Are these thrips?

[Bluenoser]

I just started a new grow, and all of a sudden I'm inundated with fungus gnats and these tiny little brown insects that are crawling around on my 2 week old seedlings.
I was wondering why my leaves didn't look right and that there are even small holes bored in one of the leaves.

This pic is as close up as I can get with my camera, please take a look and tell me if this is thrips. If so, how can I get rid of all these pests?

I've installed yellow sticky papers, and they are already covered in fungus gnats. Should I use neem oil, or, should I go get some ladybugs or nematodes, or all of the above?
Thanks

20dec2018-PEST.jpg

• Bluenoser
• Dec 21, 2018

 

[Gadfly]

Looks like it. I don’t like using neem personally. It smells funny and I don’t like shiney oil all over my plants.

The gnats are annoying but generally nothing to worry about. For the thrips, inspect undersides of the leaf. Either smoosh them with your fingers or get a water spray bottle and just spritz them off. They don’t like a lot of humidity so simple water spritzes can really disrupt their feeding/breeding cycles and even kill them. Stay on top of it and it most cases infestation can be kept manageable.

 

[HonestGR]

That does look thripish! They are so tiny!

For your fungus gnats, you have already started with the adults (yellow sticky)
Make sure you let the soil dry out as much as you can without hurting your seedlings.
That will remedy them. (Damascus will also help with an inch or so on top)

For your thripes, depending what method you choose...

You can use an insecticide (where they are small, this would be the fastest way)

You can introduce ladybugs and nemotoads. Just give them a secondary food source for down the road when there are none left to eat)

I know ladybugs like raisins, and a sponge with water. Keep in mind the adults are there "mainly" for sex. The larva stage I belive are the larger threat to insects as they are in their growth phase (although adults will still eat!)

As for neem oil, I do not recommend this. There has been recent studies saying this is bad for you. Although some swear by it, and yes it does work. Read up on the health risks and make your own decisions on this.

Best of luck with your crop!

 

[Bluenoser]

Thanks for the replies guys, I really appreciate it!

I know what I'm going through is not uncommon, and I've been there before, it sux.

I have this fungus gnat infection from my last grow, I'm sure they came in the Promix I bought, and after buying another bag for the 7 gallon pots for this grow is when I noticed a whole crapload of them suddenly.

As for those little tiny guys which I'm pretty sure are thripes, I remember seeing a few of those with my last grow as well, I just squished them as I saw them, and didn't notice any damage, but this time I'm seeing actual damage to the seedling leaves as well as on the older plants, looks like little holes bored in the leaves and little white trails and perforations all over the leaves.

I just bought a bottle of Schultz Insecticidal Soap from the local nursery, the guy there says he used it successfully to kill the gnats on his weed plants without harm, but I'm gonna test it on a less valuable plant first to see what happens.
Should I apply it to the soil as well as the plant itself?

The Insecticidal soap says it contains Triethanolamine, I'm hoping that is not something that will get in my weed and make me more sick than I already am, is it safe?

I found out that Health Canada has banned neem oil because it is supposedly dangerous to use, so I can't get it here anyhow, lol.

I called the local garden place and asked about nematodes and ladybugs and they said they have to import them from the Netherlands, and they are super expensive, like $40-$300 for weekly treatments, plus $45 shipping, forget that!

So is this Insecticidal soap safe for use on my weed plants?

 

[Gadfly]

From my tent experience these pests really aren’t an issue outside of annoyance. It’s farly easy to keep their population under control w basic cleanliness and tlc—no soaps or magic recipes needed.

I’ve done the ladybug thing. As many times as I ask them to eat those types pests they just keep doing their own thing. They’re cool, but unnecessary.

Good airflow and the occasional spritz will annoy/disrupt them and help keep them in check.

 

[Greenlizard]

I'm curious what type of lighting you are using. I have heard that some lighting that puts out UV can actually help with pests. Apparently my CMH light puts out UV but I haven't had bugs yet fortunately to see what the results are.

 

[Bluenoser]

You can see my original thread here, before I found the pests and decided to post here for advice:
Dinafem Purple Orange and Critical Cure CBD Grow
I describe my setup there

Hey look, I think I got one already!
lol

20dec2018-fungus-gnats.jpg

• Bluenoser
• Dec 21, 2018
• 6

It's the thripes that I'm most concerned about, they seem to be all over my adult plants now that I look closely, is that insecticidal soap safe to use?

 

[Bluenoser]

Man, maybe I shouldn't have used it on my plants, I looked up Triethanolamine and it does not seem to be very good stuff, despite what people recommend for getting rid of thrips!

I certainly won't be juicing these leaves after applying this stuff.

 

[Bluenoser]

Well, the sad thing is, the insecticidal soap almost killed (and still might yet) 2 of my 4 little seedlings, bummer. Live and learn.

 

[Bluenoser]

So much for "almost", the insecticidal soap did in fact kill 2 of my new plants, and a couple of older mothers. Grrrr.

To add insult to injury, those little buggers are still crawling on the dead plant, and I'm actually killing them hourly with a dental pick on my other plants as they are just so tiny.

What can I do?

They just keep coming and coming, I'm totally pissed off now as they are chewing holes in my new little plants and wrecking my grow.

 

[Bluenoser]

I guess there is nothing I can do