This is the damage verified by the State as being Chilli Thrips.

I really can't imagine WORSE news.

Bad news, indeed... I seem to recall that Knockout Roses are especially attractive to or vulnerable to chilli thrips, so are there roses that are not (as) problematic?

Virginia

So sorry.

Getting the word out is going to be really hard, because your neighborhood rose growers expect things to look good and for their roses to be carefree.

Yes. And come to think of it, this is something about which we must notify the local rose societies.

Jeri,

Not just local rose groups, but garden clubs in general.
Reason....this is the horrific part....multiple host plants.

This linked article lists some of the alternate host plants, as well as gives photos of the thrips by different microscopes. IF you don't have a microscope, one way of checking your plant (if you have something that looks wonky) is to put the sickly part on a scanner with your computer and scan at the highest resolution you have. You'd be surprised how monsterous aphids look...and these thrips are about the size of some aphids' legs- so you'd have a record of what's there.

Anyway, here's one link to get you startedA Chilli Thrips page

I don't have this one (yet) but the leaves of my roses have been decimated like never before and I've discovered at least three culprits, a short gray worm, some kind of small brown beetle and grasshoppers. Also something that looks like a grasshopper but somehow smaller and more delicate, not sure what that is. If we garden organically, does that mean that if chilli thrips are present that we can no longer grow roses.?

Ingrid,

Take a look most of the way down the article I linked to. It has biological controls listed.

If I were your gardener, first I'd get IDs of the three pests you do have. Then I'd research their potential biocontrols (or biocontrols that work for their close (species level) kin bugs. Then find what conditions these potential controls live under...what other plants are good as host plants for them.
Then I'd source the bugs and the plants.
The internet is wonderful...imagine trying to do this sort of thing by going to the stacks of a library.

I would think that birds might be the best biocontrols for the pests I have now, which I think might also include a certain kind of wasp because of the round circles I see on some of the leaves. Some of the leaves are so lacy that almost nothing is left. For chilli thrips the solution doesn't seem as easy in terms of natural predators.

Oh, God, y'all have my deepest sympathies. You WILL spray or risk losing your roses. If you don't hit them immediately with something that kills them, which is what I didn't do, the infestation will grow so large, it will outright kill your roses, cane by cane. The few modern grafted roses I have seem to be far more susceptible than my own-root antiques. This is the first time in my life I've used sprays. As soon as the weather cools off, they disappear and then reappear as soon as it heats back up. They showed up two months earlier than normal this past spring, and I was already behind when I realized they were here. I initially started out with spinosad, but I'm now trying a horticultural oil called Suffoil. We'll see.

As with Knockouts, Julia Child and Belinda's Dream also seem to be very susceptible to them, especially just established plants.

I have an uncomfortable feeling that birds will spread the pest. Not to mention our eternal West wind.

Thanks for the info and photos, roseseek. We have to be watchful and deal with it, as with the drought. Keep calm and carry on.

Spinetoram might be more effective than spinosad. Still a bit hard to find and, I suppose, expensive as it is very new and only marketed by Dow. 'Radiant' is one formulation containing it. No idea about its legal status for garden use in the US.

Another recommendation is an Imidicloprid drench -- but I am not willing to do that.
I've found some good information at:http://lee.ifas.ufl.edu/Hort/GardenPubsAZ/ChilliThrips.pdf

and http://www.learn2grow.com/problemsolvers/insectsanimals/insectdamagecontrol/NewThripInTown.aspx

I used to use the Bayer drench but I am not sure if it did anything for thrips. I have used Orthene only on buds after I remove any open flowers (put them in a plastic bag, seal and toss in the garbage). But that is for regular thrips.

Thanks for the information, Jeri. Unfortunately, I react violently to imidicloprid. I hate it's an ingredient in too many flea preparations for pets. I can't use them on the critters, especially when they end up on the furniture and in bed with me.

re: Nik's tip about spinetoram (Radiant SC)-- This chemical is approved for home garden use and listed as "reduced risk." It is only available in larger sizes ($225) but might be worthwhile for those with large rose gardens and chilli thrips. It has the same good toxicological profile as spinosad but is more persistent on the plant.

Kim, I don't like Imidicloprid for a whole host of reasons. We DO use a Spinosad-based flea-control, because one of our three has a terrible flea allergy. ("Comfortis" -- it works.) But Imidiclprid is not something I want on the place.

And I'm afraid the price for "Radiant" is above my price-range.

Jeri, the price is for the 1 liter (quart?) I pressume, which should be good for many applications in a large rose garden. 6-10 fluid ounces of the stuff should be good for 1 acre of roses..... (Hope I got my measurements correct, it is always a problem for me talking to you people in the US about lengths, weights and volumes..).

Out of my price range, pal.

I see that Plumbago is one of the plants that host Chilli Thrips. It just happens that there are gigantic, many-decades-old Plumbagos all up and down the hill. Sort of surrounds us, though we don't grow it. Depressing.
Then, there are the two big Ficus trees behind my house . . .

Roseseek, I concur with Floridarose. Chili thrips are in Florida (here to stay) and I encounter them once or twice a year. I know what chili thrip damage looks like and I act right away. I mix 1/2 tsp. of Conserve (spinosad) per gallon in a sprayer and apply all over the affected plants and their neighbors, the whole garden., b/c other plants can be affected by them as well. You have to be careful to not overuse and should find a secondary means of control so you can rotate if you need to repeat spray or risk developing a strain that is resistant to spinosads. Acting fast is key. Spinosad works very well and I have never lost a rose because of chili thrips. I typically do not spray but I will spray for chili thrips. FWIW, my Marie Pavie had it last. I just cut off the affected parts (it is always new growth, new buds that are affected first, so if you know what you are seeing, you can remove affected growth and spray and that usually takes care of it. By the time the entire plant is affected, you have a much bigger battle as they multiply and spread quickly.

Baldo Villegas, our retired State Entomolgist, feels as wide spread as they are, they've likely been here for at least a year. Due to the spread, the State probably won't be going out to quarantine or take samples. They will assume it's the whole county wherever they're reported. It's likely people have observed the damage and possibly felt it was due to excessive heat and drought.

Unfortunately the only alternatives to the relatively benign spinosyns (spinosad, spinetoram, mode of action Group 5) that I have read of, in case one needs to rotate, are either neonicotinoids (e.g. imidacloprid) or systemic organophosphates... Are chilly thrips a real danger to any major commercial production? That would be the only hope for some new ingredient for control to be developed.

Movento (spirotetramat, mode of action Group 23) may be a workable choice as a secondary control as it does control the juvenile stages of various thrips (but does not have a major effect on adults). No idea if it has been tested against chilli thrips.

PS. In case one decides to use imidacloprid on roses, a root drench is, reportedly, more effective than a foliar spray and should not be as dangerous to other non-sucking insects and natural enemies.

I am so sorry to hear that chilli thrips are in California. As some of you may remember I discovered them in my garden in October of 2012 and wrote about it on the Texas Garden Web here. There are pictures of what the damage looks like on roses and if you scroll down about 2/3 there are pictures of other plants with chilli thrips damage. There are also several links to more information. Some still work and some do not.

The Houston Rose Society link still works and has several pages of information and photos.

Chilli thrips can be ID'd with a 10 power jeweler's loupe. I described how in these two paragraphs.

"I took several sheets of white paper, made a slight funnel with them, held them under a leaf and tapped it. Along with some teeny dust size black dots of what I think was frass I saw one tiny yellow dot moving. It was less than the size of period at the end of this sentence. I focused on it using a 10X jewelers loupe and the tiny insect, 1/10 the size of a flower thrips came into view. It was unmistakable a chilli thrips, had the little lines on it and everything. And then it flew away in front my of very eyes (to use an old expression).

I then took the paper to an opened rose that had the brown streaks, tapped it, out dropped two little spiders which quickly ran off the paper. Were they eating the chilli thrips? I don't know. But remaining on the paper were four tiny yellow dots that were moving. Putting the loop on them I could see they were the immature forms of chilli thrips; no wings."

I also ID'd them on several other type of plants using that method.

I knew a young gardener who was willing to treat the roses with insecticides. I was NOT willing. So he came and dug up about 50 mature roses and I redesigned the whole garden. I had enjoyed roses for about 30 years and I was ready for something else requiring less care so it was no big deal. As fate would have it, we've had some colder winters and I haven't seen evidence of chilli thrips damage on the other plants since, and there were quite a few. Since I don't spray maybe a chilli thrips predator showed up? Who knows why they went away -- in my garden anyway. I haven't kept up with what's going on with the San Antonio Rose Society member gardens, but about half their members were already spraying for them when I discovered the damage on my roses.

I wish you all the best. These things have a way of working themselves out and are often not as bad as we thought they would be. That was the case for my garden.

RoseLee -- I would like to share this with others. OK?

Jerijen, of course go right ahead. It's public information which I hope might be helpful.

Thanks for warning us to be on the lookout. I hate spraying but don't see what choice we have now. I remember when all my fuchsias died because of fuchsia mites. I didn't grow them for a long time after that. I don't want to have that experience with my roses.

Check this out, just trying to help: http://www.aapmhe.in/index.php/pmhe/article/view/198

Those of us in Southern CA, where the temperature never goes low, are probably at more risk than folks with colder winters.

Jeri, There are organic neem products can help you:

"

Bio-efficacy of neem products and essential oils against thrips (Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood) in Capsicum

P N KRISHNA MOORTHY, S SAROJA, K SHIVARAMU

Abstract

Bio-efficacy of two neem products viz., neem soap (1%), pulverised neem seed powder extract (4%) and essential oils (0.2%) of basil (Ocimum tenuiflorum syn. O. sanctum) mint (Mentha arvensis) were evaluated against chilli thrips (Scirtothrips dorsalis Hood) in comparison to recommended systemic insecticides viz., acephate (0.075%) and fipronil (0.02%) during 2011-12 rabi season in capsicum. Neem soap and pulverised neem seed powder extract prepared in the laboratory and commercially available essential oil samples were used for this study. Ten sprays of the treatments were given at 10 days interval. Thrips damage rating in leaves on a scale of 0-5 was taken once in 10 days to know the treatment effect. Results revealed that neem soap, neem seed powder extract, basil and mint were at par with each other and gave significant reduction of S. dorsalis damage. While neem seed powder extract, basil and mint were at par with acephate and fipronil. Neem soap was at par with fipronil. This study showed that the botanicals like neem soap, neem seed powder extract and essential oils can be used as alternatives to synthetic insecticides for management of chilli thrips, S. dorsalis in capsicum."

http://www.aapmhe.in/index.php/pmhe/article/view/198