Hi Percy’s,
This post is not so much about asking for help with Thrips, more so to document my approach to this battle. As Macky says, don’t panic. I have had Thrips a few generations of these plants ago in veg, which I sprayed with a mite spray at 1ml/L twice 4 days apart. The interval between spraying is because over this period, new Thrips emerge and new growth emerges too. The spray works by poisoning the Thrip by it being absorbed into the leaves. It has a 2 week(smoke everyone) withholding period for food crops, so in my opinion, is not safe to spray on a flowering plant that you smoke. I got really bad advice from my hydro shop on this product. They were advising me to spray at very high doses, some ratios were 70 times stronger than the strongest commercially used dose sprayed from crop duster on cotton crops. A bit of a, more is better, approach.
I’m just starting week 4 of a 9 week flowering cycle and I have found Thrip damage and seen Thrips moving on the leaves of the buds. I have purchased 2 different types of predatory mites to control the Thrips, which are only on 1 of 9 plants so far. The Montdorensis mite attacks the Thrip in the canopy and bud sites. They come in slow release packets that you easily hang in your grow. The Hypoaspis mite lives in the soil and predates on the Thrip and Fungus Gnat larvae. In my previous battles with Thrips I have found they start normally on 1 plant and don’t move to other plants right away until their population grows. Then they’re on every plant the next day.
Thrip damaged.
Predator mites
I ordered these last week and they arrived today.
Just got home from the gym to add these mites to my grow. Thrips have cycles to their life where they live on the leaves of your plants and in the soil. So if you can attack them in 2 habitats, canopy and soil, you have a better chance of winning. @macky just talked about these pests in grow guides, he loves Thrips. 😂 I have tried the Neem oil approach and lost, so now my little helpers can do the work and there’s no spraying.
The canopy mites come in slow release packets and the soil mites in bedding to be added to your soil.
@aussie_jim I just ran into thrips in my perpetual 12 hr tent (supper soil grow), no surprise for me, it was a matter of time with girls coming and going every few weeks.
im going to give under canopy UV LEDs a try for my IMP, should arrive Thursday, I’ll include installation and how they perform in my two active diaries. I’m installing some in my hydro also, I don’t have the soil vector, but since I’m going between tents, I’ll likely be the vector for the hydro! So, nip it in the but before it’s an issue.
@sevans1965 are they the Grandmaster Tarantula Predator UV led’s?
How careful do you need to be with the UV light?
Will drop past your diaries to check them.
Thanks mate 👍
@aussie_jim yes Jim, the GML Tarantula Predators. I should have them Thursday (your Friday 😉).
anyone interested, I used one of my friends coupon codes which is good for 10% : CANNAB
they do emit radiation (the spectrum is somewhere between low 200-280nm), so you run them for 5 mins per day sometime “AFTER” lights out, so your arse best not be in there as it is ! 😜
@aussie_jim installed the predator lights in both tents, programmed to come on for 5 mins during the middle of the night cycle.
let’s see how she goes!
@sevans1965 nice 👍. It would be great to have IPM automated on a timer. 1 less thing in the garden to take up your time.
@sevans1965 nice 👍. It would be great to have IPM automated on a timer. 1 less thing in the garden to take up your time.
@aussie_jim that’s my hope, set it and forget it. After two treatments I still saw some live ones, but also saw plenty of dead ones- encouraging! GML said during testing, most testers saw total eradication in about 4 days. After the initial cost of the fixtures, they seem cheap enough to operate. The screen shots below, I have fans, a 330w grow light, the the predator plugged into this outlet (a 3 outlet, 1800w smart powerstrip), since it tracks total use, I had to dig into the data to see what the predators power use is, middle of the night cycle, only thing running is extractor fan and a circulating fan, then the predator kicks on for 5 mins @ high noon.
BTY, no grower was harmed during the taking of this photo, I had my wife take it 😎😜, kidding- wireless remote camera 😊
@aussie_jim i take it from your name your in the same country 😅 a mate of mine that isnt on here had a bad case of spider mites the other month and found a natural product that worked good to get rid of them. Apparently they work well against thrips aswel just incase your predator lights dont work look up green cleaner. Always worth a shot 🙂 and best of luck getting rid of the buggers
@easy_target thanks mate. I’m not sure about spraying anything in flower. There are things like that, that say you can but, do you trust them?
My hydro shop sells a systemic rosemary extract pesticide that I might try if the mites don’t take care of it. Allegedly, it is organic and can be used in flower. Supposed to target Thrips.
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