Thrips are one of the most common pests that we can find in our plants and gardens. These small sucking insects extract the fluids from the underside of the leaves, causing extensive damage to them and even to the fruits.
If you want to learn more about this pest and know how to remove thrips from plantsjoin us in this DIYGardens article in which you will see a guide on it.
What are thrips on plants
These are the main characteristics of thrips:
- thrips are insects of the order Thysanopterawhich is made up of the plant cell suckers or drainers.
- They have an exceptional ability to adapt, which has led to the fact that there are currently more than 5,000 species known, many of them being those that attack plants that we cultivate.
- They are capable of feeding on a wide variety of plant species, so very few plants are totally safe from them.
- In their adult phase, thrips measure between 1 and 2mm in length depending on the species, characterized by its 3 pairs of legs and its feathery-looking wings, although some species do not have the latter.
- They tend to be brown, yellowish or grayish color.
- As with many insects, thrips go through several metamorphosis phases, which in this case are 6 in most species: 1 egg phase, 2 larva phases, 2 nymph phases and the adult phase.
- The duration of these phases is highly dependent on temperature; the higher the temperature, the faster it will be, as long as it does not exceed 35º C, in which case it usually stops. In ideal temperatures, this will be between 15 and 20 days.
Here you can learn more about this and other Plant pests and diseases: lists and how to eliminate them.
Symptoms of thrips on plants
When thrips attack a plant, empty their plant cells leaving them hollow. This hole fills with air and the plant acquires a silvery or gray-brown in color in that area, in which sometimes the small black dots of their droppings can also be distinguished. The leaves affected by severe attacks end up drying up and falling off..
It is important to mention that a few thrips in an environment such as an orchard are not a serious problem, and that in fact a controlled population will help keep ladybugs and lacewings from your orchard, which are so beneficial in natural pest control. Nevertheless, in large numbers these insects are dangerous: they can cause a lot of damage to plants, especially since they act as vectors of some viruses of the plants, in addition to attract mushrooms with its molasses.
In plants such as cucumbers, they can cause deformations in young fruitsor it can also cause extensive damage to flowers flowering plants, as these insects tend to attack the green shoots and more delicate parts of the plant.
How to combat plant thrips
The fight against thrips is so common that the solutions for it are more than known today. When thrips appear in small numbers, the safest thing to do is remove them manually, although there are more effective solutions for the plague. You can add the natural or biological pest control to your options for getting rid of thrips. Learn about Biological Pest Control here: what it is, advantages, disadvantages and examples.
One of the most popular remedies is potassium soap, a natural product that is harmless to the health of both plants and humans, which softens the exoskeleton of insects and kills them. If the use of potassium soap on the leaves is combined with aceite de neem An hour later, another natural insecticide that the neem tree itself produces gives rise to an exceptionally effective treatment that does not involve the use of toxic or environmentally aggressive insecticides. After this, it would only be necessary to eliminate the molasses that the trips produce to avoid the attack of fungi or bacteria. In these other articles we tell you how to make potassium soap and Neem oil and potassium soap for plants: how to make it and use it.
You can also make your own homemade insecticide. In the case of thrips, what is done garlic based It is very useful, both with the insects themselves and with the fungi that they sometimes carry. To prepare it, you just have to crush and dilute a clove of garlic, and then spray the solution on the plant, preferably after letting the mixture rest for 24 hours. In this other post you will learn how to make natural insecticides for plants.
How to prevent plant thrips
The appearance of a thrips infestation, especially if it is very persistent or in large numbers, is one of the biomarkers that indicate that something is wrong with our plants. It means that the culture is not strong, which is probably due to failure in some of your care, such as lack of excess water, temperature or sun. And oversubscribed it will cause there to be too much nitrogen in the soil and can also attract them or, in the case of orchards, the always unadvisable monoculturewhich leaves the plants very unprotected.
If you take all these factors into account, thrips are much less likely to become a threat to your plants. In any case, if you think the time is coming when they appear and you want to prevent, you can apply neem oil or homemade insecticide preventively.
If you want to read more articles similar to How to remove thrips from plantswe recommend that you enter our category of Cultivation and care of plants.
