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Thrips

Thrips

Order Thysanoptera

Insect

Slivers of insects, barely visible to the eye, that rasp at leaves, buds, and flowers and leave a silvery, speckled scarring. A few species also transmit damaging plant viruses, which can matter more than the feeding itself.

🔎 How to spot it

At under 1/20 inch, thrips look like tiny pale-yellow to dark-brown slivers with narrow, fringed wings; you usually need a hand lens, or you can shake a flower or shoot over white paper and watch for moving specks. The damage is the giveaway: silvery or whitish stippling and flecking on leaves and petals, tiny black dots of excrement, and distorted, scarred new growth, buds, and fruit.

🥀 Damage it causes

Thrips puncture and rasp the cells of leaves, flower petals, and developing fruit, leaving silvery scarring, flecking, and distorted or stunted new growth, often dotted with black specks of frass. Some species, such as the western flower thrips, transmit tospoviruses like tomato spotted wilt, which can be far more damaging than the feeding.

🛡️ Prevent it

Keep plants vigorous and watered and avoid excess nitrogen, which fuels the tender growth thrips prefer. Clear out weeds and old crop debris that harbor them, use reflective mulch on young plants, and avoid broad-spectrum insecticides that destroy the natural enemies and can flare thrips up.

🧯 If it is already here

Hose plants to dislodge thrips and prune out badly distorted or scarred growth. Hang blue or yellow sticky traps to monitor and reduce adults. For heavier infestations, spinosad, insecticidal soap, or neem oil help, and conserving natural enemies such as minute pirate bugs, lacewings, and predatory mites keeps numbers down.

💡 Good to know

Thrips are genuinely hard to control because they are tiny, breed fast, and tuck into buds and other tight spots where sprays miss, so combining tactics beats relying on any one. If plants show ring spots or sudden wilting along with thrips, suspect a thrips-spread virus, for which removing the infected plants is the only remedy.

🌱 Plants it attacks

714 plants in the library can be attacked by this pest

Acorn SquashAdirondack Blue PotatoAdzuki BeanAfrican Blue BasilAfrican MarigoldAgapanthusAgeratumAgrimonyAji Amarillo Pepper🍓Albion StrawberryAlice du Pont Mandevilla🥔All Blue PotatoAlmondAloe VeraAmbrosia CornAmerican BasswoodAmerican Beauty Dragon FruitAmerican BeechAmerican PersimmonAmethyst Falls WisteriaAmish Paste TomatoAnaheim PepperAnemoneAngelique TulipAngeloniaAniseAnise HyssopAnjou PearAnnabelle Smooth HydrangeaAnnual VincaApeldoorn TulipApple MintApril Tryst CamelliaArbequina OliveArizona Sun Blanket FlowerArkin CarambolaArmenian CucumberAroniaArp RosemaryArugulaAshwagandhaAsian PearAsian PersimmonAtemoyaAtlantic Giant Pumpkin🥕Atomic Red CarrotAucubaAugust Beauty GardeniaAunt Molly's Ground CherryAutumn Joy SedumAvocadoBachelor's ButtonBalsam FirBalsam PoplarBanana PepperBarbara Karst BougainvilleaBartlett PearBay LaurelBayberryBeach PlumBeauregard Sweet PotatoBecky Shasta DaisyBee Balm🍅Beefmaster TomatoBenarys Giant ZinniaBengal Tiger CannaBetter Boy Tomato🥬Bibb Lettuce🍅Big Beef TomatoBig Boy TomatoBilberryBing CherryBitter MelonBlack BeanBlack Beauty EggplantBlack Beauty ZucchiniBlack Beluga LentilBlack Cherry TomatoBlack CrowberryBlack Currant🍉Black Diamond WatermelonBlack Kabouli ChickpeaBlack Krim TomatoBlack RaspberryBlack Sapote🥬Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce🥕Black Spanish RadishBlack Tartarian CherryBlack WalnutBlack-Eyed PeaBlack-eyed Susan VineBlood OrangeBloomsdale SpinachBlue Bird DelphiniumBlue Bird Rose of SharonBlue FescueBlue Lake Green BeanBluecrop BlueberryBocking 14 ComfreyBok Choy

For educational and informational purposes only. Pest control advice is general guidance drawn from university cooperative extension sources; always identify a pest positively and read and follow the label on any product before use, especially around food crops, children, and pets.