RE: [compost_tea] Thrips

From: Tatia Veltkamp <tatiav_at_comcast.net>
Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2012 15:29:05 -0700

They are definitely thrips. They are western flower thrips. Someone from
my extension office came out last summer and actually sent them off to be
tested. I can actually see the thrips. I have some pretty good pictures of
them that I took thru my microscope. But the symptoms too are typical of
thrips, where there are parts of the plant leaves that have kind of silvery
lines or spots, where they have eaten and I can see where they have pooped -
black dots sort of.

 

I have been making compost tea and spraying on the leaves but also soil
drenching. I know you can't do too much of that, but I wasn't sure how
often I should do that or if that would help at all. They are not exploding
in growth like in the summer, but my greenhouse gets pretty warm and humid
this time of year, so the thrips like that. It cools down a lot at night,
too, so I think that is helping to stunt their population.

 

I see them on my hollyhock also, but they really like the milkweed.

 

Tatia

 

From: compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com [mailto:compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf Of Bill Wyatt
Sent: Sunday, January 22, 2012 3:03 PM
To: compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [compost_tea] Thrips

 

  

Aphids or thrips? I see lots of aphids on milkweed but have never heard of
thrips on them although it is certainly possible since they target many
hosts. What are the symptoms? What type thrips if they are thrips?


On 1/22/12 1:44 PM, "Tatia Veltkamp" <tatiav_at_comcast.net> wrote:


 
 
   

Hi,
I don't get to follow everything on these posts and am still very much a
newbie, but am learning a lot on here. I grow milkweed in 1 gallon and 4"
pots to feed Monarch caterpillars. I have trouble (LOTS) with thrips. They
also love the milkweed. I found in the summer there are plenty of predators
that take care of the thrips if I move the plants outside. But I have to
grow almost year round and find the thrips appearing at about 6-8 weeks on
the plants (I grow from seed) in the greenhouse. I cannot use chemicals so
the plants are safe for the caterpillars, although I've tried some of them
too and they don't work. I've done some soaping and that helps (a little),
but I'm wondering about using compost tea as a foliar feed if that would
help. Since part of the thrips' life cycle is in the soil, I'm also
wondering if I should be adding worm castings or compost to the top layer of
the soil to help with any microbes that might attack them there.
 
I realize that I am not going to get rid of the thrips. But I'm trying to
learn how to control them, so they don't take over. Has anyone dealt with
thrips successfully in a greenhouse?
 
Thanks so much for any insight you might have!
 
Tatia
Albuquerque, NM







image001.jpg
(image/jpeg attachment: image001.jpg)

image002.jpg
(image/jpeg attachment: image002.jpg)

Received on Sun Jan 22 2012 - 20:44:40 EST

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.0 : Tue Feb 07 2012 - 13:58:16 EST