|
Post by Dennis Z on Sept 8, 2014 15:11:34 GMT -5
Unfortunately last night I discovered small black dots and a small translucent insect on my ceph. I believe it's thrips so before I start researching my head off on how to get rid of them, I would like to know if anybody here knows any good remedies for cephs with thrips. Are ceph particularly sensitive to any insecticides? How fast do thrips spread fast in a collection? My ceph grows alongside my succulents so now I fear that may beloved huerina cacti and lithops may have thrips.
|
|
|
Post by ng on Sept 8, 2014 15:36:35 GMT -5
Ive dealt with them a couple times on my neps. A combination of beneficials and orthene was the nail in the coffin. Bugs are a pain, remember these guys come up from the soil so a light ditonatious earth dusting can never hurt as a start.
|
|
|
Post by Dennis Z on Sept 8, 2014 15:52:47 GMT -5
This sucks, I want to stay away from systematics for now. I've read that neem oil does the trick but I can't find it for sale anywhere. Maybe it's not thrips, I am able to brush some of the black dots off so it might just be dirt particles. But the small white insect definitely looked like thrips to me, too bad I killed it before I took a picture.
Is it normal for an old ceph pitcher to lose colour on it's front "crest"? Or is it just the thrips doing it.
Sorry for the bombardment of questions, I can't seem to find answers online.
|
|
|
Post by ng on Sept 8, 2014 17:08:44 GMT -5
Thrips look like littttttle white rice grains. You will see small brown 'pucker' marks from where they suck the juice out of your plants. They may look like little black dots at certain stages of their life cycle. Pay in mind if the plant does not look like it is being damaged or showing stress they may not be a harmful mite. Neem oil is only available online or in bulk. Someone posted a link to it not long ago, i'll find it for ya. Just make sure they aren't little red burrowing ones or i'll have to personally camp in your yard for a month.
|
|
|
Post by Dennis Z on Sept 8, 2014 17:16:58 GMT -5
It was a white, fairly stationary one. My memory kicked in, and I found hal's thread he posted not too long ago about his markham road trip, and apparently a store called "Kim's nature" has neem oil. I do hope that maybe it's not thrips, but I'm having my doubts since some of my plant's symptoms match with the symptoms I read up online.
|
|
|
Post by ng on Sept 9, 2014 9:15:58 GMT -5
The only time I ever had issues with them was in a 110 gal tank. Ripe breeding grounds for those little effers. I changed all the soils, hit all the plants with a pyrethrine bath. They were still there. Then the bran from the beneficial mites I used rotted in the humidity, what a mess. So orthene it was, pow one shot... Didnt even phase the neps. Gone never to be seen again.
After this year's bout with these red mites, *which im still dealing with* my quarantine for plant material is going to be thorough.
|
|
|
Post by lloyd on Sept 9, 2014 20:50:43 GMT -5
Are the ceph's suffering? Maybe it's a benign bug. The times I thought I had thrips, there were a fair number of them wandering about and the plants definitely looked unhealthy. The Neem recipe would probably cut down the reproduction and allow the plants to bounce back. Also I can't imagine that thrips would hurt succulents. If they did, you could get them with insecticidal soap or even dunk the succulent in pure alcohol.
|
|
|
Post by ng on Sept 9, 2014 21:03:26 GMT -5
Like any mite, if you want them gone there is very little chance you can hit them with anything that will do it in one hit. Unless it is systemic. Be persistent, you have to break the cycle. Vapona strips in a bag work very effectively for the free born stuff. In combination with a BTI water through to kill the larvae you would have them beat. this had worked very well for me on many tropicals. If you want specifics on any pest control let me know, i've dealt with them all, i'll pm you.
|
|