Thrips in Phal Bark

[Abrielle107]

My mother has a phal that's in bud, looks amazing but I think it has thrips in the media. Bark is breaking down but will wait to repot since it's in bud... What is safe to use to kill thrips (I think thrips- tiny silver crawling buggers) on it at this stage?
Posted via Mobile Device

[remo]

Hi, Cassandra...a safe bet would be to use an insecticide soap...or a simple rose spray. There are a few that are available at any garden center type place that have been formulated to use on thrips and others that are actually very gentle and can be used to treat plants in bud and even flower. They are already diluted and all you really have to do is follow the directions and they will work pretty well for you...don't want to take any chances with your first one! Hope you enjoy it!
Remo

[nlnelson]

insecticide soap is always a good idea; I understand that thrips are not to be taken lightly! Although if you don't see any damage on the plant, perhaps they are spring tails? Spring tails do like decaying media...

http://www.rv-orchidworks.com/orchid...s-what-do.html

[Abrielle107]

Springtails jump, right? I haven't seen any jumping going on, just crawling.... Would the insecticide soap kill springtails too? I'm assuming so.....
Posted via Mobile Device

[nlnelson]

right, if they don't jump away when you try and touch them then they're probably not springtails. In which case, have no mercy with the insecticidal soap!!

Good luck!

[Kali Hibiscus]

Hi Arbrielle, I have lots of experience with thrips on my hibiscus. I use spinosad and it works great. What I like about this stuff is its a bacteria that kills sucking pests. They can become resistant to spinosad over time so I alternate with neem oil. I am not sure how neem oil does on Ocrhids. I use premixed neem oil that comes in a sprayer ( you can buy it at local hard ware supply stores ) . I bought some concentrated neem oil but not having as much luck with it maybe its just too much so I need to cut dose in half.

There is a test to do to see if you have thrips ( again speaking of hibiscus) Take maybe a bloom off the spike and shake it over a white piece of paper. You may want to try to shake ( not violently just a little) whole plant over white paper. If you see black lines that look like pencil lead ( from a mechanical pencil) then you have thrips.