Just when you think you have it under control you go out of town for a few days and come back to thriving thrip infest! I have been able to keep the gnats and thrips under control for the most part but this week they did some damage. LESSON LEARNED: DO NOT BE CHEAP ON YOUR SOIL!!! As you can see I have sticky pads on both sides of my tent and I sprayed neem oil last night. I also put down some food grade diatomaceous earth. Hopefully I can get rid of these pests before they start flowering! If not I will have to get some lady bugs and amblyseius cucumeris to finish the job. Anybody have any experience with amblyseius cucumeris before?
I have a ton of experience with thrips. The only thing that seemed to do the trick for me was Spinosad spray. I layed down a thick coat of food grade diatomaceous earth when the soil was on the dryer side and sprayed my ladies. If it’s flowering already I wouldn’t use the spinosad. That’s the only thing that interrupted their cycle enough to kill them.
@TeflonDonFarms, I’ll have to try spinosad next time. It seems that the neem oil with diatomaceous earth worked this time! Well I haven’t seen them back yet. Fingers crossed!!