Whether you are growing indoors our outside, sometimes it feels like the war on pests is a never ending one. Even if you keep up the best cultural practices in your growing space, pest outbreaks are bound to happen. We've covered a number of other common pests here on the HG blog - this week, we going to cover one of the more difficult pests to treat: Thrips.Thrips can be found both on outdoor garden plants and indoor crops. Like many other garden pests, they use their sharp mouthparts to drain your plants of water and nutrients. Thrips will puncture and feed on fruits, flowers and leaves of your plants. Because they feed in large groups, they can do a lot of damage in a short period of time. Appearance and Breeding HabitsThrips are tiny, growing only to less than 1/25th of an inch. So you often won't even realize they have infested your plants. They are black or straw-colored and slender with two pairs of soft looking wings, though some species of thrips have no wings at all. To the naked eye, they look much like small pieces of dark thread. Female thrips do lay very identifiable eggs that have a halo-like appearance - if you can find them. Eggs can be laid inside leaf tissue, which means topical pesticides don't affect them. Once the eggs hatch, the larvae will typically morph into pupa and then adults within about twenty days. The young larvae also feed on the plants they hatched onto. Young thrips are similar in appearance to the adults, though the winged varieties will not develop wings until closer to the adult phase. What to look forHave you noticed parts of your plants have become suddenly distorted? Perhaps small gray stippling or spots around new flower and leaf buds? Then you may have thrips. Thrips also often leave behind tiny black specks of waste. Large ornamental flowers, such as roses, are common targets of thrips. A thrips infestation can completely ruin all of your new rose buds before they ever have a chance to open up.Roses are common targets of roses. Ruining their blooms before they open. These gorgeous roses are thrip-free!In addition to causing significant physical damage to your plants, they also transport diseases. Thrips are known to spread tomato spotted wilt virus and impatiens necrotic spot virus.Eradication!Because thrips are so tiny, and wedge themselves in between tightly bound leaf and flower buds, topical treatments don't always work right away. If you prefer to use natural or organic methods to reduce pests, especially on edibles, here are a few of our favorite options:Whitmire Thrip/Leafminer Trap: These bright yellow and blue sticky traps come with a wire twist so you can hang them directly on a plant or branch -- without any damage. The long-lasting, weather-proof traps will attract attract a broad spectrum of flying insects, including aphids, whiteflies, thrips, leafhoppers, leafminers, and moths. Get "stuck" on the idea of using sticky traps to protect your plants.Monterey Garden Insect Spray with Spinosad: Controls more than just thrips! It will also keep your garden free of foliage feeding worms (caterpillars), fire ants and more. It contains the natural non-selective ingredient spinosad. Be be careful when and where you spray as this will also kill beneficial insects and bees if not applied properly. AzaMax is a natural product with a broad spectrum of pest control. It contains Azadirachtin A&B as active ingredients. The special feature of AzaMax is that is does not use hard chemical solvents and fully uses food grade formulation ingredients. It works as an antifeedant and insect growth regulator which control pests through starvation and growth disruption. It effectively controls spider mites, thrips, fungus gnats, aphids, whiteflies, leaf miners, worms, beetles, leafhoppers, scales, mealy bugs, nematodes and other soil borne pests. OMRI Listed.As always, the best medicine is prevention. Properly controlling your indoor growing environment will help reduce stress on your plants and their subsequent susceptibility to pests. In summer months, water stress can leave many plants weak, inviting pests like thrips to move in and finish them off. Be sure to monitor your plants regularly by closely inspecting flower and leaf buds for any signs of distortion. The faster you begin to treat a thrips infestation, the better chance you'll have of ending it and saving your plants.
