Little yellow/orange creatures on plants ????

[emmpey]

I was looking at the pre-flowers on some plants today and noticed these little critters on the stems, not leaves. They are tiny - like less than 1mm, with a longish oval shaped body. The colour was kinda between yellow and orange. There's only a few but I would like to know what they are so that I can see if I need to take action. I tried to get a pic but the blighters are so small my phone cam can't see 'em, even through a 10x loupe.

I am in the UK and we're just getting into autumn now. I've included a little drawing just to show the kind of shape and colour they are.

emmpey Reviewed by emmpey on 10-15-2006. Little yellow/orange creatures on plants ???? I was looking at the pre-flowers on some plants today and noticed these little critters on the stems, not leaves. They are tiny - like less than 1mm, with a longish oval shaped body. The colour was kinda between yellow and orange. There's only a few but I would like to know what they are so that I can see if I need to take action. I tried to get a pic but the blighters are so small my phone cam can't see 'em, even through a 10x loupe. I am in the UK and we're just getting into autumn now. Rating: 5

[brookerosebud]

bugs should soon go into hibernation, as it is getting colder. however, if you must spray, DO IT NOW B4 YOU HAVE BUDS!!! try looking up safer's insecticidal soap if you are against poisons. this is a totally awesome product. nothing but soap water!!

i have bugs similar in description to yours on my out door plant. first freeze was 2 nites ago, and no more bugs!

hope this helps,

love, brooke

[renovator4]

is it possible to have scale nymphs?do you get cottony cushion scale there? its kinda hard to tell but are you seeing any larger white masses with a gold band(scale egg masses)

[emmpey]

I found some pictures on the web, it looks just like these critters. Some kine of thrip larvae. How do I kill 'em. Web site says they eat young shoots and flowers, which make sense cos I saw them hanging around my pre-flowers.

[renovator4]

your right thats a thrip nymph, there are some biological controls although brooke is right the cold will send them into hibernation but the temps will also effect growth on your plants. in any case you will want to remove any dead vegation in the area or they will be back after wintering over.

[emmpey]

I've done a bit of research, they are almost certainly Western Flower Thrips and can be killed with good ol' nicotine apparently - just like humans

You can make a solution by soaking smoking tobacco in water for a few days, and then dilute the solution to look like tea and spray it on your plants - I'm gonna give it a go unless anyone knows better.

Thanks for the input guys - I'll post wether it works or not.

[emmpey]

Just a quick note- DO NOT USE TOBACCO - you may infect the plants with the Tobacco Mosaic Virus. Instead use used butts, any virus will be killed when the fag is smoked.

I've got some Nicorette inhalators (unused - never did manage to give up! ) which come with little fag butt type things that have pure nicotine in so i'll use them instead.

[emmpey]

Found this from overgrow.com - cached version on google. You can use fags but you have to boil the water before using.

Contributed by: Funky Smile
Submitted: February 8th, 2005

Get 2-3 Marlboro red ciggies, empty them out in 200ml of water and leave to stand overnight (or 24hrs).

After that the liquid will be brown/black, *boil it for two or three minutes (no more) to kill any possible pathogens and cool it down, even better would be to leave it in the fridge to get really cold (but don’t freeze it).

Once that’s done spray 2-3 times a week. A few drops of liquid detergent or insecticidal soap help to lower the surface tension of the water, making spraying more effective, as instead of droplets, the water forms a film over the plants and bugs.

Wear gloves whenever handling the solution, and a mask whenever spraying it. A Nicotine solution can poison the grower too!

Vegging plants can be dipped in the stuff, BUT DO NOT EVER dip flowering plants into anything!

After all the above .... remove the top layer of soil (till the roots) and check that there are no bugs/eggs under and replace with new soil.

Note:
Nicotine is a poison that disables the nervous system of bugs.

Boiling is a must, as it kills the "nicotine virus" – (TMV - Tobacco Mosaic Virus) and cooling will further irritate bugs as they like nice warm conditions.