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Hi, my name is:
Thrip
Describe yourself: About 2mm long, sometimes white and yellow but don't mind black. Quite slim, with lovely fringed wings! Don't be fooled, what I lack in size I make up for in tenacity. I'm very social and usually travel with lots of mates.
Hobbies: Laying eggs in unopened flowers, sucking sap, spreading viruses from plant to plant.
Likes: Most plants, but really fond of tomatoes, beans, roses, azaleas and fruit trees. I love any white or light-coloured flowers!
Dislikes: Soaps - like home made chilli soap, or store bought stuff (like these ones). Don't get along with Ladybirds or Lacewings.
You'll know you've met me when: Your plants' leaves look white and a bit mottled, the petals or fruit turn brown, and flower buds fall off! Late spring is my favourite time to visit your garden - just as the roses start to bloom!.
Old School Control Methods: Confidor, Rogor or Malathion.
If you want to dump me, you could try to:
Irritate me by putting a flattened square of aluminium foil around the base of plants to bounce light on the undersides of leaves.
Drench me with a forceful jet of water in the early morning for 3 consecutive days.
Spray me with a home made garlic or chilli soap. Or use a store bought insecticidal soap. And target the underside of leaves where I usually like to shelter.
Prevent my adult friends from emerging from leaf litter in the early spring by applying a thick layer of organic mulch around susceptible plants.
Remove damaged plant parts as I also like to over winter in plant tissue or bark fissures.
Hit me with a pyrethrum spray if I JUST WON"T LEAVE, but be careful not to use when friendly pollinating insects are visiting the same flowers!
Deter me by cultivating the soil around your plants in autumn to a depth of 6 cm and again in the following spring.
Destroy all infected flowers and buds but don't compost them. Throw them out - and me with them!
Photographs:
Pic 1: http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/cps/rde/dpi/hs.xsl/26_4282_ENA_HTML.htm
Pic 2: http://plantpath.wisc.edu/~tlg/moreinfo2.html
Pic 3: http://www.hort.uconn.edu/IPM/greenhs/htms/ghsemsg2007_07.htm Desc: Thrip damage on the leaf surface
Pic 4: http://www.bugsforbugs.com.au/product/41 Desc: Thrip predator mite... the mighty Montdorensis!
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