Hi! I had a huge beautiful collection of houseplants and sadly after having my babies it's been hard to take care of them. I noticed thrips and bought swiirskis to treat them. Now it looks like I may also have spider mites? Are there any predator mites that you got best results with? I want to desperately save all my plants. Please help! Also I'm in Canada so gotta be mindful of what is available for purchase. Thanks!!!
I water like normal, plants get enough light (seems like I need to include these info for post to get approved )
by psykolojist
6 Comments
No, worse. Thrips.
Dang these are thrips. And a lot of themðŸ˜
I literally wrote out this long response missing the part you’re in Canada…. Yeah not great. We dont have systemic pesticides like the states unfortunately.
Hi, I am very familiar and incorporate predator insects in my IPM for all my plants. If you are 77F or higher then swiirski is a good choice for thrips, lower I would choose cucumeris.
Another thing to think about is the life cycle of the thrips, they pupate in the soil. Assuming you are running an organic setup, there are biopesticide options like Bueveria Bassiana and Met52, however for a soil drench I would suggest Met52. Mite wise you would want hypoaspis/scimitus, or rove beetles. You can also use SF nematodes which is great option. Non biopesticide options would look like cold pressed neem, or if you don’t have worms and don’t care, pyrethrins. You need to make sure you continually cut off the soil & foliar side of things for 6 weeks to fully interrupt the life cycle.
In regards to spider mites, predatory mite wise there is Andersoni and Californicus, If you are above 80 I would choose californicus if below I would choose andersoni. Can also use things like lacewings, lady bugs, minute pirate bugs. Beaveria Bassiana would do great as a foliar spray for spider mites however keep in mind it can hit the other predators a bit albeit not as much. Especially if you use a wettable powder form compared to an oil like Botonguard ES. Personally, if using swiirski and want to continue with the bio pesticide route, I would not use BB and instead use the mites, above and below (hypoaspis swirskii/cucumeris and andersoni/californicus) and if the pots are at least a few gallons then rove beetles and pirate bugs come into play. Hypoaspis and rove beetles will persist a bit after pests leave however, which is beneficial so keep that in mind.
Or you can just go the pyrethrin route and go nuke status (cheaper) but I would use a very strong synthetic one since you aren’t a company doing organic protocols, and do the dosing and timing exactly by the book as tolerance is a thing. I run big beds full of life so (organic) pyrethrins are not an option unless things were to get horrible, which shouldn’t happen if you have a solid IPM regiment in place.
Lmk if you have any other questions, good luck!
It’s !thrips. You have a full grown adult on the fourth photo.
I’m in Canada too so systemics aren’t available BUT you can dilute cat or dog flea medication in water (~20:200 ratio) and use that. The active ingredient is Imidacloprid which is a pesticide.
Isolate ALL your infected plants asap. Remove the most damaged leaves. I would even repot them (and give them all a good soak to drown the adults). Then start treating with the diluted flea medication 1x every 3-4 days for the first few weeks, then once a week after that for about a month or two. Then, treat as needed (I do it every couple of months as a safe measure). Depending the proximity of your other plants to these ones, spray them as well. It’s a pretty bad infestation.
https://preview.redd.it/hy6o3srt69nf1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2b0ddf0d00bf24e2cfd296eb944021988ccb3be8
Spider Ban from Canadian Tire has pyrethrin/permethrin and worked for me
I would do two things: first, drench the soil with a solution of the beneficial nematode Steinernema feltiae. These are inexpensive and the nematodes will kill the immature thrips in the soil, interrupting their life cycle. Spray the plant with neem oil or a pyrethroid based insecticide to knock down the adults. You will need to spray several times days or weeks apart. Follow the directions on the bottle. I would not suggest using mites unless you have a very large collection. While they will control thrips, they are expensive and slow to act if you have a large thrips population, like you do.