Thrips on my Durban Poison - 3 to 4 week of flower

[ToughCall]

Hello good people,

I'm in a rut.

I have been treating my Durban Poison for about three weeks using Grow Safe for what I thought was either WPM or Spider Mites. I pulled all the damaged leaves off during the process and still seeing damaged leaves.
I have cold pressed neem oil and insecticidal soap, that I will now use, as Grow Safe does not list for treatment of thrips.

Is it easy to manage? I also have DE and can sprinkle that on top of the soil, get some blue sticky traps.

What sort of schedule is best to use, please let me know as this girl is 60" and was veg'd for 5 1/2 months. So it should yield nicely if I can remedy.

Earlier I took clones from her, which created a mess and put her back into veg, which is how she got to the 5 1/2 months of veg time.






Would like a recommend scheduled to remedy this, as I have the meds/tools, but want to make certain it is salvageable and would appreciate feedback on conquering these buggers!

Cheers!

[hoochter]

Thrips are a nightmare, almost as bad as spider mites. Neem is the one if I remember right

[Jingo]

Any Bacillus Thuringiensis (Bt) spray will be safe in flower and kill thrips easy, just don't get any other additives.The bacteria is harmless to people and is totally broken down in days from grow lights.

J

[hoochter]

I looked into this product. I am in UK and its illegal here for some reason.

[ToughCall]

I chopped her up and tossed it in the bin. She was an actual PITA, didn't flower along with her 3 other sisters (same schedule). Then I decided to cut clones from her, and that is when I noticed the patterns on the leaves. I should have listened then to comments of tossing her out, but I thought she's going to yield so much!

Are there any special protocols for cleaning a tent out that had thrips? Standard soap and water with a little bleach? Do they come from bagged soil? The grow tent is in an attic, it's winter, cold as perky nipple...

[MadJohn]

I chopped her up and tossed it in the bin. She was an actual PITA, didn't flower along with her 3 other sisters (same schedule). Then I decided to cut clones from her, and that is when I noticed the patterns on the leaves. I should have listened then to comments of tossing her out, but I thought she's going to yield so much!

Are there any special protocols for cleaning a tent out that had thrips? Standard soap and water with a little bleach? Do they come from bagged soil? The grow tent is in an attic, it's winter, cold as perky nipple...

Sorry I was away and didn't get a chance to reply.

So I researched this for my own thrip problem.

For future reference I wouldn't have tossed it. Thrips are a PITA and can cause the plant all manner of problems if left untreated but from what I could gather they're not at all harmful to humans. They hate trichomes and will generally stay WELL away from the buds once they start to get frosty preferring the fresh lower leaves. Once you get to the drying stage they will all mostly drop off as they can't live on dried up plant - they need fresh plant to live on. If there are any then left dead on the bud they are allegedly non-toxic (with the usual caveat that smoking/vaping is toxic by definition it's just it doesn't become more toxic)

As for cleaning up they're a bit of a nightmare. I did read somewhere that they can live for about 6 months without food/water in a suspended state waiting for the plants to return. How much truth there is in that I don't know. They like and prefer small little nooks and crannies so unless you can dismantle everything and thoroughly clean there's always a chance you might miss a couple of them.

The "best" suggestion I saw was in addition to cleaning out the areas thoroughly was to use some pymethrin smoke bombs in the tents. This will get into all the nooks and crannies and make sure you definitely get all the little blighters no matter where they're hiding. It might still not be 100% but it's your best bet. THEN on the next grow I'd start using natural predators early and regular throughout the grow just in case. That should make sure they don't persist.

As for where they came from I have no idea but it's the same with me. I did have my window open during the ridiculously hot summer so maybe it was from there but who knows. It wouldn't be the first time I've heard of people getting them from the soil so it might be where they did come from.

MJ

[Old Skool Dude]

After a grow I hose down the entire with 50/50 alcohol and water, wipe it down and let dry. haven't had bug issues. Typically you bring the bugs into your grow space. Shower and put clean clothes on before checking your garden. Look into The Amazing Dr. Zymes and Pure Crop 1. They are good for a lot of issues.