Bye-bye, thrips
At least, I hope they're gone. Bobby went out and sprayed the roses -- blooms and buds only. With luck, this will take care of them. We hate insecticides, and only use them when we absolutely have to.
On a rose forum, one woman told me I should live with them, and let natural predators do their work. Her comment was that hummingbirds take care of them nicely. Yeah, well, that would be great -- but I've seen exactly two hummingbirds in the wild in my entire life (they're not exactly common in New Jersey) and it's my impression that they live on nectar, not thrips. So we went the route that made sense to us -- limited spraying of an insecticide that has the lowest toxicity for the situation.
On a rose forum, one woman told me I should live with them, and let natural predators do their work. Her comment was that hummingbirds take care of them nicely. Yeah, well, that would be great -- but I've seen exactly two hummingbirds in the wild in my entire life (they're not exactly common in New Jersey) and it's my impression that they live on nectar, not thrips. So we went the route that made sense to us -- limited spraying of an insecticide that has the lowest toxicity for the situation.