Thripsare insects with a prickly and sucking mouth apparatus, feeding mainly on plant juices and tissues. At the same time, they cause various damages to crops. While the cultivation of potted plants in apartments and on balconies with the diagnosis of such pests as the greenhouse whitefly (popularly known as the white fly), aphids and scorms, we usually do not have a problem, the diagnosis of thrips is quite troublesome. See what arethrips feeding symptoms , learn a smart method to identify these pests with 100% confidence and see what are the best ways tofight thripsin cultivation potted plants."
Thrips are tiny insects that feed mainly on plant juices and tissues. In the photo one of the most troublesome - Western thrips.
Thrips - symptoms
"These pests can cause quite varied and unusual damage to potted plants.Thrips feeding symptomsare most often seen on leaves and flowers. These can be small, light spots or silvery on the surface of the leaves, browning of the base parts of the leaves, peeling (crusty surfaces), various discoloration and deformation of flowers. Within the spots on the leaves, you can often see black lumps - thrips droppings.
How to make sure you are dealing with thrips?The easiest way is to put a white sheet under the leaves and flowers of plants on which thrips are suspected to be feeding. Then we shake vigorously and check what has fallen on the sheet.If, within a few seconds, quickly moving dark or yellow lines appear on the sheet of paper, about 1 mm long, and there will be quite a lot of them, it is a sign thatwe are dealing with thripsTo a closer look at the pests, it is worth using a magnifying glass (to observe the features that allow you to recognize the species of thrips, you need a magnifying glass with at least 10x magnification). "
On potted flowers grown in apartments,warmth thrips(Parthenothrips dracaenae) is very common. It usually attacks fig trees, palm trees and ivy. Insects up to 1.5 mm long are yellow-brown in color. The feelers are 7-membered, mostly yellow. The front wings are transparent, except for the three brown loops.
Another candidate isgreenhouse thrips(Heliothrips haemorrhoidalis). Adults are approx. 1.5 mm long, dark brown in color with a clearly lighter abdomen. The antennae are 8-membered, yellow, and the wings are uniformly bright.This pest is often trafficked with imported plants.
The tobacco thrips(Thrips tabaci) is an insect about 1.2 mm long. Its body is yellow in spring and summer, and brown in fall. The antennae are 7-membered, partially or completely brown in color. It occurs on Sprenger asparagus, cloves, gerberas and chrysanthemums.
The most dangerous, however, isWestern thrips(Frankliniella occidentalis), which is commonly found in greenhouse cultivation of both ornamental plants and vegetables. It carries the dangerous TSWV virus which causes plant degeneration. This pest multiplies quickly and is difficult to combat with both insecticides and biological methods. The insects are about 1.7 mm long and come in two color forms: in spring and summer they are yellow-orange with a brownish head, and in autumn they are darker with a brown body. Their antennae are 8-membered.
Of course, these are not all thrips that can appear on potted plants, but these 4 are the most common.Less frequently,anthuric thrips(Chaetanaphothrips orchidii) appears on anthurium, andoriental thrips(Thrips palmi) appears on orchids. This pest can also be found on cloves, chrysanthemums and chrysanthemums.
Thrips - combating
There are a lot ofpreparations for controlling thrips , but in the conditions of growing plants in an apartment, the choice is limited due to the harmfulness and toxicity of plant protection products for humans. We should only use safe preparations, intended for amateur use in the cultivation of potted and balcony flowers.
Such a preparation is undoubtedly the natural Agrocover preparation, in the form of a concentrate and a convenient, ready-to-use spray. It is a preparation of natural origin, based on an algae extract, acting in contact by cutting off the insect from the air. It also fights aphids, spider mites, mealybugs and scales.
It is also worth reaching for fertilizer and insecticide sticksProvado Combi Pin 02 PRThey contain a gastric and contact agent designed to fight aphids, thrips, greenhouse whitefly, juveniles (mealybugs, scales, cuplets) and spider mites found on ornamental plants grown indoors. The scope of the action of this preparation is therefore very large. The sticks are pressed into the soil so that they are completely covered.
In amateur cultivation ,preparation from the ABC series, available as a sprayer,Obsydian 01 ALcan also be used to combat thrips. In addition to thrips, the preparation also fights aphids and greenhouse whitefly.
Of course,thrips attack not only potted plantsbut also a number of ornamental and cultivated plants in gardens and greenhouses. Here, you can also use preparations such as: Confidor 200 SL, Mospilan 20 SP andSumi-Alpha 050 EC .
