Death to the Thrips!

And all who support them!

This is a thrip.


Here's what the folks at Ohio Statue University say about thrips.

Thrips are serious pests on vegetables and flowers. Plant injury is caused by both nymphs and adults rasping the bud, flower and leaf tissues of the host plants, and then sucking the exuding sap. This causes distorted and discolored flowers or buds and gray or silvery, speckled areas on the leaves.

My indoor daisy family has been attacked by these little swine. I've posted photos before of my daughter daisies blooming and now mom is about to produce three blooms herself. Unfortunately, the thrips are rasping and sucking and killing my leafy friends.

Normally I'm one for green solutions to pest problems. In nature, thrips are eaten by ladybugs. In the past, when I've had aphid or other pest problems, I've found that a container of ladybugs released on the affected plants at night is an excellent solution. I had a bed of impatiens that were being annihilated by aphids and in 24 hours one container of ladybugs devoured the aphids.

Unfortunately, it's rainy and windy and cold outside right now and I can't take my daisies outdoors to treat them with natural predators. So instead, it's time for WMDs. I've chosen chemical warfare. After a prolonged proposal review period where several vegetable defense contractors were allowed to bid, a contract was let to purchase Immunox for deployment into the battle zone.

Photos to follow. Hopefully photos of LOTS OF DEAD THRIPS!