Korina -

Don't get so upset - and take it easy - there are quadrizillions of thrips outside - and nobody is going to chase them out from the grocery store.

Get your Fisher violets for a cheap price, disbud them, spray with soap and wash them, repot them into good soil - and keep them isolated for some time. It is still cheap.

Every summer my violets in a family room get thrips when I open the patio door. My goal is to liquidate them before they relocate to the basement and spread in a growing area. In a fall - it is a major cleanup and disbudding. There are no thrips outside in winter in Denver - and I bet you have them outside all the time in zone 9.

I keep adding Marathon to the potting soil - and it keeps them from going too bad - because their larva spends some time in soil - then it gets wiped out.

Irina

PS Thrips are not killing AV's (unless they carry an impatiens virus)- they are pollinating the flowers - I heard that's how the species in Africa propagate - AVs do not have nectar, the pollen is not ready available - it is enclosed in sacks - so bees are not interested at all - so here comes a sneaky thrips and gets the pollen out.

I've been lucky so far in that my only infestation has been green aphids. I'd like to keep it that way. Anywho, I don't really have enough room to quarrantine. Although the dark coral with blue fantasy was tempting...

Hmm, I hadn't thought about thrips being pollinators. Cool. Thanks.

Korina

Korina, I've purchased some Fischer violets that had thrips also...in fact each time I've purchased them they've had pollen spilled and little teensy white bugs that move when I blow on the flower. I think they're thrips! I disbudded most, and left the rest and sprayed them with a safer soap...which made the blossoms ugly! I don't see any thrips now, thank goodness. I told my nursery re: the Thrips and they apologized and said they'd replace the plant. I just said, I'd be worried if I didn't see any bugs and that I just wanted them to know because they were storing their violets next to the Orchids and I was worried for the Orchids. :-)

minibot

Good luck, Minibot. I never got any; in fact I went back a couple of days later and the table was still there, much emptier than before. I left a note that they were infested and left.

And then this Saturday I was at a different grocery store and I tried not to look, really I did... There it was, the only flowering plant, and it looked like spring. And at $2, how could I say no? I ended up with four suckers and the mama plant. As soon as they're big enough I'll sell them to buy more minis. Or maybe a trip to the Carribean.

Korina

'It is cheese, breath, and wind. It is cheese.' -Alan Shore

Heh, I bought a variegated AV the other day just because it had two plants instead of one! I already had an identical AV, but I couldn't resist the two fer :-) They look to be the same age, so maybe they were both suckers from the get go. How in the world do you sell your extra plants? That's totally creative.

minibot

Minibot, I have co-workers and others who think they're nifty. I haven't actually tried to sell any yet, but dang it, it's about time. Or it will be in a month or two.

Korina, happy to have renewed my AVSA membership

YEAH RIGHT

You cannot sell nonames - but it is a wonderful way to spread the addiction to violets, make other people try to grow them with an expert advice available (means Korina) and contribute to the peace on the earth and happiness alltogether. People who grow plants - are much nicer human beings than nongrowers and more pleasant to be around.

let's all do it

Irina

Okay, so I get home tonight thinking my Violets are okay and see that the thrips from fisher violets are all over my AVs :-( Okay, so I've disbudded and sprayed them all, and hopefully they'll come out alright including my other AVs and Orchids. Sheesh. They should really take care not to infest others with this pest! I don't think they live here normally :-) At any rate, they should be okay as the other one that I suspected I disbudded and treated with neem spray. I hope that something works this time. I'm using some scary spray that is called Gardensafe for Roses et al.

minibot

Just do not spray yourself. Work in gloves, cover your nose and mouth with at least a scarf and take a good shower afterwards and rewash all the clothes you wear during the procedure. Roses -are outside plants - and outside poisons are much stronger than inside. What kind of active ingredient they have? I would chip for Conserve - at least it is not poisonous for humans and pets. (It is bad for bees and aquatic life - so be careful around your fish tank if you have one).

And thrips live not only on buds, if there is no buds they will be chomping on the rest of the plant. So - 3 treatments. And on the whole collection - not only on Fishers - unless you isolated them well enough. They fly, you know...

The most annoying thrips is Western thrips - guess where they originated from?

good luck

irina

Eeep! The spray; it's for indoor outdoor use, plant based pyrethins, but it does caution to not get on skin, clothes, etc.. That I don't like, but I can live with. I usually use gloves and take off my clothes afterwards (and change into something else :-)). I'm looking at waiting a week and getting some ladybugs for indoor use after the first spray wears off :-) I think it was a minor infestation just on one plant, but I did disbud all of my plants as a precaution. I know I can get them to rebloom, so not a problem.

Eeep again! They are from California? Aw shoot. That means I have to get a vacuum sealed house :-) Seriously though, I've never had a problem with them indoors on my plants or even on my plants outside, even roses. I think Fisher may have a problem at their nursery, because this is thrips on two separate occasions, months and months apart from one another, but I've never seen them on any other nursery plants, and never on my plants. But you never know :-) At least these are all NoIDs affected. I'll recheck and respray tonight. I got 'em once with one disbud and a spray of Neem. I hope this one is not out of control. They are so small! The babies look like white needletips. I squish them when I see them so they can't fly away, but I understand they are pretty stealthy. I think I finally saw an adult this time.

minibot

There usually more than one - and they have different life stages - I think it is called a vector - so an intermediate vector of larva or pupae - or whatever - lives in a soil and eats the roots. So - you can easily presume that they are everywhere. But if they are inside buds - you cannot get them.

Basically you need to kepp them in isolated room and work with your violets in a lab coat. They are everywhere outside, on roses for sure -and they travel on pets, cut flowers and your clothes if you worked in your garden.
I have a school type microscope X 70 - and scrubbed the baby leaves for tissue and looked at it - guess what I found - thrips larva.

My understanding - they will get in your collection sooner or later - so you eradicate them and wait for the next invasion. It is like living near the swamp and expecting not to have mosquitoes in your house - at least several will find the way in.

Good Luck

Okay, this is just funny. WinCo now has poor regular size AVs rattling around in 6" pots for -- get this -- $10. The same varieties you find in 4" pots for $3, and I'll bet people bought 'em too.

Korina (glad I have you guys to b!#*h to)