Question
Hi Jeff and Jacob

 Happy spring to you both.

 It is still too early here in the northeast to uncover my bog even though daytime highs have been over the freezing mark for about a month now, nighttime temps are still reaching down into the 20's. But I am starting to think about uncovering my bog and I did come up with one question.

Early last year I had a problem with thrips and much of the early spring growth was damaged. What I was wondering iswhat your thought are on a preemptive treatment of my plants once I uncover the bog. I felt like last year it took most of the season for my plants to fully recover and I wanted to avoid that this year.

On an unrelated topic -- is there anyway to subscribe to this question and answer forum ? I have looked all over the place for a feed and can't find one. I really enjoyed it when you had an RSS feed from you site and learned a lot for other peoples questions and it would be great if I could get all the questions and answers you post.

Thanks for the help

Nicole
90 miles north of NYC

Answer
Hi Nicole,

Yes, you can do a preventive spraying of your plants once you uncover them.  However, if you had already cut off their leaves, you'll need to wait until you see new growth since the insecticide enters the plant through the leaves.  Otherwise, you could spray your plants weekly with a topical insecticide, such as Neem oil or Orange Guard? until new growth appears when the systemic insecticide would be most effective.

Unfortunately, AllExperts doesn't have an RSS feed.  I had to discontinue the blog because it only create more work for myself.  I submitted a request for RSS feed with tech support.  You could also submit one yourself.  Maybe they'll get the hint!

Good growing!
Jacob Farin