Thrips
Thysanoptera
25 host plants
Last updated
Thrips are tiny, slender insects with four fringed wings and measure roughly one-sixteenth inch long. You will notice silver or bleached streaking on petals and flowers, along with shiny tar-like spots where thrips excrete. Flowers may develop uneven petal colors or distorted shapes. On ornamental shrubs and roses, damage becomes apparent in mid-summer.
Scout flower buds and open flowers regularly. Remove heavily infested buds and flowers to reduce adult populations. For roses and hibiscus, time insecticide sprays just before petal fall to protect developing fruit. Use insecticidal soap or spinosad targeting the pre-adult stages. Conserve native predatory mites and parasitic wasps by minimizing broad-spectrum pesticide use.
Quick Reference
Several species of thrips may be found on daylilies. Thrips are tiny (usually less than 1⁄8 inch long), fast-moving insects often found on leaves and between flower petals. Adults are typically yellow to brown; nymphs are usually yellow to whitish. Both immature nymphs and adults may feed on leaves and flower buds. A common symptom of thrips feeding damage is the presence of silvery streaks or speckles on leaf and flower tissues. Typical thrips damage is primarily cosmetic, but stressed plants or hot, dry weather conditions can result in more serious damage. Heavy infestations may cause leaf a
Cultural Controls
- -cultural control Western flower thrips may be reduced by removing as many broadleaf flowering plants as possible from the vicinity of the trees, as this provides an alternate host.
- Grass groundcovers around the trees provide competition for clovers and winter annuals that are alternate hosts.
- Management-