses, I saw your post with pictures on the rose forum about problems with your roses so you don't have to answer my question here. Hope you fine some resolutions. I know the feeling. I did everything right with my roses too and they rewarded me for many years, but it was a lot of work and then when chilli thrips appeared ... oh well. You know the story.

Chili thrips are a real problem, aren't they? I learned about them here last fall, and actually saw them in my yard for the first time after that.

I don't know what effect insecticidal soap would have on beneficials, especially if used in the evening after most supposedly have left.

FYI, the Hermann Garden Center and ground are being totally wiped out because they're going to build a new building and redo the grounds. There won't be any more plant society meetings in that old building, and all plantings are to be removed. Sad. But they do need a new building, no doubt about that.

Yes chilli thrips may be a real problem on many levels. It will be interesting to see how it plays out the next few years.

BTW, I am not convinced that imidacloprid does not transfer to flowers and is not toxic to bees and butterflies, etc..

"As a systemic pesticide, imidacloprid translocates or moves readily in the xylem of plants from the soil into the leaves, fruit, flowers, pollen, nectar, and guttation fluid of plants. Bees may be exposed to imidacloprid when they feed on the nectar, pollen, and guttation fluid of imidacloprid-treated plants.

"Experts believe there are many possible causes of bee decline, including imidacloprid, and a recent bee malady termed colony collapse disorder (CCD). In 2011."

Years ago I applied imidacloprid to daylilies that were covered with aphids. Weeks later I read about using daylily buds in salads. Wondering what they tasted like I popped one in my mouth. Yuk -- strong insecticide taste!!! I spit it out quick, but my tongue held the horrible taste for some time. At that point I decided not to use systemics anymore ... LOL.

Later I stopped spraying insecticides on plants. After a couple of years of going chemical free I was really surprised how little insect damage the plants experienced by letting nature balance itself with good bugs taking care of bad bugs, hand picking, beneficial nematoes, and other non toxic remedies. Unfortunately, that may not happen for awhile with chilli thrips. So in the meantime we just do the best we can.

Here is a link that might be useful: About imidacloprid ...

I wondered about the bees while reading up on how neem oil works. It causes the targeted insect to 'forget' to eat and breed.

Colony collapse disorder could be a form of forgetfulness, no?

Pam, that's right. It's thought that even in small amounts the insecticides that bees encounter on their forages build up and cause confusion and forgetfulness. It makes you wonder if it does the same to us.