We are getting bitten up by these extremely tiny, yellow biting bugs in our backyard. They congregate mostly around our pool and oddly enough, our blue baby swing on the swingset.

I googled them and found they are called Thrips and seem to be a common thing, but the stinging sensation of them biting is ridiculous and is pretty much keeping the whole family out of the yard. Anyone else got these things and is there a way to get rid of them or at least keep them out of my yard???

never heard of them

Never heard of them or seen them.

wear dark colored clothes

use OFF

Have a cotton farmer aerial apply their insecticide above your house.

Spread human feces around the perimeter of your yard and start urinating outside.

Is that the same thing as a no-see-um?

Not sure lacy, I think so

no.

Thrips don't bite humans. They do not use blood as a food source.

I know what he is talking about. I hate thrips. They do bite.

Ask the outdoor board. fo' real.

they do bite. i've spent enough time fighting them in my greenhouse.

is this the culprit?

we used to have timic that took care of those little *******s, but the gov took it away from us. Cotton is getting wrecked by thrip right now as well, you are not alone!!!!!!

KM - No. They very small. You can barely see them.

Also, they're not only in North Texas.

We spray something called Advise on cotton to take care of them.

The picture KM posted is a thrips.

Whether or not it's actually thrips pestering the OP remains to be seen, but he seemed to already know what they were so I offered advice.

Thrips fly, but are not "fliers" and don't fly around like gnats or midges.

possibly spray the yard with Sevin. but that's just a guess

We have them in our backyard in CS. Little *******s hurt you when they bite!

spinosad

rho,

does the thing in my pic bite humans?

yes, thrips are known to "bite"

http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/bimg119.html

thrips have been the bane of my existence for most of my graduate career. I can't keep the little *******s off my cotton in the greenhouse.

tiny? bugs?

OFF doesn't repel thrips. They bite, but not to feed or out of self-defense. These things exist in the hundreds of thousands and spraying your yard won't help control the larger population. you'd have to treat several square miles to affect a difference. Avoid wearing whites, yellows and oranges.

[This message has been edited by Antman92 (edited 6/8/2011 3:40p).]

I got 'em! Apparently these are what's been sucking my Verbena dry! and of course, I try to treat without researching, using Bifenthrin!

Now it's making sense though - my verbenas have been decimated, and all of my garden plants (other than the tomatoes) look like they've been getting hit.

I need to get these under control.

If you really want to treat for them (but like Antman said, this is really kind of pointless unless they're decimating plants you want) an insecticidal soap should suffice. You could also browse your garden center for a spray pyrethroid or permethrin insecticide - read the labels and make sure they're labeled for thrips. Keep in mind when applying they're usually going to hang out in tight, small spaces, so it's hard to get the insecticide to them anyway.

rho,

It has been awhile ago, but I am pretty sure this is a true story....

There was a small Canadian town that thrived on the tourist trade. One year they had an outburst of some small fly type bug that created a total disruption of the tourist trade. To find relief the town decided to launch a "ladybug" defense (ladybugs ate the fly / gnat / flying whatever) and released massive amounts of ladybugs in said town. Ladybugs did such a good jod, it fixed the gnat threat and things went back to normal.....



Until the locals discovered ladbugs are carnivours.... oooopppsss!!!!!