How to control thrips

[AndrewAZ]

They are kind of out of control with my citrus.  And, they seem to go back and forth with my rose bushes,  and that irritates me even more.  I heard you cannot really get rid of them forever, but, I would like a plan to more or less keep it under control.

[Millet]

Horticultural oil sprays.

[EricSC]

I just realized thrips can cause a lot of damages in the last fall.

[pagnr]

I had a lot of trouble with thrips on Kaki persimmons in pots for a few years.
I gave up spraying chemicals when it seemed that wetting agent application seemed to control the larvae stage in the pots.
The larvae go down to the soil as part of the life cycle, the return to the foliage for he next stage.

Also a misting nozzle on a wand, that can get under the foliage and spray upwards is useful for chemical application.
The larvae are usually under the leaves.
Even high pressure low volume water mist sprayed under the foliage can knock a lot of larvae off, and interrupt the cycle.
Not sure if you have exactly the same thrips as here, but this worked for me.

[AndrewAZ]

For oil sprays, how often is the application?

[sea4]

I find them pretty much impossible to see, so they are hard for me to monitor and be organized enough to enact a proper spray schedule.
But I understand spinosad and kaolin sprays may be part of a control strategy. Neem probably has some effect, as well.

[EricSC]

pagnr，

Looks that control the larvae in the soil is a critical step to control it.   Could you give a little detail how it can be done?

Yes, it is very hard to see, even with magnifier.  May be a high power magnifier will do it.

[franklazar26]

Thus far, I have tried MANY things to get rid of thrips. Nothing seemed to work. Horticultural oil based sprays just seemed to bounce off of them.

I used a concentrated spinosad mix (Monterey Garden Insect Spray) once and it took care of the entire population within a few days. Note I did this on containers and moved them to an indoor location after spraying as spinosad is a biggggg killer of beneficials.