I've been having a little thrips situation going on (ok a thrips situation is never 'little' but it's not like bugs are easy to find here). I was right in the middle of attempting to self 'Humako Oriental' on her last remaining buds from purchase date, when I noticed that she had pollen sprinkled... and yes, I saw a thrips larva, right there at the top of the stigma, shamelessly munching on the pollen I had so painstakingly swabbed there. Luckily (?) HumOri is a dropper, so I could just pluck the bells off causing minimal stress, and spray the heck out of her without necessarily having to sacrifice the seedpod prospects.1
I promptly quarantined HumOri to the bathroom, but new larvae kept appearing one by one so I dug deeper, and found their sanctuary... a new baby leaf, the size of a 5-cent coin, that was just beginning to crack open... a larva clubhouse! They had been hanging around in there during the spray and probably hadn't even left their fuzzy little spray raid shelter yet. Grrr. I plucked that leaf, and the next one I sprayed, holding it open with a pair of tweezers. And of course, a repeat spray all over the plant.
Then I debudded and sprayed the rest of my AVs and now they're quarantined in the bathroom save for two cases: the new babies, who have been planted in sprayed soil and sprayed themselves, but reside under cover in the kitchen, and my pink More Lips NOID who had JUST been breaking her first bud of what is going to be a most magnificent bloom! 2 It's a big deal for me, because this is my first own AV and also the first time I managed to have a rebloom on anything. 3
Anyways, I'm on my way to continue spraying and quarantining the remaining plants in my living room. Thank goodness most of them have been living in the balcony for a good while! I'll also need to sterilize my moler and my softened coir and and my bag of houseplant soil which all have been the best places to ambush adult thrips. They probably haven't laid eggs there due to significant local lack of yummy AV pollen, but I want to be sure.
Pros:
- HumOri is the only plant to have shown a single thrips
- with multiple rooms, a few coverable trays, and now an all-new plant light rig, I have it pretty good for a proper quarantine
- I'm so dang nearsighted
Cons:
- pink More Lips NOID remains a high-value target for thrips and needs to stay under cover
- this isn't over yet
1. One of those proved failed yesterday and I have little hope for the other one--it looks a bit pale and skinny, but I'll let it hang around until I'm sure.↩
2. I.e. 5+ stalks, all with 3 buds at least, some with 6 or even 8. ↩
3. And my mother's indoor gardening habits certainly didn't give me any expectations of ever seeing more than one or two blossoms on an AV, if even that.↩
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