Sorry, somehow I posted this twice.

I don't know if this works in your zone but I had good results by putting out small rami kind with oil and soy sauce. It was amazing how many that trapped.

I have a hard time using that method now because my dog wants to go around and lap it all up but it sure worked for me in zone 8.

Personally for me with the investment of money and time that I have in my roses if I need to spray for thrips I'm going to spray for thrips I'm not going to let them ruin my investment. However I try to go organic first and if that doesn't work I go with the big guns.

I Know how discouraging it is when you put in so much time and effort and then some Critter or fungus or bug decides to take on your new rose.

Good luck

I only see one post . Do the blue cups work for you? I usually get thrips early in the spring then these guys show up and hang out in the rose blossoms and thrips totally disappear. Spraying never did much good for me so I quit totally. These guys started showing up in droves about a year later and now they eat up all the bugs. The bad thing is they will eat good bugs too but they are so darn cute that I forgive them lol.

Awww honey, I understand. My garden was filled with them, too during the first spring flush this year. It was/is so disheartening. I had to really get my brain around the issue, and I've come to a place I can live with. I hope something I say helps...

First, I realize that thrips are attracted to roses. If I have roses, it's likely I'll have thrips. It's going to be something I have to put up with. I don't like it one bit, but it's reality.

I don't want to kill any beneficial insects so I've decided not to treat anything with pesticides. IMO, I don't think spraying or laying down chemicals controls the issue enough (I sprayed some last year). But, I think I must be wrong because I've been to large gardens like the Portland International Test Garden with thousands of roses and I never noticed any infestation. I'm so curious as to what they may do to prevent infestations (does anyone know???).

Ok, back to your questions. So far, in my garden many roses are damaged, but many don't show very much damage. I see them swirling around on visually undamaged roses (little *$&#tards), but some roses just really don't show damage or they have enough petals that when the bloom opens the brown is on the underside of the bloom. I also wonder if temperature swings, rain and intense sun didn't play a role in the brown damage.

I've also put up many blue cup/tape traps and have caught thousands and thousands of them. I also aggressively deadhead and bag all blooms. The first big flush is winding down and there seem to be less thrips. I don't know if they're nesting and getting ready for a population boom, but again, not much I can do about it.

Lastly, I get a fair number of mostly unblemished roses which are a joy, and I've decided to really appreciate them and try (oh, I try) not to be upset about the ugly-looking roses.

What do you think you'll do?

Do you have the cilli thrips teka2rjleffel???

Thanks everyone for the encouragement. I do use the blue plastic cups and they do catch a lot, but not enough to make a dent. They weren't bad last year, but are much worse this year. Sultry, I agree, spraying didn't work for me in FL. I haven't tried here. We have lots of lizards here too.

Jim, no chili thrips here, for which I'm grateful.

The OP asked an interesting question about certain roses possessing resistance to thrips.

Last late spring, I planted a single, new, containerized Peach Drift in a midge minefield. The definition of a bloom machine all season long. Zero shoot damage all of 2016, despite severe affliction of all of its garden mates.

Was it persistent activity of a chemical preventive Rx administered at the grower's site? I don't know - it came from Ivy Acres' West Grove (formerly C-P) production facilities.

Or was it natural resistance to midge? Or do all newly planted roses enjoy a honeymoon period?

I don't see many discussions about rose resistance to insect damage.

Those are good thoughts. My drift roses are a couple of year's old and are thrip free too, even though they are surrounded by heavily infested roses. I'd love to hear of others that might have some natural resistance.

do you have more than just roses in your garden, or does your garden consist mostly of rose beds? I find that roses grown among perennials and other plants tend to get less pests and disease than if they are grown alone in a mono-culture of just roses. https://southfloridarose.com/2017/04/26/ladybugs-monocultures-and-biodiversity/

Hate to say this but I have found that new roses pretty much get a one year pass with midge. Unless they come with midge already on them.

I agree SoFl Rose. I used to have all roses but not anymore. I have lots of herbs and other plants that are supposed to attract beneficials. I have seen lacewings, pirate bugs and lady bugs, but so far, not enough help from them. This is one of the beds, not terribly established yet, just planted last year at this time:

I have lots of roses that never have thrips damage, but we don't get them as badly as some of you do, judging from your descriptions. It would be easier for me to mention the roses that seem to attract thrips the most around here, rather than the seemingly resistant ones. Thrips magnets are: Frederic Mistral, Evelyn, Colette, Caramel Antique, and to a lesser degree Augusta Luise and Munstead Wood. Julia Child (I have three) is always thrips free. Pink Austins that do not attract thrips are Eglantyne, Boscobel, Princess Alexandra of Kent, so far Olivia Rose Austin, Brother Cadfael. Other Austin non attractors are Jude the Obscure, Golden Celebration, Young Lycidas, and The Prince. There are many others that don't attract thrips. Do you have a specific one you are curious about? Diane

teka, what a transformation! So pretty. Clever you. Trish

Diane, both my Boscobel and Olivia Rose Austin are new, both a mess. I have 33 different roses (some of those I have multiples of). Of those, 24 have serious damage. Another 5 haven't flowered yet. So only Lovely Fairy, Scarborough Fair, Pink Drift and Julia Child are clean. I don't see a connection with those 4 in flower form or color or type. The soil was very well amended red clay and most plants seem to be thriving. But so are the thrips. I wish I had the same percentage of clean ones that you have.

Trish, thanks for your kind words. That picture was a month ago. Not many roses in bloom, a few had buds but it's not obvious in the picture.

Nancy

Your new bed looks amazing. I can't help you with the thrips, unfortunately. I only remember seeing them last year. I think all my roses got them to some degree, it's just that any damage was less noticeable on the darker ones such as Munstead Wood and Dark Desire.

They do say some roses its harder for thrips to invade...

Our population of flower thrips is low so the blue cups coated in canola oil control them...Not sure what to do with large populations of thrips...???

Thank you Vaporvac. It's been a labor of love.

Jim, you're lucky. I've been trying to understand if they are easier to control on loose type roses, such as singles or just a few petals or if it is actually harder for them to invade roses with lots of petals. Since so few of mine are clean I can't see a pattern.

Nancy

The only thing that works for me is Orthene. Yes, it's a chemical. What I do is remove all the damaged buds and blooms and put them in a plastic bag, seal it and throw it out. Do not compost! Get rid of some of the population right away. Then I spray any unopened buds with Orthene. Most beneficials are not going to show up on unopened buds. If I have to I repeat in a few weeks. I had thrips early this year, in April and I sprayed. I just noticed them back last week so I sprayed again. This is a particularly bad year.

Thank you BenT and Buford. Where do you buy these two products? Also do you water well before spraying either of these products?

I buy Monterrey Garden Insect Spray with Spinosad from Amazon.com, it's cheaper there than my local nursery. Orthene is carried by Home Depot. I have used both, but especially for thrips, I find Spinosad extraordinary effective, and it is also far less toxic. Mist the buds and newly open blooms, that's where the thrips are, no need to spray the whole plant. And cut and dispose of blooms that are already full of thrips. Yes, I like my plants well hydrated before applying chemicals in general.

I think it might have to do with the buds teka2rjleffel...

Rose cultivars, with sepals that remain tightly wrapped around the bud until just before blooms open, have fewer thrips problems.

About thrips...What I do is use a good Horticultural Oil such as All Season Dormant oil as my roses start to come out of dormancy then again before the buds enlarge to bigger than green color...This has worked every year for me including against aphids and has never harmed a good bug for me..You should try that next year before the buds open...))

You can get orthene from http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/

Are we talking about regular flower thrips or chili thrips?

MIne are regular ones. I had the chili thrips in FL and they were even more discouraging. Thanks for the info. Jim, Mikerno and Buford.

I would try Conserv SC It's the only thing that works for me. It's actually Spinosad, but a concentrated variety that makes it more expensive at first, but much more economical in the long run.

I put my 60 blue cups out yesterday. Thrips are about 2 weeks earlier this year in my garden. Today I debated on whether on not to spray with Orthene. If I use the Orthene then I will have a spidermite problem and I decided not to spray. Tomorrow is another story.