The disease affects many cut flowers such as Annual statice, Gomphrena, Acroclimum, and Asters. While control of aster leafhopper is generally easy, controlling the disease is more complicated. The best method for disease management is to monitor for and control leafhoppers as soon as they appear. Thrips is a common pest on outdoor cut flowers and this pest has rasping-sucking mouthparts. This describes feeding with both piercing-sucking and chewing mouthparts.
Thrips puncture the tissue, then sucks the sap and fluid that is released from the injured tissue.
Some species will feed on leaf tissue where they produce silvery depressed areas that frequently contain black specks. Thrips will attack many cut flowers including Strawflowers, Acroclinum , Bachelor's buttons. Feeding damage appears as a dull discoloration. Flowers can be streaked, mottled or flecked with off-color areas. In some cases new growth may become misshapen and deformed, or buds may fail to open.