fighting thrips is coco coir (SOLVED, wasn't thrips, was springtail)

[elcoloan]

This morning I found a little thrips walking about one of the bottom leaves. was able to squash it. then saw like five more appear after a while... war has begun!

how do i go by fighting them in coco coir? i was planning on neem sprays on the leaves, but not sure what to do with the medium which i water/feed every day.

will yellow traps work? i can't find blue ones in my country.

i can easily find this neem product, NeemAzal (Azadirachtin A & B ... 1.2 ml/L) Is it good or should find anouther?
thanks!

 

[Nobighurry]

This morning I found a little thrips walking about one of the bottom leaves. was able to squash it. then saw like five more appear after a while... war has begun!

how do i go by fighting them in coco coir? i was planning on neem sprays on the leaves, but not sure what to do with the medium which i water/feed every day.



will yellow traps work? i can't find blue ones in my country.

i can easily find this neem product, NeemAzal (Azadirachtin A & B ... 1.2 ml/L) Is it good or should find anouther?
thanks!

I add neem meal, Diatomatous earth and mosquitoe dunks to my soil mix and still get the occasional thrip but they do not thrive, get your hands on a tube of tangle foot and make all your own sticky traps, I use half yellow half blue paper, imo both colors attract thrips. Make sure too reapply azamax every 3 days for at least a week to get all the thrip life stages.. Good luck

 

[Waira]

This morning I found a little thrips walking about one of the bottom leaves. was able to squash it. then saw like five more appear after a while... war has begun!

how do i go by fighting them in coco coir? i was planning on neem sprays on the leaves, but not sure what to do with the medium which i water/feed every day.

will yellow traps work? i can't find blue ones in my country.

i can easily find this neem product, NeemAzal (Azadirachtin A & B ... 1.2 ml/L) Is it good or should find anouther?
thanks!

mate, are you sure they were thrips? Do you have the tell-tale damage on the upper surface of leaves?

color can vary!
If so, they are highly mobile vermin, adults can fly, and often as not aren't at the scene of the crime when you spot the damage... ...Soil treatment is part of the cycle breaker, but they are only in there during a form of pupation stage, and aren't feeding then; If it's early enough, you likely don't have them in there yet, what you see is likely adults or recently hatched juvies... The spray you have is fine, but I'd add a wetting agent or a mild non-detergent type soap like castille. Use just enough to make the spray solution coat and stick instead of just beading up, maybe 2-3ml/L... You have to cover tops and bottoms well, and hit it a few times over a week; sticky trap color is fine, both yellow and blue attract them and several other pests...

 

[elcoloan]

mate, are you sure they were thrips? Do you have the tell-tale damage on the upper surface of leaves?

color can vary!
If so, they are highly mobile vermin, adults can fly, and often as not aren't at the scene of the crime when you spot the damage... ...Soil treatment is part of the cycle breaker, but they are only in there during a form of pupation stage, and aren't feeding then; If it's early enough, you likely don't have them in there yet, what you see is likely adults or recently hatched juvies... The spray you have is fine, but I'd add a wetting agent or a mild non-detergent type soap like castille. Use just enough to make the spray solution coat and stick instead of just beading up, maybe 2-3ml/L... You have to cover tops and bottoms well, and hit it a few times over a week; sticky trap color is fine, both yellow and blue attract them and several other pests...

it's curious... i don't seem to have any damage, but i have hundreds of bugs i would say are thrips (or maybe skinny fleas from my dogs???or maybe some beneficial bug?? it kinda flies or also jumps)...
i can see them crawling on top of leaves and they either jump or fly really fast as soon as i move the plant a bit and also they come out by big numbers in the runoff water and them sneaky guys can eve jump / fly from the water... i've seen a few dead squashed ones under my 60x scope and they look a lot like references on the web, there are different sizes, most look darkish brown the bigger ones lighter brown the smaller ones...

so... on top of the coco surface i put glue traps: transparent, one glue side only, so I put yellow and blue post-its pasted on the under side and darn... A LOT of them got stuck in a matter of seconds and after a day yeeez!! its hundreds stuck there, then sprayed just the neemazal / azamax, put new traps and now there were as many as before but mostly smaller.
repeated after three days... spray, put in new traps.
so far... just see a few big ones on the traps, many really small ones. havent seen any walking on leaves after the first spray nor walking into the traps which was very easy to see the first day i started using the traps.

ive taken pics but can't upload em right now... will as soon as i can.

 

[elcoloan]

I add neem meal, Diatomatous earth and mosquitoe dunks to my soil mix and still get the occasional thrip but they do not thrive, get your hands on a tube of tangle foot and make all your own sticky traps, I use half yellow half blue paper, imo both colors attract thrips. Make sure too reapply azamax every 3 days for at least a week to get all the thrip life stages.. Good luck

thanks for the reply! inspired on your advice i got some transparent glue trap stripes, only glue on one side so i pasted blue and yellow postits one the non glue side... yellow traps seemed to do better both both worked well!

 

[Waira]

wait, they jump? Are they in the soil itself? Look up springtails and re-inspect,.... https://www.google.com/search?q=spr...gAhXgJDQIHeeRCp0QiR56BAgFEA8&biw=1627&bih=823
... these are harmless, more of a nuisance... easy to snuff with most any pesti'!

 

[elcoloan]

@Waira!!! I think you are right!!! they might be spring tails!!! I cannot see them in the surface of the coco itself,they are dark so they blend in if they are, but i have to assume they are because lots of them come out in the runoff water (i use hempy buckets with coco coir) and there it's obvious they dont fly but jump!
looking closer with the scope they look more like sprint tails than thrips.

I try to get pics uploaded today! before i continue killing these bugs! thouhg i read that big numbers can be bad cause they end up eating the roots?

 

[elcoloan]

here are some pics... i will have to conclude now it was a springtail infestation.
first pic taken on feb 16th just a few seconds after putting in the traps!
other pics taken today. i threw away the two traps on the left of today's pics (the ones with more traps bugs) and let the two on the right to see how much more they fill up. the two on the right, which have fewer trapped bugs, were coincidentally placed in the part of the surface which i can't water much due to the bending of the stem.

i have definitely reduced their numbers, but will stop killing them now that i know they are not thrips. will put some traps now and then to keep numbers low... read that too many start eating the roots.

thanks @Waira for your input!!!!

hope this thread serves others as reference. will update in case they start damaging my plant.

 

[Recycled]

Ha!! Yep when I first saw them in my first grow I happened to be reading an organic journal on here with pics. They were definitely spring tails.

This grow I’ve found they like to congregate on the corner of the grow room with minimal air movement. I clean with bleach water mix every few weeks and they’re at the same spot each time. Some crawl under the base of my fan to die.


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[Waira]

good news! ...do keep in mind thrips can jump too, but they are very wary vermins, they will spot you looking at them and literally dodge and duck to evade you, if pressed they can jump, but nothing like springers... those guys basically teleport a short distance away, super fast!
Most anything will snuff them for pesti's, I'm not sure if the Bt strain in mosquito dunks is effective? I've heard some yea/nay on that.... I'd be surprised, but it's not out of the question; I say that because the Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) strain that kills caterpillars is different then what kills 'squiters,... It's worth a try! Buy the graunules, or "bits"... Bonide and Summit are the common brands... I make a tea with them, using water (no Cl!), a bit of molasses and a dash of nutes... for 1gal, 1 fat T molasses, 1/4 cup granules, weak nutes, set it someplace warm for a day... aerate if you can, or stir occasionally.. then water in... *(frass can be used too)-->
I bet some insect frass may help on the surface of the pots; that's basically bug poop, which has components that stimulate the plants defense response (SAR), making an enzyme (chitinase) that attacks their own chitin based bodies; it's nutritious too... look it up!