yellow wormy things won't go away!

[dutch.lover]

Ok so here's the deal- Harris7 and I have got these teeny yellow wormy things on our plants. They won't go away. They are so small you can barely see them, but they are eating our plants badly. We use insecticidal soap on all the plants whenever we spot one, and then we spray all the plants with a diluted neem oil mix every few days. I sprayed a bug with the soap once, waited an hour- and the wormy thing was still there, looking pretty dead to me (wasn't moving). It seems to me that the soap kills these things, but they're still on our plants! How do I get rid of them?!?!?!

ps: does anyone know what they are? i would post a pic but they're too small

dutch.lover Reviewed by dutch.lover on 11-30-2006. yellow wormy things won't go away! Ok so here's the deal- Harris7 and I have got these teeny yellow wormy things on our plants. They won't go away. They are so small you can barely see them, but they are eating our plants badly. We use insecticidal soap on all the plants whenever we spot one, and then we spray all the plants with a diluted neem oil mix every few days. I sprayed a bug with the soap once, waited an hour- and the wormy thing was still there, looking pretty dead to me (wasn't moving). It seems to me that the Rating: 5

[dutch.lover]

Bt or Bacillus thuringiensis is supposed to kill all kinds of caterpillars (I think that's what the little yellow wormy things are), but is it safe to use on pot plants?

[dutch.lover]

FUCK THIS! I just sprayed all the plants with soap REALLY well about an hour and a half ago, i just looked in the room and found at least 10 of those wormy things on two plants alone (small plants, just seedlings)!!! I also noticed a bug that looked slightly different though- it was more of a cream color than yellow, it was slightly bigger, you could see its teeny legs, and it sorta hopped away from me when i went to squish it. PLEASE HELP ME THESE THINGS ARE DRIVING ME INSANE!!!!!

[emmpey]

the wormy thnings sound like thrip larvae, and the bigger things sound like thrips - they fly and are quite quick. i used a nicotine/soap solution on em. they lay eggs in soil and when you see adults they are probably breeding already.

[dutch.lover]

hmm that would definitely make sense because we do/did have a thrip problem- now that we have been treating all of our plants with neem oil quite frequently they hadn't been a problem. BUT those wormy things are terrorizing the smaller plants- some are taking it much worse than others- i will post some pics soon of the leaves that are quite progressed with damage and are dying.

[stinkyattic]

Definitely thrips, evil bastards, hate them more than you can imagine, love to munch tender seedlings and low leaves since they breed in the dirt and then the larvae climb up stems to the first leaves they find... EVIL EVIL EVIL!!!!!

Neem is good to protect older plants as you said but you might have to water your pots, ALL OF THEM, with predatory nematodes if you want to kill them organically.

Or you can just bug-bomb with pyrethrin once a week for 2 or 3 weeks and use yellow sticky traps to catch the stragglers.

Did I mention how much I hate thrips?

[dutch.lover]

thanks a lot- i despise them already as well! I am attempting to post pics at the moment to show you all the BEAUTIFUL seedlings we have (best looking ones yet), that are unfortunately being eaten alive by these little buggers.

I would like to get rid of them organically, so I will do the nematode thing.

[stinkyattic]

Also try out diatomaceous earth or an organically-derived pure pyrethrum spray. Good luck finding one though!!!

[stinkyattic]

http://www.coopext.colostate.edu/4DM...it/organic.htm
Here's a neat lilnk to info on insecticides that are still considered organic

[dutch.lover]

Ok so I figured out what these nematode things are. Are they easy to find? Or am I gonna have to order off the net?