Resilient Thrips that usually go down after Monterey Spinosad putting up a fight.

I've had several bouts of thrips over the years mostly contained to my mother room where I can always knock them out with one spray of monterey spinosad with out even getting full coverage. But It's not knocking them out this time. I have sprayed 4 times in the past 3 weeks and each time it knocks them back but next day to week I see the numbers increasing. I went on to something new for my IPM today with Dr zymes (citric acid) and sprayed them heavy full coverage. Went back in 2 hours to turn lights on and I see them still on the leaves.

Any Ideas why the usual spinosad treatment is not working?? And shouldnt the dr zymes almost instantly dry out and kill these guys?

How long have you had the spinosad? It does have a shelf life, though it’s pretty long (3 years +~). Or you may have created a Spinosad resistant super thrip! (LOL)

Root drench them, I never spray as I'm endemic so I just root drench and it works but you have to do it every third day for a long time (several hatch cycles) otherwise are you sure they are thrips, fungus gnats look close! Finally @Phytoplankton could be right! You created the spiderman of thrips ;D

curious2garden said:

Root drench them, I never spray as I'm endemic so I just root drench and it works but you have to do it every third day for a long time (several hatch cycles) otherwise are you sure they are thrips, fungus gnats look close! Finally @Phytoplankton could be right! You created the spiderman of thrips ;D

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Do you ever get rid of them completely, I’m sorry, I’m trying to understand what you mean by endemic, do they keep coming back? Thank you

Phytoplankton said:

How long have you had the spinosad? It does have a shelf life, though it’s pretty long (3 years +~). Or you may have created a Spinosad resistant super thrip! (LOL)

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Spinosad is new its one of my main IPM so I get a new bottle yearly.

curious2garden said:

Root drench them, I never spray as I'm endemic so I just root drench and it works but you have to do it every third day for a long time (several hatch cycles) otherwise are you sure they are thrips, fungus gnats look close! Finally @Phytoplankton could be right! You created the spiderman of thrips ;D

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My waterings are 130 gallons so Id need 2 gallons of spinosad for each watering. Maybe I will do a citric acid root drench

You have to spray every 3-4 days since they lay eggs in the stems

I apply ~1tsp Neem powder as topdress every two weeks and do weekly citric acid/soap sprays, the Neem powder kill of the small larvae in the soil, they also bury them in the plants tissue but after a week the active compounds in Neem goes systemic in the plants tissues. Getting the concentration right is crucial for Citric acid to work effectively.

Do you use a wetting agent like dish soap or is it already included in the product? Thrips can be annoying but there's many preventatives.

I also use BT(bacillus thuringiensis) with a local product they sell here. It's a small innoculated protein cake that you dissolve in water for foliar or root drenches.

Cheers!

Wastei said:

I apply ~1tsp Neem powder as topdress every two weeks and do weekly citric acid/soap sprays, the Neem powder kill of the small larvae in the soil, they also bury them in the plants tissue but after a week the active compounds in Neem goes systemic in the plants tissues. Getting the concentration right is crucial for Citric acid to work effectively.

Do you use a wetting agent like dish soap or is it already included in the product? Thrips can be annoying but there's many preventatives.

I also use BT(bacillus thuringiensis) with a local product they sell here. It's a small innoculated protein cake that you dissolve in water for foliar or root drenches.

Cheers!

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Never used Neem powder, does that effect the flavor of the finished buds if its in the tissue? I was thinking about applying some Diatomacious earth to the top of the pots.

For the citric acid I use Dr. Zymes which seems to have a wetting agent in it as it was foamy in the sprayer. I mixed as directions for the stronger srength, hit them again to day and hours later turned on the lights to see these things still crawling around on the leaves. I decided to rinse the citric with a stronger mix of Monterey spinosad and will see how that is in a few hours.

And I do use BT. I'm prety sure that is in my Mosquito Dunks that I have in my resivours 24/7 as they work amazing for fungus gnats. Ive only done the drenches with each watering though never foilared with it.

jaked3800 said:

My waterings are 130 gallons so Id need 2 gallons of spinosad for each watering. Maybe I will do a citric acid root drench

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Citric acid should never be used on roots the low ph will lock an fry the roots.

Just to update this issue. Next day after trying dr zymes out I sprayed it again and saw the trips crawling around a couple hours after it so before fully turned the lights back on I rinsed the zymes with Monterey at 133% strenght and it seemed to knock down the population a good amount insantly. I gave the next day a break and then sprayed it again the following day with 133% Monterey and almost instantly saw another huge reduction where it was hard to find them at all.

I'm going to stick with spraying 1day on 2 days off with 133% monterey for the next week or so and I should be good.