What is the best way to proceed if you need to combat thrips on houseplants? Here are some proven strategies with affordable home products to help!
There are plant pests that can be a real challenge to eliminate in the home, and thrips are definitely one of them. When it comes to growing plants indoors, the insects can spread quickly after being introduced most of the time. Every florist or gardener knows the problem and knows that normal plant care cannot usually prevent such pest infestations. In order to take countermeasures, it is therefore important to familiarize yourself with the typical signs and use effective antidotes. However, instead of using chemical preparations, you can use natural products that have also been proven to be effective. So if your plants in your home are affected by this, you can consider the control strategies described below.
What can you do to combat thrips on houseplants?
As with everyoneother troublemakers, it is first and foremost important to be able to detect any infestation in good time. This is usually not difficult at all for a houseplant affected by this. Although the pests are tiny, they can be easily identified by their elongated body, which reaches up to 2 millimeters and is black, dark brown or light yellow. Here are some more typical characteristics of this type of insect:
- In adult insects, two pairs of wings with long hairs are usually observed.
- The thrips larva is pale yellow and no longer than 1 millimeter.
- The type of movements thrips make is also a typical feature, as adults can run and jump at lightning speed.
- Most often, thrips stay on flowers, leaves and buds to suck the juice from the leaf tissue and nectar. They also lay their eggs in these areas.
- Offspring appear after about 10 days but develop into adults in about a month. During this period they weaken the plant, making it susceptible to plant diseases.
What signs of infestation on plants should I look out for?
The next step when fighting thrips on houseplants is to be able to identify any pest infestation. This requires a thorough inspection of the particular plant and will usually cause its leaves to discolor. In addition, signs such as dots are easily recognizable due to the stitches on them. When inspecting, also pay attention to the underside of the plant leaves, where brown spots can form. What else could happen to the plants if they are infected with thrips?
- Silver discoloration caused by air in the cells can often be observed in the affected areas. If you do nothing, the foliage can fall off and the buds and flowers can also become deformed.
- Another consequence of such an insect infestation can be black fungus. These can occur after the sticky residue of the thrips has deposited on the plant leaves.
- Thrips are most commonly attacked on houseplants such as begonias, citrus fruits, violets, orchids, roses and rubber trees. The violets usually suffer from the effects of the larvae because they damage their anthers when they eat them.
- After identifying an infestation, you should treat the plant over the next month and a half with a combined control strategy of pruning and appropriate antidotes. Therefore, try to deal with the problem properly by taking the following steps.
Continue to proceed step by step and combat thrips on houseplants
As soon as you have recognized that it is an insect infestation, you should first either dispose of or move the affected plants, depending on the severity. However, you should be very careful to ensure that no larvae end up in neighboring pots. You can then act as follows:
- Place the infected plants in a bathtub or shower cubicle and wash their leaves with the shower spray. Carefully rinse off all affected parts of the plant.
- If there is a severe infestation, you may also want to replace the potting soil with new one by also cleaning up the roots and repotting the plant.
- Then try to find suitable insect traps and place them correctly around your plants. These are mostly sticky traps.
How and which home remedies to use against thrips?
At this point it is important to note that severely infected plants are more likely to be treated with commercially available preparations. Otherwise, you can combat milder infestations with a few larvae and thrips on houseplants by using gentle home remedies. In this way you avoid chemical-based products and can prevent new insect infestations. Here are some tried and tested control methods with various natural ingredients for you to try.
Use common methods with natural remedies
- First, chop about a tablespoon of garlic or onion to make a paste and use it to make a solution with a cup of water. Allow it to soak in for at least 24 hours and then strain the liquid through gauze. Then use a spray bottle to spray the affected parts of the plant.
- Make marigold tea from the plant's dry flowers by filling a 500 milliliter jar with them and adding water to the top. Then let the tea steep for at least 48 hours and filter the liquid to spray your plants with it again.
- Use about 50g of dandelion roots or leaves to make a solution of 1 liter of warm water. Allow it to soak in for at least 3 hours before straining it and using it to combat thrips on houseplants.
- Again, prepare a tea from 100 g of chamomile and then let it rest for at least 12 hours. After straining, add a few drops of dish soap and spray the affected areas. Then wait a day before wiping the remains from the plant with a cloth or rinsing with the shower.
- Collect about half a cup of dry tobacco and pour a liter of water over it before steeping the mixture for 24 hours. Then filter the liquid and add another liter of water to spray on the affected areas.
- Make an infusion of 50g of dry tomato leaves and a cup of water. Then let it steep for 3 hours before straining the liquid and adding another 700ml of water. Then treat the affected plants with a spray bottle.
- You can prepare a similar solution with celeriac and water, leaving it to steep at least a day before use.
What preventative measures can you take to combat thrips on houseplants?
The most important thing in the fight against such pests is the preventive approach. You should also pay attention to possible signs of infestation when purchasing and transporting plants into your home. In addition, you should first place the plants in separate rooms and monitor them to prevent any possible spread. Also take the following measures:
- In the beginning, try to regularly ventilate the rooms where the new plants are located.
- Check the plants daily for the symptoms described above in order to be able to react in a timely manner.
- Wipe plant leaves and keep potting soil clean to avoid encouraging thrips to grow.
- Set insect traps as a preventive measure so that the pests have no chance to spread.
- If spraying with the remedies described above does not work, you can fill a cup with turpentine and garlic and place it directly in the pot. Then carefully wrap your plant with a plastic bag and let the stuff sit for about 3 hours.
Also read:Fruit flies in the apartment: Which home remedies help against small fruit flies at home!
