1st pic and shores of time are stunning.
Jill

If a flower can look that good with serious thrip damage, it has to be spectacular when not damaged. Thank you for the pics, I just love seeing everyone's successes!

Fabulous pics Wade, I especially like the VL x JTD seedling, but then I love both the parents. I just acquired JTD and it is growing some. I sure hope it blooms for me. Ok what are thrips and how do I control them, as if I need anything else to do ROFL. Dealing with aphids is enough for me. Oh yeah and spraying for rust. Ok out to take some more pics, the sun can't decide what it wants to do today.

Dot

Very few of my established plants have any significant thrip damage. They do have very minor damage at times. Most of my new plants have damage, and I attribute that to them being less capable of resisting them when they are weak after a transplant.

Most fancy flowers need to grow at least a year before they can show off their edges, such as Gary Colby and Iwanna Piranha. But Wild Irish and many of the Stamile flowers did really well their first season. Bill Robinson is outperforming all of the pinks even though it is new, and it has severe thrip damage. The buds have deformed sepals before they open, and the above pic shows them. The obvious flower damage is a surefire sign of thrips.

I do nothing to control thrips because the results are never worth the effort. I just wait till next year. Thrips are really small invasive critters that you can see crawling on yellow flowers. They like yellow the most. They are no more than a millimeter long. I am guessing they look mean under a microscope...maybe huge jaws. Maybe they have a smiley face.

I used to spray with systemics and they help but you have to spray every ten days and you still have some thrips. As with aphids, I leave themn alone and they don't cause any real harm...I can live with ugly flowers some days.

Here is the Spunky (they always have great pics) pic for Bill Robinson. It is very very fancy and has better color than my other fancies.

{{gwi:704705}}

Your pictures are gorgeous. I have questions here regarding thrips also...I've only had 2 to open so far this year and they definately have serious thrip damage. I've used a systematic in the past and it seemed to work quickly and last througout the entire blooming season. The one I was using was mixed with water and poured around the base of the plants as opposed to spraying. I'd REALLY like to get away from using ANY insecticides, but like the rest of you, I look forward to dl bloom time all year. These deformed blooms are not what I want to see right now! Has anyone been successful using anything organic? Or maybe I'm just being impatient and the thrip problem will take care of itself soon? I've seen it mentioned here before to spray soapy water on the buds but I can't imagine how that would help since the thrips are already inside the buds...

In past years, there have been several posts here about the latest advanced systemics. I don't spray insecticides now so I have no idea. Most of the time, if your plants are established, the blooms will get better. I think thrips invade blooms sporadically as they form, and sometimes first blooms are the worst. I waged war on thrips the whole time I have gardened until a couple of years ago. I guess I got a divorce and married the thrips.

Nice seedlings Wade!

I don't know why I put up the V Lace x JTD pic cuz its not as good as either parent. The top pic is nice but the scape has low bud count so far. Maybe it will get better, but probably not. It has a rebloom scape up already and this is first flower, but the bud count is 7..yes, 7. If the rebloom is 7 count too then it will just be a pretty flower. I'll probably grow one more year and sell it. The Bill Robinson flower is only 5 1/2" and has 3 1/2" wide petals. I think it gets bigger and better.

I really like the VL X JTD seedling and it is a cross I hope to try this summer, assuming I get bloom on both because they will both be new to me this year. Shores of Time is very nice as well. I added that one too. Boy, am I a name dropper or what? What have you been crossing Shores of Time with?

Edward

OK so the thrips are the little bugs I see crawling all over them about the size of an ant. Well they really like Some Sweet Day cause every flower on it has looked like that except the first one was pretty good.

Dotster

Shores Of Time has some really good qualities. The color is very clear, but it needs a bigger edge. Since the color is so good, we can cross just about anything with it. I am putting Gary Colby pollen on it because of GC's size and edge, and its lack of a clear color. If I didn't have GC, I would use Wonder Of It All or Bill Robinson because of the edges. Even JTD would be good I think, but non yellows may yield more clear colors in the seedlings.

I am also putting Captain Blue pollen on it to bring out the watermark. I have pods on Wild Irish from Gary Colby and Captain Blue. WI has a watermark and clear color. So, for SOT, I would go with a big edge or blue eye. A clear color such as Princess Diana would no doubt yield many clear seedlings with SOT.

Bayer has a systemic for Roses that eliminates thrips. One kind last for six weeks and one lasts all season. It also eliminates Japanese beetles.

Brooke

THat Bayer systemic will also eliminate every earthworm in a 3 foot radius of the plant. If you have a lot of earthworms (like I did) it isn;t a pretty sight since they all come to the surface of the soil, writhing in distress, then promptly die, leaving a nice covering of dead worms. I used it on one rose 2 years ago and just this spring I am finding earthworms in the vicinity of that rose.

Just an FYI

Alexa

Thanks for the warning on the Bayer systemic, I was starting to consider trying it. Guess I'll stick to Orthene if I need it.

Last year, DAMSEL IN DISTRESS's first bloom for me was a disaster, just wasted the beautiful purple (my daughter identified thrips for me). Anyway, it had a second bloom, considerably better and WOW, a third bloom was very close to perfect. This covered about a month and I didn't spray it with anything either.

I'm glad to be learning about it though.

Kay

Wade,
I love Shores of Time, and that Shores of Time seedling of yours looks mighty fine. Nice, saturated color with a lovely edge. Great going!

Shive

The first is my favorite - SPC Child Star x Chartered Course...beautiful colors...makes me want to eat something sweet!
Kathy

Well I'm just impatient I guess...I had some of the Bayer systematic that lasts for 6 weeks and used it at a very diluted rate the other night. Not long afterwards, started feeling really guilty and watered it in as much as I could.

Alexa, your post is very disturbing but I'm glad you told us that. I've used the stuff once a year for the past 2 years. Now, there is no way I'm willing to sacrifice earthworms for perfect blooms. There must be some other way...

I didn't mean to upset you with the comments abuot the Bayer systemic, I just wanted to pass along my experiences. I wrote to Bayer asking if this was to be expected and the explained that yes, one of the compounds in the systemic would kill off earthworms too.

I am not condemning anyone who chooses to use it, everyone has their own level of tolerance for pests/pesticides, I just think it is better to consider all the information.

Alexa