thrips? in s/h??

[mojomick]

I'm not sure if this is the proper forum, but please help. I have about 50 chids in S/H. Yesterday while checking them in the g/h, I found some very tiny light brown little critters moving quickly on one of the name tags in a large potted phrag. I'm afraid they might be thrips. They are tiny, smaller than the head of a pin. Does anyone else have them? Any ideas about irradicating them? They are in the prime agra near the top of the pot. I don't notice any problems with the plant itself as yet. I don't want to wait and have real problems in the future. Thanks, mojo

[Sun rm.N.E.]

You have my sympathy if you have thrips. Good news is that almost any insecticide is effective on thrips. Unfortunately I had not noticed them until they destroyed many of my plants. Here is a some info. and pictures of two common stages in their development I took that might help you identify them. I had to use systemic insecticide (did this outdoors, of course).

Info: Thrips are small, elongate insects in the Order Thysanoptera and vary in size from less than 0.2 mm to over 2.0 mm in length. They are easily overlooked because of their minute size. A hand lens is helpful in identifying these pests on plants.

Thrips feed by using their mouthparts like a straw to suck up plant juices. For early thrips detection, gently blow into an open flower and watch for thrips crawling inside the blossom.

[camille1585]

If you only see them on the medium, then I doubt it is thrips. Just in case, check over the plant carefully. Sometimes they are hard to spot since they are so small and have cryptophilic behavior, but they will leave tell tale silvery marks on the leaves and flowers from feeding. If you see either thrips or silvering, then you know what your dealing with.


Here are some highly magnefied pics (adult and larvae) I took last year when I was doing research on them.

[mojomick]

Thanks for your advice. I haven't found any on leaves, only on the medium. I will keep a close watch and pray. Mojo

[Sun rm.N.E.]

Camille

Thanks for posting those pictures.
I wish I had these two years ago for a reference. I would suggest it for a sticky in the appropriate forum if you could add a good picture of an adult, even better. This way it might appear on Google Image as well and help a lot of people if you label the post clearly.

[Ray]

An insect in the medium is feeding on the roots or their decomposition products, not on clay pellets. S/H or not is irrelevant.