Re: Thrips in Arizona....
Thank you, to all of you for your generous help in combating
these darn thrips. I've been hitting them with the insecticidal
soap, "Safer". It seems to be working beautifully.
Yes, Marilyn, these are definitely thrips. Although, yellow &
white seem to be their favorites, they do like the blues and
purples too. They've eaten my purple Asters nearly to the
point of death.
I found their picture on page 101 in the, Sunset Western
Gardener's book, if your interested. These guys are big &
nasty but the soap seems to be doing the job for now.
Thank goodness. :0)
I was a bit surprised myself when they first showed up
as I'd never seen them this big when I lived in the PNW
and, when I did get them in the PNW, they were not this
out of control. They'd show up inside my rosebuds but
I'd just pick off the effected buds and usually with time
they'd get eaten by other garden bugs. I ignored these
for awhile hoping that they'd get run out too but they
only multiplied until they were an epidemic eating
everything in their path.
I'm going to see if our local garden center can get
some ladybird beetles or one of their other predators....
what do you think? Can you buy ladybirds like you can
lady bugs? or are they the same bug???
I'm told that once the cotton growers get their crops
up and going that the thrips & white flies will get
really bad. :-P
I'll look into getting the yellow sticky traps, that
you mentioned, Ginny.
I wanted to start some hibiscus but am still
weighing that decision as we are living deep into farm
country and surrounded by cotton & alfalfa fields.
I guess, I'll just have to keep picking your
brains for the most organic methods as the
bugs start appearing.
Thanks again, I truly appreciate you all.
Happy gardening. :)
~Rachel~
Maricopa, Arizona
84* and sunny :)
----- Original Message -----
From: Marilyn Dube <maridube@teleport.com>
To: <perennials@mallorn.com>
Sent: Friday, March 17, 2000 10:37 AM
Subject: RE: Thrips in Arizona....
> Ginny, I was surprised when Rachel mentioned that the Thrips were
> attracted to her YELLOW flowers because when I was taking greenhouse
> classes, we hung BLUE sticky cards over the benches to monitor for Thrips
> because they are attracted to blue. By that token one would think that
> Thrips would be attracted to blue flowers! All of which makes me wonder
if
> Rachel really has Thrips or if it is something else. The most popular
> plants for Thrips around here are Gladiolus outdoors and African Violets
> indoors. They are too small to seen with the naked eye, but the damage
they
> cause is unmistakable.
> Marilyn Dube'
> Natural Designs Nursery
> Portland, Oregon
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