Indeed. I've seen someone wipe them out by hitting them with a few different sprays that won't harm things. Smite is a really good one, but I can't remember the rest of the non harmful ones they used. They also brought in tons of Swiirskii Predator mites.
Haven't had to deal with them yet, and not looking forward to it. If you find something that works pass it on. I've read pyrethrin gives a decent shot. Neem and the oils are for shit. Sulfur dusting helps. One cat I read about put pyrethrin in a steamer and swears by it. I dunno about that one but if their as bad as they sound I'd be trying some pretty strange shit too.
Forbid will kill them, dead as fuck. It's highly toxic though. I'd only use it on a young plant pre flower. It is systemic I believe and will stay in the plant for up to two months. i played around with it a few years ago on purpose. Funny story.... So one day I decide I am going to try and incorporate mite resistance into a plant so I get the bright idea to water some plants with nute mixture with a small amount of floramite in it. I did this for a month pre table and everything was looking good but they were growing slow. I thought, garage, winter, t5 ok. So I put them in the table under the 1kw. Six weeks later I I had to pull them because they never grew, at all. They were mite free though.
Called a master gardener friend about that steamer/vaporizer for russet mites. He said it actually does work in smaller indoor gardens. You need a high volume cold mist vaporizer and need to use a pyrethrin and sulphur based spray. He recommended Bonide Orchard spray. Mix the spray as you would for foliar use, fill the vaporizer, put it in the middle of the garden and walk away. No garden exhaust can be running when you treat. Repeat weekly for three weeks. Never tried it myself...but the cat is a trusted source of info. I'm going to give this a try next time thrips come calling.
I've had good results with this... Recommended for organic gardening.. http://www.groworganic.com/media/pdfs/pbi805-b.pdf I've it used inside and outside..
