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Thrips are yellow to dark brown in color. Their appearance is often compared to California thrips. The main difference between the two is that flower thrips do not have any long hairs above their composite eyes (which the California thrips do have). In total, these thrips have 8 antenna segments and long hairs on the top row of their pronotum, also called neck shield. Rows of hair are also seen on their wings. The comb on their lower bodies is covered in short hairs.

​​​​Eggs (laid in plant tissue) ​​​​

​​​​Instar larva​​​​

​​​​Pre-Pupa ​​​​

​​​​Adult thrips​​​​

Female thrips lay their eggs in leaves or flower petals. The length of the egg stage varies depending on the thrips species and temperature. The larvae that hatch after a few days are still wingless, but already resemble adult thrips in their shape and way of life. The usually yellowish larvae are very mobile and feed on above-ground plant parts. There are two larval stages, followed by a pre-pupal stage. The (pre-)pupal stages take place in the soil. There, the pest's wings and antennae develop. The adults finally fly out. The adult female thrips live for several days and lay up to 300 eggs in leaves or flowers. In warm greenhouses, many thrips species can produce several generations per year. Thrips overwinter in protected places such as in the ground or in crevices.  

Thrips are mainly a flower visitor, but also appear on leaves. Eggs are deposited on the leaf, sepals or petals. The insects are extremely mobile and therefore they can quickly spread through the crop. The larvae of the thrips pricks cells on the leaf surface of the plant and causes the cells to collapse. The overall picture that emerges after many pricks on the leaf is a haze of silver-grey spots with black dots in them. In severe cases, this can even lead to dehydration. On paprika, it also causes wart-like deformations.

In addition to thrips damage of the crop, they can also cause other damage by transmitting viruses and are particularly known for the transmission of Tomato spottedwilt virus (TSWV).

The number of species of thrips causing damage has been increasing in recent years. The most common and damaging forms of thrips in greenhouse crops are the California thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis) and the tobacco thrips (Thrips tabaci), but the rose thrips (Thrips fuscipennis) and Echinothrips americanus also sometimes occur in the greenhouse. A relatively new species of thrips is the Japanese flower thrips (Thrips setosus), found mainly in hydrangea and lily. Pepper thrips (Thrips parvispinus) is another type that has been showing up in more and more crops in recent years. Click for more information below; 

(Rose) Thrips fuscipennis​​​​

​​​​Echinothrips americanus​​​​

Thrips treatment can be fitting by insect netting over the air vents. You can hang detection rollers or sticky traps to detect and monitor the thrips. By checking these weekly, you can find out if there is an increase in the number of thrips or other insects.

Chemical thrips control is often difficult. This is mainly because the various species of thrips are resistant to an increasing number of crop protection agents, but also because the approval of many chemical crop protection agents has been withdrawn. Contact our specialist or to determine which agents you can use in your crop.

Nowadays, biological control of thrips is increasingly used with the help of natural enemies. Especially predatory mites and predatory bugs are used as natural enemies of thrips.

• In many crops, culture bags of Amblyseius cucumeris are hung in or cucumeris is chosen to be blown in combination with Transeius montdorensis. 
• To treat chrysanthemum, you can use montdorensis and Power Food.
• To treat bell pepper crops, we see that the combination of montdorensis and Power Food is effective. 
• To treat flower thrips, you can use Transeius montdorensis predatory mite.  
  

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