Thrips damage on the surface of expanded leaves or petals is recognized as small patches that have been silvered and display tiny greenish-black fecal specks that are left by the thrips. They also damage the appearance of African violets by spreading pollen over the flowers as they feed on the pollen. There is no cure for this disease, and one WFT adult can infect a plant after feeding on it for only 30 minutes. Some people humorously identify WFT as any thrips that can't be controlled by insecticides. Unfortunately, there may be some truth to this method of identification, as will be discussed later.
Colors can vary from straw-yellow to brown.
Even with a hand lens, it is not possible to accurately identify which thrips species is infesting a crop. Differences in tiny morphological structures in the adult female thrips are usually used to tell one species from another. Therefore, adult thrips must be inspected under a compound microscope to accurately determine the species. Biology Control of western flower thrips is extremely difficult, due to several biological characteristics of this species. Eggs of this species are inserted into leaf or petal tissue and are thus protected from insecticides.