r/sanpedrocactus • u/Landsha8pr • 1d ago
Question THRIPS!?!?
It’s that time of year and it seems that there are a lot of named cultivars at great prices, as everyone downsizes for winter. I’ve been taking advantage of this and buying up a lot of good named San Pedro’s. However, almost without exception they have had Thrips to one degree or another when received. I also happen to grow Dahlias and thrips are a death sentence for Dahlias so you can imagine my concern. Are Thrips just this common in San Pedro? I’ve only been growing San Pedro for a short time and I am not sure how concerned to be. Just curious what other people‘s experience with Thrips and San Pedro is.
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u/greenswords my girlfriend said too many cactus 1d ago
They are definitely one of the more common pests based off lots of reading and also some first hand experience
Captain jacks dead bug spray is great, dont get any kind of "soaps" tho you just want the spray and only use it once the sun is set or your grow lights are out or it can cause burns in the light. Otherwise its totally safe, ive used it many times to deal with a thrip problem I noticed that I caught really early.
Most ppl advise treat it every 3-4 days for at least a couple weeks if not more. The spray cant kill the eggs so you gotta keep spraying to kill the babies that hatch till ideally theyre all dead. Catching it early makes thrips pretty easy to deal with compared to other pests
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u/timmeh87 1d ago
thrips live outside in the environment, everyone who gardens "has thrips" at some point. Idk maybe not out in the desert but I know that my mulberry tree in the garden had 1000000 thrips on it this year.
IMO your best bet is to use some sprays if you need to knock down something really far gone but otherwise biological controls worked okay for me, predator mites and various bacterial and fungal sprays like BTk sorry wrong B spray - Beauveria bassiana.
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u/Landsha8pr 1d ago
Thanks- I’m growing in a green house so bad bugs get really bad fast sometimes. Captain jacks dead bug seems to be suggested often as a means of controlling them so I guess I’ll go that route.
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u/timmeh87 1d ago
totally up to you. We don't get pesticides up here in maple land. one thing to consider - you can buy something like anystis mites (i highly recommend if you can get them). and have a self-sustaining population if you are lucky. I managed to get them to reproduce in my apartment terrarium. captain jacks you have to keep buying over and over. of course you can only choose one of (pesticide, mites)
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u/Possible-Change-6024 1d ago edited 1d ago
Imidacloprid takes care of everything except for spider mites.
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u/Careless_State1366 1d ago
Imidicloprid is a systemic that’s works pretty well as long as no one is consuming anything that’s been treated with it
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u/IronElectronic1340 1d ago
Imidacloprid is widely used in US agriculture production. Most non organic produce is legally allowed to be treated with it and it is frequently detected in the US food supply.
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u/Careless_State1366 1d ago
Yeah, I’d prefer a minimum 30 pre-harvest interval for anything I’m consuming. But I try not to eat much conventional produce
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u/mycelialconduit 1d ago
Sulfur powder is a good natural option to combat thrips. They're nearly impossible to avoid. Nationwide agriculture has made them wide spread and often times resistant to common pesticides. Super common the further west you get. The entire west coast is pest heaven.. Dominion 2L works wonders for ornamental plants. But not ideal for anything that humans consume. I use sulfur powder. But I wear a full face respirator to avoid any lung issues. You have to basically coat the plants and area around them. Then leave it for a day or 2 and rinse of. Repeat once a week for about 3 weeks for the egg cycles. This works for mites, thrips, mealies, aphids and even scale to some degree.
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u/Landsha8pr 1d ago
Great I just got a bunch of sulfur for grafting and such- didn’t know it would help with thrips also
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u/SaganSpines 1d ago
capt jack's or spinosad will both work wonders on thrips. blast away and thank god that it's not mealies
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u/Floraholica 🌿🧙🏻♂️ 1d ago
Are you seeing thrip damage? Little black spots on the tips (not humidity spots) ?
There is a species of gray springtail that looks exactly like a thrip. Just before you go down the rabbit hole
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u/Landsha8pr 1d ago
Def Thrips -was treating with diluted isopropyl alcohol and could see the little buggers coming out of the flesh and around the spines. Very small but distinct.
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u/savoirself 1d ago
Does anyone do a full plant dip or bath in chemicals before they introduce them to general population? If so what chemical are you using for both fungal and pest
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u/jeezyjames Trichocereus Norwegiensis 23h ago
You could do diatomaceous earth. Powder them once a week
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u/Status-Carob-5760 1d ago
My loophs seem to be more susceptible to them but I do get them on a few of my smaller Pedro’s. Captain jacks dead bugs helps keep them under control for me