Kentucky_rose, do you have a close up pic of a thrip damaged rose? How can you differentiate a thrip damaged rose from balling? I have a lot of brown edges on some of my rose petals - esp. the light colored ones. We have been having a lot of rain and damp weather and I thought that these roses were affected by balling. But maybe it was thrips?

Karen, I can see the thrips in the rose.

Karen, here is another picture with thrips.

Many thanks for the above pics, kentucky_rose. I went out to check my Bolero this morning and lo and behold I saw little critters nesting among the petals - exactly like what your pics depicted above. I have no idea that my roses have been suffering from thrips. I have brewed some tobacco tea. I will spray the rose buds this evening. A very nice gardener on here gave me the advice to use tobacco tea for Japanese beetles and it works on thrips too. Thank you again for helping me to diagnose the problem.

Karen, I would love the recipe and had never heard about tobacco tea.

It's been awhile. Give me sometime to find this member's message to me that has the formula that uses a cigar. As for me, I did not follow her formula exactly because my husband has some dry tobacco leafs that he no longer uses. I put 1 cup of tobacco leafs into a gallon bucket. I fill it up to 3/4 full. I let it brew for about a week in the sun. It will evaporate some to about 1/2. Then I strain it and put the liquid into a spray bottle. I use it in the evening to avoid harming the bees.

Karen, thanks. You don't put a lid on the bucket I assume since it evaporates a lot? I like this. Wow.

Well, I just applied the tea to all the buds on my light colored roses. I will let you know how effective it is in a few days when the buds open.

I did this batch of tea just recently so the weather had been cool and cloudy. So there was not much evaporation. You check the level everyday and if it is lower than half then you need to fill it up to 3/4 bucket.

Hi! Just want to update you on my thrips problem with the tea spray. It worked! I have seen significant improvement with the buds that were sprayed three days ago. They opened clean or with very slight damage. The tea is really stinky but the odor does not affect the roses. The roses when opened still smell heavenly.

Also I got permission from Vaporvac to share her formula. Here it is:

"I just bought a cheap cigar and soaked 1/2 of it in the sun for a couple
of hours. Less would probably work or maybe use hot water. In the "old
days" they would leave it for a few days! It will turn the colour of
tea. Then strain it well. I used a fine sieve with cheesecloth on the
outside for the finer bits. I grated the soap and added boiling water to
it, mixed it with the tobacco and diluted it to a weak tea colour. Then
I applied it using an old spray Windex bottle.
I only sprayed the
buds of my roses and it was surprisingly effective. I did that as a test
and it must enter the minute holes they make. One bud opened that
looked eaten, but continued opening and looked great, so I guess it
kills them inside the bud as well as preventing them from entering."

Karen, a big thanks. It is definitely worth a try, will need to get a cigar. I sprayed with Orthene after church today.

Hey. I was looking at the recipe and was wondering what soap you used? I think I'm going to try this on the beetles and thrips too.

We are having our worse thrip problem this year then we ever had in the past...

Judy, I used Kirk's Castille Coconut Soap. Jim, I think it is also the worst for me too.

Great info! I don't know if I have thrips but I'm going to check. I hope this works for you guys.

I used Zote or my homeade soap, grated. Castille soap is the same. I think the wet Spring cause a population explosion. I would spray the buds as they develop. Thrips make teensy slits in the bud to lay each egg, so the chances of getting them all on first go-around are slim. My poor little new Yvonne Rabier is suffering with them and I fear I won't get to see this mass of buds bloom. : (

Oh, I have those brown edged petals too. I thought it was rain, but I probably have thrips too. Darn. I need to find some blue cups or gloves as the red ones I tried dont seem to work.

Tobacco tea seems like a good idea, but I worry about hurting the bees.

Exactly as vaporvac said. The bees are more interested in the companion plants than the roses. I am so happy with this method of spraying the buds only. I don't have to apply systemic insecticide into the soil that may contaminate other plants nearby. I have noticed significant improvement on those rosebuds that got the spray. Though the buds may need to be reapplied to be fully effective if the buds are applied when small or if you have heavy infestation.

Kentucky ,

I want to try the blue cups, what do you spray before you put it in to the garden? Is it cooking spray? Thanks

Kentucky ,

I want to try the blue cups, what do you spray before you put it in to the garden? Is it cooking spray? Thanks

I use spray vegetable oil from Kroger's...whatever is the cheapest.

Yes, I had a horrible thrip problem during this year's first flush. They were everywhere! I'm sure I inhaled hundreds just walking around the garden. It was really disappointing and I was worried about harming any beneficial insects so I haven't used any pesticides this year. I used the blue cups and blue duct tape. I stuck the tape on my fencing and bamboo sticks and then sprayed them with spray oil. FYI, don't spray them around the roses because the oil will float onto the rose leaves and may burn them in the sun. I spray the oil outside the garden when I can and with the tape on the fences, I used a piece of cardboard to capture the spray of the oil. (I'm such a nerd.)

Another thing I did was get some plants that attract beneficial insects and light colored flowers like white cosmos which they sure liked.

I also religiously deadheaded and bagged everything. You should have seen them in the clear plastic bags!

I'm having my second flush and it's spectacular. And amazingly, I've seen virtually no thrips. I don't know if they just ran their course (due to a wet spring as Vaporvac mentioned) or what I did really helped that much but I sure am happy the garden's in better balance.

Do thrips go away in hot weather? I heard that they come and go but I am not sure. I just hope they don't hit my daylilies.

Not sure Karen? But I hope so as they ruined a lot of our first flush this year...We had a very wet Spring...

Yes, it is VERY bad this year! Do the cups work for you?

Blue cups worked for me last year but to many thrips this year so blue cups barely slowing them down...