Thrips are most likely to become a serious pest when weather conditions throughout the year are mild. Thrips usually feed in strawberry flowers although they may also feed on leaves and fruit. Large numbers of thrips feeding in the flower can cause flowers to fall or malformed fruit, sometimes resulting in a symptom called cat-facing . Cat-facing may also be caused by poor pollination during cool conditions. They vary in colour from yellow to brown.
Adults have two pairs of wings that lie along the back of the body.
Females lay up to 40 eggs in plant tissue which hatch into small, yellow wingless juveniles. Their life cycle takes 15 to 30 days depending on the temperature. Thrips are most active in the spring and become evident in strawberries at this time, especially once surrounding weeds have dried off. In the extreme conditions of summer and winter, thrips are less active and are usually found on alternative hosts. Some thrips activity may also be seen in autumn when mild conditions return.