Question
Towards the end of the growing season last year my 10'x12' bog was invaded by thrips. They enjoyed munching  on all my Sarracenia except for the leucophyllas. I almost bought a product containing  orthene, but didn't due to reading that it was banned in many countries and states and was toxic to frogs.  Living in Florida, there are tons of frogs that visit my bog so I don't want to hurt them in any way.   What  pesticide  do you use to control  thrips at your nursery.

Thank YOU,

Trey

Answer
Hi Trey,

Here's a good article on the active ingredient in Orthene, acephate:  http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/acephagen.html  According to this, it doesn't have a high toxicity to amphibians.

Last summer we also had a severe Thrip infestation damaging many of our Sarracenia and Nepenthes.  Imidacloprid products were useless, and they tend to hatch out new ones so quickly, constant spraying of other insecticides, organic or otherwise would have been needed, so we used acephate.  It works well to kill Thrips, and since it's systemic you can minimize over-spray by just spraying specific plants, and not the whole area.  It will stay in the plant for about 30 days.  Since you can only get agricultural concentrations of this stuff now, be sure to pay careful attention to mixing directions.  This is an example of how you can still find it:  http://www.amleo.com/product.aspx?p=ACP97.  One teaspoon per gallon is all you need with this concentration.

Once the product is dry on the plants, it shouldn't be harmful to vertebrates.  Just avoid spraying when it's windy, or getting any into water areas.

Another, newer biological product worth a try is this stuff:  http://www.amazon.com/BotaniGard-22WP-Biological-Insecticide-1lb/dp/B007ROV0BU/r  This is a predatory fungus that kills crawling insects, and is especially effective in humid climates.  As you can see, the biggest drawback is the price, but it is non-toxic to most other organisms.  We are just starting to use it in our nursery, so I don't have much in the way of results to talk about yet, but reviews of this product are good.

Hope this helps

Good Growing!

Jeff Dallas
Sarracenia Northwest
http://www.growcarnivorousplants.com