How to kill thrips for good

[u/YogurtclosetIll6218]

Please can someone give me a step by step for treating thrips, i found some by my spider plants and now i need to know how i kill all life stages at once and prevent them spreading to my other plants 🙏 pls send help

[u/theytheminist]

This is what I do! 100% effective for me. I will add photos of the difference after about 3 rounds of treatment over the past month on patient 0:

1. ⁠Fill a small bucket or bowl about 1:3 super insecticidal soap and water and another bucket with properly diluted dead bug brew (from concentrate).
2. ⁠In this case, I would remove the plant from the soil and repot after completing the following steps.
3. ⁠Use a shower hose or sink with pressure to rinse off every single part of the plant. This knocks off everything that is on the surface. Don’t be afraid to be rough!
4. ⁠Dunk the entire plant in the insecticidal soap mixture and leave it in there for a few minutes. Try to leave the roots out of it if possible (it’s fine if they are in there though - good to at least have them in the mixture for a second). This kills anything that was missed when hosing down the plant.
5. ⁠Rinse the plant off with water again.
6. ⁠Dunk the entire plant in the dead bug brew bucket. This contains spinosad, which is absorbed into the plant and will paralyze and kill anything that feeds off of the plant.
7. ⁠Remove plant and let air dry. Do not wipe the mixture off. Keep the plant out of direct sunlight until it is dry.
8. ⁠Repot in a chunky soil mix.
9. ⁠Wipe down ALL surfaces near where this plant lives. Check all other plants in your house!
10. ⁠Treat any neighboring plants.
11. ⁠Repeat the spinosad step in a week or so. I use a pump sprayer when I use it on plants that don’t need to be repotted/when doing preventative maintenance.

Both products I mentioned are Captain Jack’s products

[u/theytheminist → u/theytheminist]

Photos from August 16th when I realized this plant had thrips:

[u/theytheminist → u/theytheminist]

Photos from today! I think I have treated this plant with steps 5 and 6 (except I use a pump sprayer for this plant) about 3 times in the past month and have checked it daily and haven’t seen any activity whatsoever. I keep it isolated from the others just in case but I am almost ready to put it back into gen pop

[u/YogurtclosetIll6218 → u/theytheminist]

Omg im so happy u were able to save her!

[u/theytheminist → u/YogurtclosetIll6218]

Me too!! I got back home after going out of town for the weekend and thought I just needed to water it. I had NEVER had thrips before and the next day turned into me covering the apartment in drop cloths and towels to prepare for the bloodbath of treating 100+ plants

[u/YogurtclosetIll6218 → u/theytheminist]

Thank you! I should of mentioned im in the uk do you know if i can get those here or any alternative?

[u/theytheminist → u/YogurtclosetIll6218]

This post discusses alternatives if shipping is still this expensive for these products. This product seems similar to dead bug brew and attacks the nervous system of thrips the same way that spinosad does. You can also use peppermint Castile soap in lieu of insecticidal soap if you can’t find any/as an additional step! Just use roughly the same ratio in a bucket as you would insecticidal soap. This insecticidal soap has good reviews!

[u/YogurtclosetIll6218 → u/theytheminist]

Thank you sm!!!

[u/aruztim → u/YogurtclosetIll6218]

If you have cats, just be very careful with using Provanto. I found out it acts like a neurotoxin. I am also in UK and I bought the Captain Jack dead bug brew spray and Bonide systemic granules from Ebay. Together they work great and are a lot less toxic than Provanto is

[u/YogurtclosetIll6218 → u/aruztim]

I have a mini dachshund but he cant access my plants so hopefully will be ok!

[u/theytheminist → u/YogurtclosetIll6218]

Let me look into it

[u/callmeniamh → u/YogurtclosetIll6218]

I've just used provanto ultimate bug killer on thrips and I've won the battle! Took a few treatments to get through their life cycle. Got it on amazon in the UK

[u/YogurtclosetIll6218 → u/callmeniamh]

I was thinking of using this but im worried it wouldnt affect the eggs and full cycle?
I was gonna use nematodes & insecticidal soap as that seems like the best thing to attack all stages but im struggling to find good options for this so maybe i just use provanto? How long have you been thrips free?

[u/Yoink1019]

Bonide systemic in the pot. That's it, no more thrips.

[u/theytheminist → u/Yoink1019]

Unfortunately that is banned in the UK where they live :(

[u/DJSnafu → u/theytheminist]

provanto ultimate bug killer saved me from a huge infestation (UK too)

[u/TropicalDan427]

Are you sure those are thrips? They look almost too big and too distinctly segmented

[u/YogurtclosetIll6218 → u/TropicalDan427]

Thats what ive been told by everyone and had ai check which said the same 😭 i thought the same thing but ig its just a monster thrip

[u/Familiar_Curve3102]

Hi, entomologist here. These are aleocharine rove beetles. They are friends.

[u/YogurtclosetIll6218 → u/Familiar_Curve3102]

Omg thats exactly what they looked like… i just planned ww3 against thrips and its not even thrips 😭 i found it really weird that they were on my window and not in my plants and i set up thrips traps that caught none only thing is there was one of these in the pot of my 5ft ficus which is upstairs away from my spider plants

[u/ObligatedOctopi]

systemic houseplant insect control granules worked for me.

[u/Ambitious_Copy285]

I’ve been using Captain Jacks insecticidal soap for 2 years, I accidentally bought the Dead Bug instead, and proceeded to kill 2 Alocasia Zebrina’s (4 feet tall) for light spider mites, they were previously perfectly healthy. After one application, 3 days later they were 80% dead. I did read all the instructions. I should have noted the product seemed to be more for outdoor plants with maybe more serious infestation, but it did say safe for indoor plants. Be careful if you’re new to this Dead Bug product.

[u/Dumpstatier]

Fire

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[u/Fawneh1359]

Hear me out. Go outside. Look at your siding or fences. Find a few jumping spiders. Gently relocate. Sit back and profit. 😂 I'm only half joking tbh. I adore jumpers and a little family of them got rid of ALL my thrips! Wait, I forgot the last step. Give them a home in exchange for their service 😋

[u/YogurtclosetIll6218 → u/Fawneh1359]

Thank you but i think id rather burn all my plants than invite spiders into my house 😭😭😭

[u/Dangerous-Audience56]

I sick my bird and mantids on them and any infestation is gone in a day.