Many indoor plant lovers are familiar with an insect called flower thrips. This is a pest. Science knows several thousand of its varieties. As a rule, the insect eats crops, but it is not uncommon to choose ornamental plants.
Pest Description
West California thrips (photo can be seen in the article) - a representative of the thrips family of the genus Frankliniella. Body length does not exceed 1.5 mm. Color pale yellow or brown. The body is elongated, smooth. Palps consist of three segments, antennae eight. The edge of the forehead is displaced to the mouth. The mouth cone is a piercing-sucking species, which is characteristic of parasitic insects on plants. In females, the ovipositor is bent down.
The abdomen, consisting of 10 segments, has a serrated scallop on the eighth tergite. The limbs are shortened, running, vesicular suckers at the ends of the legs. Thrips have a pair of narrow, long wings with pointed tips. Along the edges they have cilia. Thanks to this wing structure, thrips are able to fly from place to place in search of food and while laying eggs. In insects, sexual dimorphism is pronounced, the female is larger in size.
Lifestyle and harmfulness
The insect leads a secretive lifestyle. Western flower thrips is a typical polyphage, it feeds on more than 250 species of plants, including tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, peaches and lettuce. Often it can be found on flowers: roses, carnations, cyclamens, gerberas. Adults suck juice from stems, leaves, flowers and fruits.
Species living in warm regions winter in the open ground, the insect is not able to tolerate Russian frosts. They wait for the cold season in greenhouses, larvae hide in the soil, and adults in the remains of plants.
The spread of the insect occurs through the importation of infected fruits, ornamental plants, flower seedlings and vegetable crops. The nearest movement occurs during the transfer of thrips on shoes and clothes, and a flight from a neighboring site. Females lay eggs in plant tissues so that it is impossible to distinguish them. Cutting the flowers, you can transfer the pest home or to the greenhouse. In the warm season, thrips are selected from greenhouses and distributed throughout the district.
The insect spends its entire life cycle on plants. Thrips (the photo on the flower leaf is presented below) feeds on its juice and damages the tissues. They, in turn, grow more slowly, yield decreases, flowers and leaves fall, and the fruits lose their visual appeal. A distinctive feature of the presence of a parasite on plants is the formation of black dots and dry spots of light color on the leaves. Among other things, thrips carry some viral diseases. Weakened cultures as a result of the life of insect colonies are susceptible to the spotted wilt virus, which can destroy more than a thousand plant species.
Breeding
Thrips is an insect with partial transformation. Development is determined by the following stages: egg, larva, pronymph, nymph, imago. As a result of mating, females are able to lay up to a hundred eggs on the petals, stems, and tissues of the plant. The eggs are oval, bright, about 0.2 mm in size. The timing of its ripening is largely dependent on air temperature. At +25 ° , embryo formation occurs in three days, at 15 ° - in 11 days. At birth, male larvae appear from an unfertilized egg.
The larva has a pale yellow color, similar to the color of the imago. Offspring, as a rule, are born at the same time, in one area you can observe a group of small pests. The larvae go through two stages, after their completion they pass into the pronymph, and after that into the nymph. Penetrate into the soil, and after one to three days an adult (adult) appears. In a favorable environment, the entire generation development cycle takes 12 days. Up to 15 parasite generations can change in greenhouse conditions per year.
The first signs of plant infection
Due to the fact that the insect leads a secretive lifestyle, it is not always possible to detect the first foci of affected plants. However, there are pronounced signs of infection with thrips:
- miniature punctures with dots on the leaves of plants indicate that the parasites drank juice in these places;
- sometimes causeless discoloration of the leaves also indicates the presence of pests;
- brown, brown and silver spots can be found on the leaves and petals - these are damage caused by the parasite;
- the death and decay of leaves indicates a neglected form of infection of the plant;
- deformation of flowers, stems, fruits can be caused by thrips;
- black spots and sticky secretions on the surface of the plant are a product of the life of the insect.
Most often, thrips are planted on plants that do not like frequent watering and spraying, since pests prefer dry, warm air.
The reasons for the appearance on indoor plants
The appearance of thrips on indoor plants (photo of the pest can be found in the article) is associated with the conditions of their reproduction and penetration into the house. Given this, you should pay attention to the following factors:
- Often they penetrate the room through an open window during the ventilation of the room. Besides the fact that thrips can fly long distances, they can simply be brought into the house by a draft.
- You can infect indoor flowers with a pest by buying a new plant in a store.
- Putting a bouquet of wildflowers in a vase, it is likely that pests were brought into the living room with them.
Control measures for detection on indoor plants
Warm and dry air stimulates the propagation of harmful thrips in the room. Pests can infect indoor plants growing next door in a short time. Before processing flowers affected by thrips, they must be:
- Isolate in a separate room, wash off imago and their larvae with warm water.
- If possible, the top layer of soil is removed and covered with a new one or replanted, carefully washing its roots.
How to deal with thrips on plants, we will consider further.
Folk remedies
To get rid of the pest at home, milder ways to deal with thrips are more suitable. They are not able to harm the plant. Their use is recommended when the first signs of infection are detected:
- A teaspoon of chopped onion or garlic is poured into a glass of water, insisted for a day, the plant is treated with the resulting product.
- Dried marigold flowers are placed in a liter jar and pour boiling water. After several days of insisting, the liquid is filtered and watered under the root of the plant.
- 50 g of fresh dandelion leaves are poured with a liter of warm water. After three hours, the infusion is filtered and the affected plants are sprayed with it.
- 100 g of chamomile is poured with a liter of water and insisted for 10-12 hours. Filter the finished composition, add a little soap, wipe the leaves and stem of the plant. After a day, the flower is rinsed with warm water.
- 50 g of flowering celandine is soaked for 24 hours in a liter of water, after which the plant is treated with the finished infusion.
- 100 g of dried tobacco for 24 hours, insist in a liter of water, then filtered, add another liter of water and sprayed with thrips infected plant.
Chemicals
With mass infection of plants, it is recommended to resort to the help of insecticides. They will destroy not only adults, but also delayed larvae:
- "Aktara." A broad-spectrum agent, is used not only for processing the plant itself, but also for the soil. Effective in the early stages of infection.
- Fitoverm. A drug that has good results in the fight against many types of pests. For processing, two ml of the product is enough, which is diluted with a glass of water.
- "Actellicus." Highly effective insecticide, quickly and easily destroys thrips. In a liter of water, one ampoule of the drug is dissolved, indoor plants are sprayed.
- Vermitek. A drug that eliminates and protects against the re-emergence of pests for a long time. Two and a half ml of the product are diluted in a bucket of water and the infected areas are treated.
Processing plants is carried out outdoors or in a well-ventilated area. After using any of the chemicals, the flower is covered with a plastic bag for a day. Re-treatment is carried out after 10 days.
The fight in the garden
Thrips is a pest. To get rid of insects that infect garden crops, one of three control methods is used:
- Chemical treatment. In any suburban department, you can purchase one of the special drugs: Karate, Intavir, Fitoverm, Agravertin and others. The tool is prepared, according to the instructions, the crops and the soil under them are treated. Then cover with polyethylene for a day. If necessary, repeat the treatment.
- The biological method. This method involves the use of ticks specially propagated in laboratory conditions. Each of them is able to destroy up to hundreds of thrips. This method is very effective and safe.
- Folk methods. Experienced gardeners recommend treating plants with infusion of garlic or onion, since thrips can not stand its smell. Another option is to put a container with crushed garlic or turpentine under the infected plant, cover everything with polyethylene.
Prevention
In order to prevent the propagation of thrips on orchids or other indoor plants, it is important to pay attention to the following recommendations:
- daily leaves and stems of flowers are inspected for infection with thrips;
- drying of the soil of the plant should not be allowed, thereby creating favorable conditions for the propagation of parasites;
- when buying a new flower in the first few days, they put it in an isolated room and observe if there are signs of infection by a pest;
- From time to time, plants are treated with infusion of celandine or tobacco to get rid of uninvited guests.
These available rules will prevent the infection of indoor plants not only with thrips, but also with other diseases and pests.