What are these blue cups everyone is referring to?

What are these blue cups everyone is referring to?

Part of the Solo family fortune. If you've ever been to a BBQ and had a beer out of a red solo cup - these are the same thing, but blue.

Apparently, thrips are attracted to them so if you put something sticky in the cup they get stuck there and can't get into your roses/flowers.

Could someone who has used the cups explain how they're used? What color blue- light or dark. How high from the ground etc. Any info would be appreciated.

Sharon

Check out this link from last year: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/3816744/omg-blue-cup-thrips-control-actually-works?n=22

thanks so much for the link vaporvac. I'm almost positive I have midge. Ughhhh!!! i'm ready to throw in the towel. I don't get many blooms since our summers are so short and this is just another nail in the coffin between Gypsy moth caterpillars, rose slugs, aphids, and voles!!! I'm just about ready to concrete the whole yard!

Sharon

I'm feeling you, enchanted! Very disheartening, especially as it's only my second season really growing roses and I bought so many new ones this year. My only hope is to eradicate them in the beds with plastic sheeting and maybe some selective spraying and covering the soil on the potted ones and keep them on the concrete porch where the dropped maggots can't pupate. Then maybe spray the tips selectively. Has anyone ever gotten rid of these things once they're in the garden? I considered them different to thrips which are everywhere and blow in.

No one that I have read has ever eliminated them. Sadly they are considered a forever pest like mosquitos. Like Sharon I seem to be having many moments where I have considered blowing the whole thing up. Actually I'm not sure why I'm still gardening. I guess I'm a masochist or something. Lets see there are midge, thrips, Japanese beetles, critters that eat the roots (my kitties are older and do not hunt), cucumber beetles, plant bugs etc. and I love gardening. Seems odd sometimes. I shall try to explain my cups a bit later. Time for some soul soothing food. :-)

Don't give up enchanted. :) Please try the cups...I mentioned them to a friend, and she says she's getting blooms and growth now.

Vaporvac - maybe once you selectively spray, then you can use the cups afterwards without having to spray?

Carol

That's my hope, Carol. If I have time after doing the pots and ground, I may try to rig up some cups. I can't keep plastic on my beds indefinitely and hope to get the pots in the ground next year at the latest.

Keep us posted, and good luck! :)
Carol

rosecanadian

:-)

I will try the cups. It just is getting a bit discouraging and overwhelming.

Sharon

I know. You have lots of problems with pests, etc. That's so hard for an avid gardener.

Carol

thanks Carol. It's so nice to have a place to vent.

I feel so sorry for everyone that has to deal with rose midge!!!! I wonder if they would be attracted to the blue light on a Dynatrap. I have one in my back yard and haven't had hardly any rose slugs this year. I don't know if that is from the trap or just a coincidence. I do know I see lots of small bugs and moths in the catcher basket and they are supposed to catch Japanese beetles. I got the huge one acre trap for my yard because we get west nile virus here from mosquitoes. Not only does it trap the mosquitoes, I am seeing other benefits as well.

Rebecca

I think that would be good for rose Midges. Thanks I will look it to that myself. I saw it at the big box store.

Does anyone know the exact range of midge? I read varying distances and don't know which is true.

Hang in there everyone! Got the fight going on myself this year with Rose Midge & thrips...

Eye of the Tiger!

Holy moly, just when everything is looking good, the weather reports that the temperatures this week will be as high as 114. Geeze, I live in the PNW not Death Valley, although my plants aren't so sure.

Good grief

114!!!! Oh my horrors!! Ii can't imagine.

Vaporvac- I noticed your comment on the ornamental tobacco and wondered if interplanting them would help since I read that prior to pesticides they would put tobacco leaves down to kill the rose midges.

Kristine-114!!! I can't even imagine temps that high. Yikes!!! We have had relatively cool weather here, more like the summers when I was a kid but lots of rain. Even my Kordes have disease this year.

Rebecca- I think I'll look into the Dynatrap too. We have millions of mosquitoes here since we're surrounded by swamp and live in a very rural area. We used to have bats but they moved on. They were living under the siding on our house but we still had mosquitoes. I told them since I was graciously offering them the shelter of my home the least they could do was pull their weight and keep my yard mosquito free ;-) so they left. We went to a friends house yesterday who lives in the city and sat out in his yard till dark. Not one mosquito!! It was heavenly.

Patti- what do you interplant with? I'm trying to keep my garden from becoming a tangled mess. I just ripped out tons of weeds, a million wild violets that have taken over my yard and any ornamentals that got too aggressive. I do have forget-me-nots which I pull once they stop blooming, daylilies, lilies, hostas, geraniums, astilbes, alliums, sage, daisies and veronicas plus various Hydrangea to try to attract insects throughout the season. We do have a healthy population of toads, frogs, spiders, snakes and wasps plus unfortunately grasshoppers, ugh, JB's, some new tan beetle that now eats my roses, red lily beetles, thrips, midges and aphids!! So ALL the bugs are loving my garden!

I also have voles that eat the roses in the winter. I've been replanting my younger roses in nursery pots with 1/2inch holes drilled in the sides for the roots to grow through, the bottom taken out and the pot then surrounded by a moat of seashells plus a layer of shells on top underneath the mulch which I'll be removing in the fall. They event my potted roses that were wintered over last year. I'm also going to sprinkle the ground with peppermint scented wax pellets used for aroma therapy in late fall to act as a deterrent. Hopefully this will work since I'm out of ideas. We used to feed the birds but this attracts voles which chew the electrical wires in our cars and build nests in them. They cause so much damage. So hence we don't have a lot of birds like we used to. I'm thinking of starting to feed the birds again though if I can figure out a way to keep the seed droppage to a minimum. It truly is a never ending battle!!

Sharon

Sharon - sheesh...all I have to worry about are winds and hail. We don't even get mosquitoes. Did you put up a bat house?? That might lure the bats back. Good luck gardening!

Carol

Sharon, I fear the day that voles may arrive. We used to have many active kitties and a large family of fox. The kitties are old and the fox came down with a disease that wiped them out. I saw my first mole ever last year. The rodents are getting thick here for the first time ever. I can go out now to find chipmunks scurrying away.

As far as plants go I'm sorry to say I have all of those that you have and add phlox to the mix. My neighbors has spices planted outside. There is a ravine with many varieties of weeds and wild flowers in the back. Or at least there was until someone introduced 5 horribly invasive plants loose down there. But that is another story.

I'm not sure about doing the nematodes as I'm having a very hard time locating a reliable source for them. May I add that I'm beyond sick of the yellow cup thing. Yet to date it is the only thing that works and works very well. I just have to many roses. If I only had say twenty or so roses the cups would be a cake walk. Added benefit of catching thrips the cups were covered from top to bottom with them.

As far as I'm aware no one really knows how far they travel. If I had to hazard a guess they are probably using mosquito estimates.

I'm ready to build a large bubble around our house & property... lol...

Last 3 years we hardly had any trouble with insects and years prior we mainly had trouble with just roses slugs which after this year of dealing with thrips & rose midge I've learned to appreciate the rose slugs...lol..And I'd gladly take the rose slugs back if all the others bad insects would just leave..lol

For years the railroad & paper mill kept this area across our street clean of all weeds etc... Which spraying all that weed poison year after year did not thrill me...BUT the last 2-3 years they been letting it grow like a jungle. Bad insects seem to plague us now...

How I do my cups is different than everyone else's. It was born from desperation since I could not afford too do it their way. A pictorial will explain this better than words. I'll attempt that later. A side note here is that rose midge are very tiny nearly microscopic in size. There have been a few photos lately that are not midge but I don't have the heart to say it. Well I should but haven't.

This is the enemy and as you can see the image is blown up so that we are able to see them. It may be possible to make your own sticky cards using painted index cards with a hole punched in them. Then purchase the sticky stuff to roll on them and string them up. I just have not check to see how cost effective it is. The remade ones cost way to much for me.

Tools needed for cup traps.

Yellow cups - The only place I could find these were at Big Lots

ice pick - or something to punch two holes in bottom of the cups. Do one down thru the bottom and one up from the inside of the cups. It makes passing the string threw so much easier.

String - I use one that comes in a ball from Walmart made of hemp I believe. It is strong and holds up well to the weather and fairly inexpensive.

Something to hang them on. I already had wires from when I purchased plant labels from the Everlast Label Company. The shorter zinc wire works just fine. I straighten them. Then with a wrench I twist one end into a closed circle bend the circle down a bit to hang the cup. I use a good thick motor oil as it stays sticky longer than the canola oil. Have not tried mustard seed oil. The cups will hang down by the ground. This is good midge have a tendency to go for the first thing they find.

Another pain I go thru is washing the cups at end of the year. Plastic is so environmentally unfriendly. Plus who knows how hard it may be to find yellow again

Then store the mess till next year.

I've been really lucky this year, fewer pests all the way around, I hardly even had all that much rose slug damage. The JB are here, but don't seem as bad as last year. The only thing I can think of that's different is the Cleome that self seeded all over. And I have a ton of birds coming, as well as dragon flys and the little red wasps. I do have bird feeders out - I keep the nyjer socks out for finches year round, and the other birds get the "no waste" mix that doesn't really grow anything if it's spilled. The doves come for clean up duty on the ground, I don't have issues with voles or shrews or anything, maybe the dogs keep them away. I've seen the finches land on different plants and pick bugs off for snacks. I know I have some thrip damage, but I just live with it. There has been some midge around, I've picked off some burnt / wilted tips, but less than last year. Do the birds eat the midge larvae? I see them digging around in the mulch in my beds. We've had a lot of rain too, maybe that has helped as well.

jim- can you send me the bubble blueprints when you do..lol I might just try THAT route!

Patti- thank heavens for the small blessing that you don't have voles. We border on about 500 acres of woods so most of the foxes, deer, coyotes and such stay in the woods. Since we don't have a lawn we don't ever get rabbits either. We had a possum living under our porch once. When we fed our cats he would come out and eat with them. We haven't had outdoor cats in years since they either get hit by cars or eaten by fisher cats. Talk about vile creatures. These are as vicious as badgers and just so creepy. Their cry sounds like someone is murdering a child or the witches' Sabbath. So eerie. Our neighbor who is a state cop actually went out investigating one at midnight thinking someone was being beaten or murdered. They actually believed that they're responsible for the decline in the bobcat population in Maine. So, sadly, no outdoor kitties to go after the various varmints. We have chipmunks but they don't do the damage that the voles do. They mainly empty my bird feeder and bury all the sunflower seeds in one spot then stand there "scratching their heads" when they go back to the stash and find a bunch of sunflower seedlings instead. Definitely not the sharpest tool in the shed!! I'm glad the yellow cups are working for you even though they're unsightly and such a pain. I ordered the sticky yellow tags from Amazon and am supposed to get them tomorrow. Hoping that they'll help. I'm trying to think of something that could be more decorative like a yellow pinwheel that would look more like garden decor. I'm crafty so I might be able to think of something. Maybe I could even make little flower fairies where their skirt is the cup. I'll have to put my thinking cap on ;-)

Carol- thank you for your kind words. It is a battle but your beautiful garden looks like so much more effort. I can't imagine packing up that many roses for the winter. We have looked at bat houses and I'm thinking of getting Mason bees, bumble bees and leaf cutter bees. We have no honey bees here even though our neighbor about 1/4 mile away has hives. I guess they don't like the offerings in my garden.

Sharon

Geez I'm only about 70 mi. from you Julie and I'm living in bad bug heaven here. Another thought do they by any chance spray for mosquitos because of west nile virus. I do have lots of predators here. I'd be happy to try cleome. When I think of it there is probably some ridiculously easy answer to most problems. We just don't know what they are.

Oh my lord I could not deal with fisher cats so horrible .Sharon I'm counting on you for a better looking answer to the cups. Please share what you come with.

Jim be sure to send those blue prints this way as well. I shall be eternally greatful.

Patty W. zone 5a Illinois wrote:

"When I think of it there is probably some ridiculously easy answer to most problems. We just don't know what they are."

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Do you want a blue print copy of my bubble plans too? lol

oh I see you do...lol

patti- what does Cleome do?

I also found some yellow and blue pinwheels. The Prospect Park Rose Garden in NYC has a 7000 yellow pinwheel display!

This would add some whimsey to the garden. Oriental Trading has blue and yellow ones for $10/36 pieces. I just ordered some yellow and blue ones. I'll let everyone know how it works.

Patty they have sprayed a couple times for mosquitos but I don't know what they've used. They have sprayed in other years too. It just seems like I have more bugs in general. Do you think the mosquito spray keeps the midges and things down? I wouldn't mind being under Jim's bubble for sure! If anyone wants Cleome seeds let me know lol, I just pulled a bunch out today they are all over!

Julie

Ooh, i like the aesthetics of pin wheels instead of cups. Enchanted, do share your results. i hope it works for you. I read that they can scare away deer and birds. I don't have deer, but I am trying to attract birds.

I fed the birds safflower seeds last year hoping they would eat bugs. I did not feed them this summer and I wonder if that is why I have midge this year. Who knows!

I finally put up my blue cups yesterday and I caught a bunch of tiny bugs on them. I have no idea what they are. Canola oil is pretty thin.

Crap. Everything I wrote just vanished. :( I`m not going to rewrite it...so everyone imagine that I wrote pithy or encouraging words about everything you wrote. :)

Carol

totoro- :-)

I don't know how much the pinwheels will scare the birds. We are very sheltered here and don't get much wind. We don't have many birds since I stopped feeding them. We also fed them year round and always had chickadees, tufted titmouse and cardinals. I'm trying to think of a feeder that would keep the seed from dropping to the ground. I found a birdbath/ feeder which might work.

It would be a pain to keep clean though but at least the voles wouldn't be able to get at the food. It might keep squirrels away too.

Good luck with your blue cups. I'll keep everyone posted once these come in.

Sharon

That is interesting about the pinwheels. I might try some of those. My blue surgical gloves are on stakes and are about 3' off the ground. Maybe that is too high. Also, how late into the season are thrips and midges active?

Donna - that's a good question.

Sharon- where would the seeds go - the top little bowl?

Carol

Julie

I'm just guessing of course but I'll bet what they have sprayed for mosquitos has knocked down your midge numbers. I would rather believe that the cleome plants brought in a predator that is helping with midge. Does anyone know if there is a short variety available.

Donna

I believe midge tend to increase during the season as each generation lays more eggs. I'm sure that environmental events influence their numbers. Wether that is a drought, floods, a predator or another I don't know the answer to that. Midge is caught closer to the ground or they will just head straight to the rose foliage. Thrips can be caught high or low. At least I know that low to the ground works because I catch them like crazy.

Sharon

I love those pinwheels they are so cute. Especially considering how ugly the cups are.

Unfortunately for here I think the cups might work better. The first year I did a better job with the cups than this year. That first year I had 2 to 3 cups per rose. I placed them so that the winds would blow thru the rose onto the cups according to the way spring winds tend to blow here. I was so desperate to catch these guys I even when out for a time and moved cups around according to the breeze. Midge are smaller than mosquitos and mosquitos have a hard time flying in a good breeze. That first year I caught so many midge and thrips it was unreal. This year thrips outnumbered everything caught.

You using yellow or blue cups Patty??? I have blue cups here but I should buy some yellow cups and place close to ground to see what happens...

I only use the yellow ones Jim. My blue ones last year did not catch any midge.

Ok thanks Patty!

Carol- the seeds go in the top, the middle is the bird bath basin and the bottom is a planter. I ordered two of these so i can see how it works out.

Patti- You have far more roses than I do. I'll see how the pinwheels work since it was relatively inexpensive. they might not work at all but if they do they definitely are prettier than cups. Your perseverance is truly admirable and it's great that you don't resort to chemicals which are so toxic to the earthen all the little critters we share it with.

Sharon

Enchantedrose - that sounds awesome! What a clever idea! Show us pictures of it in your yard - hopefully with birds! I can't wait to see it!

Carol

Carol- I will. I just need to decide the best place for it. I have so many garden ornaments it's hard to find room to squeeze the plants in! I can't guarantee the birds though. Once we stop feeding them it takes a while to find our yard again. Hoping this will keep the voles from getting the seed and it might even keep the squirrels out too if they're afraid of the water. They can empty a bird feeder in the blink of an eye! I should see if there's a way to put bubbler in theses so we don't get mosquitoes.

Sharon

Bubblers, that's a good idea! Although then the birds won't bathe in it.

Carol

hmm... I'll have to think on this. We get sooo many mosquitoes in any standing water.

Sharon

I don't know...maybe the birds WILL bathe in it. :) I've never had birds in any standing/bubbling water...so I have no clue. :) Or you can do what I do...spray the water out, and then add more.

Carol

I have to clean my BB daily, so no mosquitoes. It's always filled with feathers. I really have to research how to clean it to keep stuff growing in it. It's totally stained, but mine's concrete.

enchantedrosez5bma, have your yellow pinwheels caught very many thrips and midge? I am thinking or ordering some from Oriental Trading. I assume that rose midge season is still going to last for a while. I treated my roses with the Bayer 2 in 1 product a little over a week ago. I am still seeing midge damage to bushes that have been treated. I guess it takes some time before the bushes are completely protected. (don't know) Bushes still aren't putting on much new growth.

Donna- I haven't caught much of anything but I think the oil might be too thin or that I don't have that much rose midge yet. I'm going to try coating them with vaseline instead. I don't think too many insects could escape that sticky mess. They do look pretty though :-)

I'm trying vaporvacs method with the plastic bags and thinking of spraying or coating this too with oil, not vaseline, (that would take forever!) so if any larvae land on the plastic they won't be able to wiggle their way to the edge and into the soil. Just slowly pecking away at it between the rain, the heat and the curve-balls life throws at you. Hopefully I'll be done before winter!

Carol- I do rinse my bird baths once in a while. I did see some goldfinches in my triple fountain once and that has a bubbler at the top.

Sharon

Sharon - so a bubbler doesn't make any difference. That's great to know! Kind of like a jetted tub!

Carol