A new tool

Thrips have been troublesome for Spring Creek Growers, a full sale grower of bedding and color plants in Magnolia, Texas. Evan Jones, the head grower for Spring Creek, says the pest has been particularly hard to control with chemicals.

“Thrips are my number one pest to try and control,” he says. That’s why, when his SePRO representative suggested he try Hachi-Hachi SC , he jumped at the chance.

“We use it mostly for thrips and it does a good job of controlling them,” he says. “It has good residual activity. It keeps them away from the crops.”

Hachi-Hachi SC is a new formulation and Jones says it’s an improvement from other chemicals. “The new formulation looks good. Even with things on the label, I trialed to see if I could burn plants with it. I didn’t, I wasn’t able to,” he says.

Spring Creek Growers services most of Texas’ major metro areas, including Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Austin. The company has two sites but the major facility is in Waller, near Houston. Jones says the company sells to independent garden centers and several box stores. The company also runs a cut-and-choose Christmas tree farm. They do most of their growing indoors.

Jones says that he’s been using Hachi-Hachi SC on some of the company’s perennials and Angelonia and has seen good control.

“I’m glad we got another chemical for thrips,” he says. “It’s been hard to find good chemicals.”