Alice du Pont mandevilla is a gorgeous tropical vine prized for its colorful, abundant blooms. But these flowering plants can sometimes become infested with tiny pests called thrips that damage leaves and flowers. Getting rid of thrips on mandevilla vines takes persistence but it can be done organically using smart strategies.
In this article we will cover what thrips are the symptoms they cause, and several highly effective methods for eliminating thrips from Alice du Pont mandevilla in your garden. With the right approach, you can get rid of thrips and restore the health and beauty of your mandevilla vines.
What Are Thrips?
Thrips are tiny, slender insects that are often black or straw colored. At just 1 to 2 millimeters long they can be hard to spot. Thrips feed by sucking out fluids from plant cells. This leaves behind white or silver streaks and dots on foliage and flowers. Heavy thrips infestations can cause leaves to turn brown, get distorted or drop from the plant. Flowers may fail to open properly or fall off prematurely.
Thrips reproduce rapidly in warm conditions. Their populations can explode quickly, especially if no controls are implemented. Getting rid of thrips requires taking multiple approaches to break their breeding cycle.
Signs of Thrips Damage on Mandevilla
Watch for these common signs that thrips may be damaging your Alice du Pont mandevilla vines:
- White or silvery streaks, spots, and scars on leaves and flowers
- Distorted, curled leaves that may turn brown at the edges
- Flowers with dark spots or discoloration that fail to open
- Buds and flowers dropping prematurely
- Black specks of thrips waste (frass) on flowers and leaves
- Stunted, reduced growth of vines
In severe cases, thrips feeding can stunt or even kill mandevilla vines. So taking quick action to get rid of thrips is important for protecting your plants.
Organic Ways to Eliminate Thrips from Mandevilla
Getting rid of thrips organically on mandevilla vines utilizes a multi-pronged approach. Combining several of these methods will give the best results:
Remove and Destroy Infested Plant Parts
Prune off any highly infested stems, leaves, and flowers. Seal them in a plastic bag and throw in the trash to remove thrips and prevent further spread. Severely infested vines may need to be removed entirely.
Apply Insecticidal Soap
Spraying insecticidal soap directly on thrips knocks down adults while also smothering eggs and larvae. It’s gentler than chemical pesticides but still effective. Apply to tops and undersides of leaves.
Release Predatory Insects
Natural thrips predators like ladybugs, lacewings, and predatory mites can keep pest levels down. Purchase and release them onto infested vines or attract them naturally using companion plants.
Apply Neem Oil
Neem oil is extracted from the neem tree and repels and kills thrips at all life stages. Use it to coat leaves, stems, and soil around vines. Avoid applying in mid-day sun.
Use Sticky Traps & Reflective Mulch
Yellow and blue sticky traps lure adult thrips in while reflective aluminum mulch disguises plants, preventing thrips from landing and laying eggs.
Ensure Good Air Circulation
Thrips thrive in stagnant air. Improve airflow around vines by spacing properly, pruning off crowded growth, and using fans. This creates an unfavorable environment.
Maintain Proper Fertilization & Irrigation
Heavily fertilized plants and excessive watering produce lush growth that attracts thrips. Maintain vines with moderate fertilizer and allow soil to partially dry between waterings.
Apply Diatomaceous Earth
This abrasive powder dehydrates and kills thrips when dusted on leaves and soil. Reapply after rain or watering. Avoid breathing in the dust when applying.
Treat Underneath Vines
Thrips often harbor on vine undersides. Flip vines over and treat bottoms of leaves too when spraying soaps, oils, or dusts.
Prevent Thrips from Returning
To prevent future thrips infestations on your Alice du Pont mandevilla, here are some important tips:
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Check new plants thoroughly for signs of thrips before bringing home
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Remove weeds around vines that can shelter thrips
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Disinfect tools after pruning infested vines
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Take cuttings from only healthy, thrips-free mandevilla plants
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Avoid excess fertilization and irrigation that encourages thrips
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Remove fallen flowers and leaves where thrips reproduce
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Cover vines with floating row covers to form a physical barrier
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Rotate treatments of different organic products like soaps, oils, and dusts
Getting rid of thrips on your prized Alice du Pont mandevilla vines is crucial for restoring the health, growth, and gorgeous flowers of these tropical plants. With persistence using multiple organic control methods at the same time, you can eliminate destructive thrips successfully. Pay close attention to stopping their reproduction cycle and preventing future infestations. With smart organic thrips control strategies, you’ll once again be able to enjoy the vibrant beauty of thriving, thrips-free Alice du Pont mandevilla vines.
Climbers Give Dimension To Your Outdoor Rooms
By Norman Winter Horticulturist Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
There was something about the recent Garden and Patio Show in Jackson that really surprised me. Gardener after gardener was walking out of the show carrying a trellis, tower and even arbors. Climbing plants are back in business.
Sure there are those with cottage-style gardens where climbers have always been popular. But there is a new group out there with modern new homes who are building flower borders and incorporating vertical growing. Once you start growing upwards, it is kind of like you have arrived. Your neighbors begin to suspect you, that weekend when you were suppose to be at grandmas you were really at a landscape design seminar that cost a pretty penny.
I admit too that I walked out of the Garden and Patio Show with a tower as a present to my wife, Jan. Before I could give her some of my horticultural advice, she had clematis already twining around it. I guess she must have gone to that seminar.
The clematis is a great choice for climbing, as is the Tangerine Beauty crossvine. We planted it at our Truck Crops Experiment Station three years ago as part of our Mississippi Medallion trials. This year, it had bordered on the spectacular. The orange trumpet-shaped flowers number in the thousands. Best of all, it has pretty much done its thing without any close supervision from us.
Crossvine is known botanically as Bignonia caprelota. It is easy to grow and is evergreen to semi-evergreen with attractive foliage and wonderful flowers.
Another great climber that is always the talk of the fall field day is the hyacinth bean, formerly known as Dolichos lablab is now Lablab purpureus. When you see it in October, it is hard to believe that it is planted by seed each year. The flowers are gorgeous, the seedpods are an awesome purple velvet color, and the beans are edible.
Climbing roses are much more sought after than 10 years ago. The variety New Dawn is considered one of the best. Climbers like the old red Blaze growing on a trellis is hard to beat. Several of David Austins English roses can be trained as climbers. Good choices are Graham Thomas, Abraham Darby and Evelyn. Roses dont actually climb like hyacinth bean or cross vine but are tied and trained.
One of the prettiest climbers is a tropical called the mandevilla that stays in bloom almost the entire growing season. The mandevilla is one of those groups of plants where taxonomists have been tinkering with their names in recent years. Couple that with new introductions and it is confusing whether you are buying a mandevilla, allamanda or dipladenia.
This plant is known as Brazilian Jasmine. Two popular selections are Mandevilla splendens and Mandevilla x Alice du Pont. Both are vines and are prolific summer bloomers. They have pretty dark green lustrous leaves and large funnel-form, pink flowers.
They are not the least bit cold tolerant but are so vigorous and bloom so profusely they are worth growing in the landscape as an annual or containerized and holding through the winter.
The allamanda doesnt climb like the mandevilla but can be trained on a trellis. It is one of the most common flowers of the tropics with large, yellow, bell-shaped flowers. The flowers last several days and are produced all summer. It is best to grow as an annual in the landscape or containerized where you can protect it during the winter.
Just as you add a picture or mirror on a wall in the living room a climber gives that sense of depth and dimension to your flower border outside. Once you do this your landscape become as series of outdoor rooms.
Alice Dupont Mandevilla
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