Thanks Henry. With so much prey to feast on hopefully beneficial insects, "the friendlies" will increase enough in the open landscape to keep chilli thrips under control. Perhaps this is happening in Florida as I read some reports on the Florida Forum that folks had had chilli thrips in the past, but then the infestation abated. A friend wrote this on the Texas Forum: "I was living in Hawaii when whiteflies first made their appearance. It was an ugly thing. Their population exploded exponentially. Their were so many whiteflies that our ceilings were coated in them. They were absolutely everywhere. They smothered a lot of leaves in sheltered areas even though we had significant ocean breeze. It was disgusting.It took about 6 months and then they had a population implosion and it attained a balance. One never saw them. Perhaps bugs and geckos had learned to eat them. I don't know what happened. I hope some natural enemy to chilli thrips comes forth and something like this happens." Now I'm find chilli thrips are on several other plants in the garden. After seeing suspicious leaves I've ID'd them on Coral vine, Henry Duelberg salvia and Texas smoke tree by tapping the affected leaf and looking at the tiny yellow dots moving around with a 10 power jewelers loop. And I do mean tiny. They are less than the size of a period and barely visible in bright light on white paper with my reading glasses on. They are much smaller than flower thips, and looked just like the photos. Also several pale colored tiny spiders quickly scurried off the paper. They were just a little larger than the chilli thrips. Hopefully they were eating them. This makes one reluctant to spray even with spinosad, but knocking them back before winter may significantly reduced their population next summer. I don't know. Right now I'm trying to reduce the number of the most susceptible plants.

If they are still available, I would be very happy to take one -- either Awakening or Vineyard Song would be wonderful, provided they aren't the ones that need spraying, since I am an organic gardener. Also, I am a novice and this would be only my second rose, so if you prefer them to go to a rose afficionado I understand. I am in Manhattan during the week and could come pick it up, though the rose's home would be upstate. Your offer is extremely kind!

Hey Everybody, I just want to remind everybody that this weekend is a Compost Giveback weekend at the NYC compost site in the Bronx. Also, the next 2 weekends are Compost Giveback weekends in Brooklyn. NYC gives away free unlimited compost to any NYC resident with proof of residency. Take advantage of this great opportunity, people! Scroll down at the link below for more info. Here is a link that might be useful: NYC Compost Giveback

One time I put an ad for rabbits on Craigslist because we had an unexpected litter. This guy showed up w his wife and daughter and picked up a few baby bunnies. He turned out to be a total perv. He kept calling and texting for like 3mos afterwards and wanting to come over. I didnt answer after the first time he called inappropriately but that didnt stop him from leaving messages and texting. I am never using CL again after that. I had to change my # and I hate that he knows where I live. I cant blame anyone for taking precautions nowdays. You never know.