Pesticide for thrips?(Permethrin vs Imidacloprid)

Hi folks,

I'm facing a thrips/aphid attack in my greenhouse which houses several different types of edibles as well as cannabis plants. The vegetables are in different stages of growth and production and the cannabis plants seem to be at the onset of bloom.

So far I have been able to keep the populations in check via physical and biological means. After two months since first discovery, the damage has been minimal; but still the control hasn't gone as efficiently as I had hoped.

Now with bloom on the horizon, I'm convinced that I should not take chances and therefore I am going to hit the greenhouse with a pesticide in form of contact spray or root drench or quite possibly both.

Pyrethrum, Neem or Spinosad, as well as the majority of biological control options, are unavailable commercially in this part of the world. My only rational choices fall to Syntethic Pyerthroids and Neonicotinoids. (I know better than to touch Organophosphates or Carbamates.)

I have narrowed my choices down to Permethrin from SP's or Imidacloprid from NN's.

Any comments on which to choose at this stage would be greatly appreciated. Suggestions for other options/methods are also welcome.

Cheers

OG

Hey Mel
That looks like a promising product. but I'm afraid my options are limited to generic stuff found everywhere. I have no means to import that one

Spinosad is not yet licensed to be used in my country. So I will not be able to find it outside of the academia.

If the Pyrethroids are not strong enough it leaves me with only Imidacloprid.  It's a contact/systemic pesticide. I have used it before against aphids and it annihilates them. Not sure about thrips though.

Hi,
I've done quite a bit of research on the subject recently. As I mentioned before biological control options are severely limited here.

What I finally decided on was a systemic insecticide of the neonicotinoid family called Acetamipirid, which sounds promising. I have used a related pesticide (imidacloprid) on aphids, it really annihilates them but the pesticide remains in plant tissue for quite a long time so I had doubts about using it on stuff I'm going to smoke. The one I chose remains for a much shorter period of time and is much less toxic. I've heard so much about its effectiveness, will report on how well it works later.

My current grow is in my greenhouse, I also have an indoor setup (1k enhanced spec HPS, 6 inch extractor + hood etc) which I'm not currently using because of financial considerations.

CONCLUSION:

Acetamipirid was applied to the whole greenhouse a few days ago. It was very effective at low doses against eggs, larvae and mature insects. No major signs of phytotoxicity were detected. The greenhouse is now bug-free!

To make sure they won't return, I will spray the plants again in 10 days.