Thrips in roses-gardner needed

[.45Cole]

So I found out the ugly roses are due to thrips rather than a disease (yay). I see they are hard to control, and there are many methods of controlling them, but many seem company sponsored. Any advice?

[xs11jack]

What are Thrips, pray tell???? Maybe the wife's roses had or have it and don't know it!
Ole Jack

[Johnch]

I seem to remember
I use this on other plants to controll everything


Tobacco liquid ...soak pipe tobacco in water
Mix in some dish soap and spray on the roses

It kills almost all garden pests

John

[bayjoe]

Seven dust, works every time and its cheap and easy to find

[Duckiller]

Wash them off with a hose.

[Bad Water Bill]

Please inform us that TRIPS is?

I have had a rose bed in my yard for over 40 years and mom had one for years before that but never heard of TRIPS.

Is it a bug,mite,mold or fungus?

[wch]

Controls for thrips include insecticidal soaps, permethrin, and carbaryl (Bayer Co.)

[Wayne Smith]

They are tiny bugs.

[Jeffrey]

We had beetles on our tomatoes. Grossed me out so bad I wanted to do something NOW. Put 2 ounces Tabasco in 1/2 gallon water, sprayed on tomatoes. Beetles stayed away until the nest rain.

[Charley]

Thrips can be tough to control. Beneficial nematodes can help prevent a population from getting started. Once a population is built up, you need to do considerably more. Insecticidal soap (Safer) kills exposed insects, a bit if dish detergent in water will do the same. Neem oil will work as well. Try to get complete coverage of the foliage, if you miss any substantial areas, thrips breed fast enough under some conditions the population will recover very quickly. You can also use products containing Imidicloprid, a systemic insecticide produced by Bayer. Merit and Bayer Tree and Shrub both contain that active ingredient. DON'T use either of those on edible plants. As I said, they are systemics. That means they are absorbed into the plant's vascular system, and move throughout the plant, When the insect feeds on the sap, they get a lethal dose of insecticide, and death occurs. If you eat a plant that has been treated with the same material, you will get a dose as well. You won't die, you won't get sick, but exposing yourself unnecessarily to any toxic substance is a bad idea.

[.45Cole]

Thanks all. Thrips are tiny sap suckers that don't harm the rose, except for making the buds and petals look like h*ll. (http://www.walterreeves.com/gardening-q-and-a/rose-thrips-control/)
The best way to see them is to open a bud up and beat it into your hand so anything falls out, and you will see wiskers (really, like two day beard) faintly moving. They dont really harm the rose, just your eyes.
I have been doing the dish soap and power spray, and was thinking systemic control, but it sucks. Has anyone tried the fungus Beauveria bassiana? I usually don't have many beneficial bugs around, and Colorado is so dry the spores will not last long enough to mess up any grasshopper fests down the road.

[popper]

They don't seem to bother the knock outs but ate really hard on the teas. I use the systemic on the teas. Have to be carefully cause my puppy likes to chew the branches I chop off, thorns don't bother her.

[.45Cole]

They don't seem to bother the knock outs but ate really hard on the teas.
They leave the florabundas alone and go for the teas. Which systemic do you use, and how much/often do you apply? Last year I had a bottle and treated all the roses, but I don't remember if the roses looked better.