Much appreciation for all the responses. I'll call around for the Fertilome product containing Spinosad, the active ingredient in Conserve. Oh, I just found I have an almost full bottle of "Bull's-Eye Bioinsecticide" containing Spinosad as the active ingredient. It's a Garden's Alive product purchased several years ago for thrips with one of their coupon deals, but I stopped using all insecticides a short time later. (As an aside I'll pass along that within a couple of years of not spraying insecticides I've not had thrips in the rose blooms nor spider mites.) WHAT IS THE SHELF LIFE OF SPINOSAD? This bottle is probably 5 to 6 years old. I googled "Shelf life of Spinosad" and found this: "It has a pH of 7.74, is stable to metal and metal ions for 28 days, and has a shelf life of three years as formulated material." Does "forumulated material" mean after it is mixed with water for spraying, or as it sits in the original container? Another question is wouldn't waiting until there were symptoms allow any Chilli thrips that might be present to spread? How DO they spread? Wind? Infected plant touching a clean plant? Do they fly at some point? I have skimmed several articles online and haven't found a definite answer. Maybe they don't know. One article said this: "Prevention To prevent the introduction of chilli thrips into new landscapes it is important make sure that material is not infested prior to planting. New plants being planted could be infesting in a number of ways. The most common method would be to purchase infested plants. However, another overlooked method would be for infested plants removed from the landscape and brought back to a holding area to infest clean plants. When moving plants between properties make sure that they do not have chilli thrips. Infested plants can spread an infestation to holding areas and new landscapes into which they are planted." But this doesn't tell me HOW they spread. Do you think I should I keep them in a large cardboard box covered with clear plastic (in the shade of course) for a couple of weeks? An article in a Houston newspaper suggested that Ike's winds spread Chilli thrips much further inland than the Houston area. This article also said: "Control of chilli thrips is not difficult but requires persistent treatment. Though the pest is easily killed with insecticides, we have not found any insecticides that provide long-term preventive control." Another article said Chilli thrips were thought be deveoping immunity to Spinosad and a variety of insecticides should be used against them. Of course, I would have to believe that the grower of these roses has kept on top of the Chilli thrips problem and my treatment would be simply a precautionary measure. I didn't ask them if they'd ever experienced Chilli thrips among their roses, but when I emailed about what to spray with to forestall a possible problem they suggested Conserve. Any other suggestions will be gratefully received. Hopefully, this is much ado about nothing, but as Kathy indicates, better to be safe than sorry.

I cannot claim to be an expert on chilli thrips, but I know how we control them, and how most successful programs work -- they are based on soil-applied imidacloprid as the primary control measure. Then supplemental sprays with unrelated chemicals help prevent any build-up of resistance to the imidacloprid. It works very well. There appear to be a few roses that at least tolerate them, if not being actually resistant -- 'Mrs. B. R. Cant', 'Trinity', 'Smith's Parish' 'Tausentschoen'. Probably lots of others. Unfortunately, some of the most otherwise carefree roses (Belinda's Dream, all of the Knock-Out series, Don Juan) are unusually susceptible.

Hi Seedo13 I would as a new grower nix the peat pots. And if you soaked them in an inch of water they probably took in the whole inch of water and on top of that if you are using a peat based soil it's holding a lot of water so that's what is killing your seedlings. I would get plastic starting pots and go from there. Peat pots soak and dry quickly so hard to gage the right time to water. Mark

There already are strains of Yellow Bhut out there. Some are hybrids and some are natural mutations. A lot of them are producing stable seeds. I have a couple of the stable varieties. Stable Yellow Bhuts have been around for a year or more,same with chocolate crosses and possibly chocolate natural mutations. In my experiance there are Red,Orange,Yellow,Black and chocolate Bhut Jolokia out there that are stable crosses and Mutations. I've got most of them. Depending on the original pepper genes of whatever pepper Nick is growing(hybrid reverting back to it's roots or a mutation) I'd isolate buds and let the plant self pollinate hoping to get the yellow pods. Red is a real hard thing/gene to get rid of in a peppers color for some reason,in my experiance with crossing plants. I'd guess his color variations are due to growing conditions rather than a gene thing. I think all the pods would be either yellow or red on the same plant if it was a gene thing. I'm not an expert but dissagree that a specific branch will grow yellow pods verses a red pod on the rest of the plant due to a genetic trait that can be passed on in the seeds. If a specific branch was diseased or defective in some way ,maybe it would put out different pods but wether the seeds had the same traits , that is debatable. There used to be a tulip(i think it was) that was a certain color that only happened if the plant had a certain disease or fungus. It was very rare until through years of breeding they got a stable plant from breeding a ton of different varieties to get the same colored tulip. For instance,I have a Bih Jolokia plant that put out yellow pods when other plants from the same plants seed put out orange pods. It could be an enviornmemtal thing. I had a huge mite infestation last season and had plants putting out all kinds of wierd pods. Example: http://c2cpeppers.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=others&action=display&thread=2097 The first pods were from a stressed plant,the others from the same - semi recovered plant. Not knowing if the original plant was a Hybrid or if aphids or whatever diseased the branch of the yellow pods,it's hard to say what you'll get. If you have a branch thats messed up causing the yellow pods then clone it but it won't neccesarily insure seeds to grow yellow pods because it's not a gene thats causing the yellow pod color,just the branches ability to supply whatever the pod needs to make red pods. At the same time,hedge your bets by isolating the buds to see if it might produce seeds that do grow yellow pods. As I said I'm not an expert so I might be wrong. Hope this helps you be less confused about nature than I am. LOL Every time I think I have things figured out something different happens. isolate buds and clone the branch and report back on what happened. If you are cloning stuff,in my experiance a rooting agent that worked for me on peppers was to mix Root Tone and take root together. root tone is 1-naphthaleneacetamide , thiram take root is indole-3-butyric acid Each by itself didn't work well for me but the mix did/does. I haven't tried it yet but Dip'n'Grow has both in it. Should work I'd think for peppers. Easiest way to clone is to dip a cutting into rooting hormone then put in a jar of water with an aquarium air stone.