Thrips Citric Acid

Willy B. Goode said:

I have been squishing them by pressing the leaves between thumb and forefinger where I see them. They're easy to spot under the light once you know what to look for, especially when they see that giant thumb bearing down and scurry lol. I do this three times a day and have only five medium size plants in week 6 of flower in a 4x4 so it's manageable for the most part, but I know I am slowly fighting a losing battle.

Search 'Thrips' on here and after some poking around found this. Dr. Zymes ... I think I'll order a bottle this week....

Sulfur was Magic against Russet and Broad Mites but Thrips seem to be surviving it?

What is the best Knock Down for Thrips??? Luckily they are spreading very very slowly maybe because I grow in L.E.C.a. Hydroton Expanded Clay etc.... But I have like lots of possibilties, Neem being the one I would prefer to use the least since it is the least Compatable with my Sulfur...

www.rollitup.org

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Ive used it. It works well. Use a surfactant with it.

Willy B. Goode said:

I have been squishing them by pressing the leaves between thumb and forefinger where I see them. They're easy to spot under the light once you know what to look for, especially when they see that giant thumb bearing down and scurry lol. I do this three times a day and have only five medium size plants in week 6 of flower in a 4x4 so it's manageable for the most part, but I know I am slowly fighting a losing battle.

Search 'Thrips' on here and after some poking around found this. Dr. Zymes ... I think I'll order a bottle this week....

Sulfur was Magic against Russet and Broad Mites but Thrips seem to be surviving it?

What is the best Knock Down for Thrips??? Luckily they are spreading very very slowly maybe because I grow in L.E.C.a. Hydroton Expanded Clay etc.... But I have like lots of possibilties, Neem being the one I would prefer to use the least since it is the least Compatable with my Sulfur...

www.rollitup.org

Click to expand...

Capt. Jacks Dead Bug Brew is best for spraying thrips. Good luck.

HydoDan said:

The dish soap acts as a surfactant.. I use just a drop of Dawn.. Try not to spray the buds if possible..

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Star Dog said:

The dish soap is essential, without of soap or wetting agent the hairs on insects work against surface tension, like springtails walking on water, a few drops of wetting agent and they fall straight through the water surface.

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Hey yall was I supposed to mix soap with my citric acid ? The plants ain’t doing too bad. Bout to spray them for lights out . Thank you all who have contributed to this thread. I had put a bunch of predatory insects in there ( cucumeris, minute pirate bugs) and ladybugs but I only really see a few ladybugs now and one or two minute pirate bugs. Not sure if they died or went in the soil

Yes I'd use it everytime it makes the fluid cling to them sort of magnetic, without surface tension fluid sort engulfs them in the blink of eye.

It's worth googling surface tension it's important with diy pesticides.

Star Dog said:

Yes I'd use it everytime it makes the fluid cling to them sort of magnetic, without surface tension fluid sort engulfs them in the blink of eye.

It's worth googling surface tension it's important with diy pesticides.

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Thank you!

Avering said:

Hey yall was I supposed to mix soap with my citric acid ? The plants ain’t doing too bad. Bout to spray them for lights out . Thank you all who have contributed to this thread. I had put a bunch of predatory insects in there ( cucumeris, minute pirate bugs) and ladybugs but I only really see a few ladybugs now and one or two minute pirate bugs. Not sure if they died or went in the soil

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Yes, you can and should use soap(surfactant), though if it were me, I'd only use dawn dish soap.
It works by breaking surface tension of water. Individual molecules of water are highly attractive to each other. That's why you get water droplets.
A surfactant makes them less attractive. Therefore, it let's the water cover a surface more evenly.

Most of the insects probably got eaten by the ladybugs. The rest probably died off from lack of food source.

Hollatchaboy said:

Yes, you can and should use soap(surfactant), though if it were me, I'd only use dawn dish soap.
It works by breaking surface tension of water. Individual molecules of water are highly attractive to each other. That's why you get water droplets.
A surfactant makes them less attractive. Therefore, it let's the water cover a surface more evenly.

Most of the insects probably got eaten by the ladybugs. The rest probably died off from lack of food source.

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Thank you, I have yucca extract that I was planning on using tonight instead of the soap since I don’t have unscented at the moment. Can’t wait to get rid of these guys, but a few people have told me it will be difficult to kill them off completely

Yucca afaik is natural wetting agent that should work fine.

I’ve no experience with thrips and citric but I can tell you citric fks up spider mite good, its used in some pesticides and its said to kill eggs so maybe?
Fingers crossed!

You've got to spray periodically to prevent any new eggs making it to adults.

Good luck!!

Avering said:

Thank you, I have yucca extract that I was planning on using tonight instead of the soap since I don’t have unscented at the moment. Can’t wait to get rid of these guys, but a few people have told me it will be difficult to kill them off completely

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I use yucca for ipm and every watering. Works good and it's organic.
Ive used dr zymes for thrips. It got rid of them, but diluted citric acid is basically the same thing. It should work the same, but you'll need to keep up with ipm for a bit, and if you're introducing anything new to the grow, like medium, compost, ewc, clones, you should be prepared for an outbreak of something.

Hollatchaboy said:

I use yucca for ipm and every watering. Works good and it's organic.
Ive used dr zymes for thrips. It got rid of them, but diluted citric acid is basically the same thing. It should work the same, but you'll need to keep up with ipm for a bit, and if you're introducing anything new to the grow, like medium, compost, ewc, clones, you should be prepared for an outbreak of something.

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Thank you. I just finished spraying them. 56 oz of water with 3 teaspoons or so of citric acid and a half teaspoon of yucca extract. I hope I didn’t go overboard with the citric acid. I have a 24” drum fan pointing at them on high with the tent open now. It’s lights off time and I’m a bit worried this could cause mold on the buds if I don’t give them strong wind

Seems like everyone is getting their bug stuff taken care of. Just remember you only win the battles. The bugs win the wars. We have proven that they come from the mediums and continue to come out of the medium weeks after you wet the soil. Keep soaking the soil surfaces and spraying the leaves. Use paint mesh bags/pantyhose to keep the bugs from escaping the pot and into the grow.

I can spray right thru the mesh bags to kill the trapped bugs coming from the holes in the bottom of the pots. medidedicated has said he sprays right thru the pantyhose wrapped around his pots. Star dog is getting bugs coming from nowhere inside his wrapped pots.

There is no way to completely win unless we find a new medium that has no bugs and is easy to grow in OR we do a full soil soak before planting our seeds/clones.

Full soil soaks done the proper way will work IMO. In my case would be a pain the ass tho. I would need a 4 x 8 just to pre soak my early pots. For guys doing 4 to 8 plants it should be very easy to prefill a few pots, fill with soil, and do the full wash method I wrote up on my fungus gnat experiment thread.

I'm 99.9% sure they're not finding there way in, there's not been any to get in the sticky trap hasn't caught anything in weeks, if they were around I'd see them, I squished another cursed gnat this morning that's #4 in the last week surely they've got to run out soon?

It's surprising how well they're doing stuck in bags, I pulled one out yesterday for a look and everything looks ok, tbh I'm a little surprised after all I've read about the need for oxygen...obviously they need x amount lol

My paint bags didn't arrive but a email said posted, something might not turn up but a email saying it had been delivered at 'time' is unusual, anyhow ordering more and preventing them is my plan for the future with my mums for damage limitation, crikey miss one and you're fkd before you know it.

The fight goes on!