If you’ve gotten rid of thrips, what did you use and how did you do it?? I’ve got thrips eating all of my plants and causing damage.
Is this just what you have to live with as a plant parent or is there a solution?
I water when the top inch or 2 is dry and they get 12 hours of artificial light
by Monstera_loverr
11 Comments
Last summer, I dealt with a pretty serious thrip infestation. One thing that helped me save most of my plants was cutting back on the foliage. I had a massive pothos with tons of leaves, and I almost completely trimmed it down to make the treatment more effective. It’s much easier to treat a small plant than a big one. My pothos is currently much smaller, yet it is thriving and I know that it will grow back.
I also learned that sometimes it’s okay to let go. I had to throw out a few plants (I know, controversial), because the stress of dealing with the thrips started to outweigh the joy the plants gave me. I love taking care of my houseplants, but sometimes it’s important to prioritize your own well-being and let go of those that are draining you.
Best of luck,
Nematodes. I run a commercial greenhouse and we proactively water with nematodes weekly. Zero issues with thrips. Nemasys and Nemashield are two products we have used. Not sure what is available commercially, but look into it. I know that there are options out there.
Bonide systemic granules seemed to work for me
I spent $20 on amazon and bought nematodes. I have a lot of plants and the entire canister covered all of them. Worked amazing
My family gifted me a thrips infested peperomia and since i didn’t want to just toss it in the bin but i also didn’t want to bother with it, i removed the pot, separated the plant from the soil, threw the plant in soapy water and the soil in the oven at 170 Celsius. It’s the plant i cared the least about because i had it for just a couple of hours and it’s the only plant i successfully eradicated thrips on from day one even though i didn’t even change the soil or have used any actual pesticides. 💀
It’s been, like, 3 months now? Idk if it’s a coincidence or not.
The markings you show aren’t indicative of thrips. (Aside from perhaps thrip droppings on pothos) Do you have a pic of the actual bug you’re seeing?
No matter what your weapon of choice is, you have to be consistent and read up on the life cycle of thrips. It takes 10 to 20 days for thrips to go from an egg to an egg laying adult depending on the temperature. You kill the larve abs adults when you treat, but you can’t kill the eggs. So if you only treat once, you end up with new larve when the eggs hatch, and within a week or two, you have adults again that lay more eggs. If you only treat twice, you kill the most of them, but inevitably, the cycle restarts because 1 – the cycle time varies and you’ve got generations (some larve and some laying), and 2 – you will have missed a few. If you want to really get them, you need to treat at least 6 times every 10 days. Some experts even suggest 3 months. You can take your climate into account for treatment spacing, but for most home temps if you treat every 10 days for 3 months, you’re going to end up killing the last handful before they lay eggs and restart the cycle. It’s also important to point out that stopping after one or two treatments and *almost* killing them creates a super bug that develops an immunity to your treatment. It’s important to be consistent with what you use to kill them for the duration of one treatment period. Meaning don’t switch up your weapon during that whole treatment period, BUT if you’ve finished the 2 or 3 months and they come back after that, then you need to hit them with something different the next time. .. cause super bugs.
Eta if you go with Bonide systemic granules, it’s supposed to last 8 weeks and should kill all of them in the larval stage before they lay eggs. Just in case some of the eggs stay dormant, you should apply twice. I would mark the calendar and do it in 7 weeks!
The only one that might potentially have thrips damage is the pothos but I literally see no signs of thrips on any of these.
Plants aren’t perfect
I used Captain Jack’s dead bug or insecticidal soap (can’t remember which) spray and only needed to apply it 2x, I think. I had 1 plant get them and it was minor. Ive been fighting spider mites and Captain Jack’s has helped. With the mites I’ve done both the dead bug or insecticidal soap and neem oil spray. It’s all mixed and ready to go, just make sure you shake well or at least read the directions unlike me lol Depending on where you’re at, I got it at Home Depot.
Yes! After months of insecticide spraying, systemic granules, and not being able to get rid of thrips, I sprayed them all down and sealed them in plastic bags. I have huge plants that I bought very large clear garbage bags for. I made sure they were watered but not soaking wet and sealed them up for 1 month. Took them out, sprayed them again, and sealed them back up for another month. I don’t know if the taking them out was necessary, but I think the 100% humidity for so long is what killed them
Me! I have a serious sized plant collection and I went through a huge process of moving them outside and spraying them all down with water and diatomaceous earth (food grade). Once I thought they were all gone I moved them back inside only to find them once again
This time around I decided to just repeatedly wash them down with soapy dish soap water and a sponge. Quite the process and it took hours but after the 4th wash down they were gone! At this point i also sprayed the top of the soil with a mix of alcohol and water and after watering I’d give the soil a coating sprinkle of diatomaceous earth. It’s been months now and I’ve beat those little effers
I did lose some plants and had to cut a bunch back but the thrips are gone 👍🏼