In article , saki
wrote:

"Shiva" wrote in
news:aHlwYXRpYQ==.dd66d540e484854cfdbdd52779dc6522 @1051811285.cotse.net:

I would like to hear more about this. You are in California, right?
Have you had good results with the above beneficials?

I've used lacewings before, as well as ladybugs. Both work but the trick
(as always) is to get them at the right time of the year, when it's not
too cool, so they have an appetite. And yes, I'm in California. I haven't
used predatory mites.

Insecticidal soap (Safer makes a nice
concoction) or Neem oil are also worth a try; persistence helps in
cases like these.

I had never heard of Safer for thrips. Is this what you use?

Yes, their standard insecticidal soap; also worked a charm on rose slugs
this year.

Neem oil
we have to be very careful with, because it remains on the flowers and
foliage and will burn in hot areas.

We're hot too, on occasion. :-)

Saki, if you have a preferred concoction that really works, please
tell us more. I do not spray for thrips, because I am not spraying one
more thing in my garden, as far as noxious chemicals go. So I just
suffer with thrips, and try to cut the light roses before they can get
to them. It would be great to have an alternative to spraying Cygon
II, etc.

I don't think there's much more to tell. Safer soap works for me on a
number of different levels when I have pests that can't be discouraged
otherwise. Jets of water also seem to work for me but this requires
regular and persistent application, sometimes twice a day, and that's not
always possible for folks who work long hours and miss daylight in the
garden. It might also not be an option when you have several hundred
roses that require individual attention.

I think there's thrips and then, there's THRIPS. I've seen them so
thick on light colored roses that they shake off on a dark surface to
reveal a sprinkling of moving dust. I'm not comfortable with systemic
insecticides, so I've considered spraying just the buds of the light
colored roses. Safer has never done anything to the aphids here, so
maybe I can use it up by trying it for the thrips. Oddly, thrips are
the biggest problem on the edges of my garden, closest to my neighbors.