28 February 2023

Customer Question – Help with a pest? Thrip?

Q. “I don’t know what these pests are (see photos). They can range from a bright green colour to a brown white colour. They can fly but also seem to side step and hop away a bit like fleas. I wonder if they are thrips? I have had this problem for the past year and they have got out of hand, and have caused a lot of damage to my herbs and plants – rosemary, thyme, oregano, cyclamen, primula. They seem to have sapped the nutrients from the foliage. I have made the mistake of not treating them early on and they have spread and multiplied. Do you know what these bugs might be and how I can best treat them? Thank you very much in advance.” 🙂 Rosie

A. Thanks for the pictures and it looks like thrip. They are normally green or brown and they are sap sucking insects, so this leaf damage is typical. I assume these plants are outdoors, so the Thrip Nematodes will be the best treatment. Thrips attack plants damaging growing points and causing mottling, distortion and blistering of leaves. On cucumbers the fruit becomes small and twisted. Thrips will lay up to 100 eggs on the young leaves or in flower buds of plants. Once the eggs hatch the nymphs as well as the adults feed by sucking sap. The life cycle varies and is affected by temperature, but thrips in glasshouses can breed throughout the year. Thrips can also survive outdoors all year round, but become more of a problem during hot summers attacking garden plants in sheltered situations, especially Viburnum tinus.

Control Thrips by applying Thrip Nematodes containing a mixture of natural, nematodes, which will attack the larval and pupal stages of thrip. We supply 3 sachets of Thrip Nematodes, which are applied 3 times at 7 days intervals with a sprayer to the same area. Make up 1 sachet of nematodes and spray the foliage and surface of the soil with the nematodes and pop the other 2 sachets in the fridge. Re-treat the same plants with a fresh sachet of nematodes 7 days later and then finally treat again with the last sachet 7 days later. It is supplied as a powder which is mixed with water and applied with a sprayer. Thrip Nematodes should be applied when the temp is 10°C /50°F and the pest is present and each treatment will treat up to 60 sqm.

N.B. For Thrip problems underglass, we also have Amblyseius Cucumeris predators and Thrip Traps with a Lure.

See our full range of Nematode control products including Nemaslug, Vine Weevil Killer, Leatherjacket Killer & more!

Available to buy now