Their feeding damage is not seen until deformed flowers and leaves expand, leaving plants unmarketable. Plants infected with these viruses must be destroyed. Thrips small size and adult mobility makes control challenging. Thrips larvae and adults are less than one eighth inch and reside in the tightest parts of the plant such as flower buds and new terminals. Adult thrips readily fly and can easily migrate into and around the greenhouse.
Thrips have a wide host range.
Thrips host range includes most ornamental crops and native plants, including wildflowers and grasses growing outside the greenhouse. Thrips are active all year in year-round greenhouses. The best strategies address the different thrips activity in cool weather and in warm weather, when their life cycle dramatically speeds up. Each season requires unique control efforts. Total elimination of thrips is a worthy goal, but impractical.