Thank you for the up close and personal look at these little buggers. I finally feel like I might be able to spot them with a lot more confidence. Would love a similar video on Spider Mites.
Spider mites are usually when the soil is too wet. So try to let the soil fully dry between each watering. This way the mites will prevent laying eggs. If its a full infestation mites then its better to repot and wash.
Its really refreshing to see someone approach thrips in a calm and collected way. Usually there is a much more severe and negative reaction to them. I'll keep up with consistent manual and physical removal!
@Lèmon Lēe have been doing similar approach but they don't seem to go away completely. is it possible to have them gone totally? or is it going to be an ongoing treatment forever? been trying to sustain three plants for an year this way now, very scared for it to spread to others-):
@Lèmon Lēe I find thrips pretty easy to get rid of if you really work on physical removal. I did daily removal with insecticidal soap and weekly spraying on my monstera deliciosa and eradicated them within a month. It was thrips free for over a year until I moved it from isolation in my bathroom and put it back in my living room. Took less than a month for new thrips to show up. What I need is a way to prevent thrips from getting to my plants in the first place because even though I can get rid of thrips, the work to do so is too much to be constantly dealing with new infestations.
@@SuperUsername147 im reading all of these answers and i wanna cry, my monstera deliciosa is the plant infested ad my most prized possession. i wanna cry.
Thank you for getting straight to the point and giving the solutions in such a calm manner. I've been watching other videos on thrips and getting more and mpre anxious! To the point I was about to just throw my "suspecte" infected plants away. But I now feel like I might actually have a shot at saving them 🙏
You're the first plant youtuber I've seen from Canada, and who's even acknowledged we can't use any of the systemic, neem, etc stuff here, so THANK YOU lol. I'll have to try these tips. Thanks.
Could you explain to me why Canadians can’t buy/use it? I’m Canadian too and I’ve been trying to figure out why we don’t have it & if it’s legal to bring back across the border
I am just now fighting my first thrips infestation. I've so far wiped them off and sprayed a soapy solution on the plants more susceptible to them and those that had any on them. It really has made sense why a few of my plants were showing weird signs of dwindling health. Hopefully my continued treatment works and gets rid of them! I am presuming they appeared due to my windows being opened during this summer...
Eww eww eww. I thought they were specks of soil for the longest time 😭 I've been rubbing them off and then touching everything. Thanks for the concise video.
You can use castile soap and water with peppermint oil, clove oil, etc. added...organic and works. Just research which other oils if you're interested, as I'm not quite sure which others besides the 2 I listed, but I'm sure there are more!
The lint roller tip is really useful! I usually take the plants to the sink and use some pressure water on all the leaves. I'm also planning on using a humidity tent to isolate the cases that I've found in my collection.
Thanks for the helpful video, thrips are the worst! My method is a weekly plant shower where I blast the leaves and stems with a high pressure shower head. Support the leaves with your hands. Make sure to get under all of the leaves. After the shower I spray with a mixture of neem oil/water/dish soap. You can find recipes online. I add lavendar oil to mask the neem smell. Keep out of direct sun while it's drying, neem oil can burn your leaves. I've also used insecticidal soap on occasion. I just got rid of them from my monstera but it's taken a loooong time. Keep up with a weekly shower even if you think they're gone. You got this!
Omg! My philo hope I just saw a black thing and was like.. is this thrip! Found this video., I wondered why my leaves were looking yellow and brown! I only saw one so I took outside and sprayed with the hose! I’ll be checking this daily now! How long did it take you to get rid of the buggers? Do they spread?? 😭 so far I haven’t found anything on any of my other plants
I was admiring my very old, large Philadendron Selloum this am when I noticed these tiny little black bugs which I identified as Thrips! I love this plant! I started wiping it down with insecticidal soap but that would have taken hours... my husband carried it to our huge walk in shower and I sprayed it like crazy. Tonight I noticed I must have missed some. Going to use a granular insecticide which you apply to the dirt, then water. It goes up through the roots and bugs die when they feed off it. This plant is just too big to be wiping off and carrying to the shower. Thank you for your informative video!
@@BotanicalWoman i agree; i was able to contain mealy bugs on my m. Adansonii last year with consistent use of treatment. I used alcohol w/cotton tip as well Bonide insecticidal spray and the powder. This year I haven't seen mealy bug Thrips...
Thank you for the great tips! My giant Hope Philodendron has a big thrip problem that I discovered about two weeks ago (it also had an aphid problem a month and a half ago). So today I: - took it out of its dirt, - washed as much of the dirt out as possible (the dirt was very tightly bound in the roots), - split the plant into three plants to make control easier, and Wiped each leaf (front and back) with soapy water, I also discovered some scales as well while cleaning the leaves, so I removed them! I then placed each plant in water instead of new dirt, for the meantime, while I get control over the thrips. Let me know if these steps are beneficial for my plant, or if I just killed it 🙃
Thanks for the video! It helped me confirm what I suspected, and they're definitely thrips (Californian thrips, said someone?). In fact after pruning, I threw my whole monstera under a hot shower (based on some advice I received), cleaning each leave and hoping to discourage some bugs in the soil as well with the hot water. After it dried, I sprayed with a home mix of dishwasher soap, olive oil and apple cider vinegar and left it in the shower for a few days. I've repeated it twice now, but today I noticed the thrips are back. They're smaller now, and there are fewer of them. But I guess I'll keep repeating this, and try to find an insecticide that would work on these. Battle is on!
Thrips larvae are often laid inside the leaf tissue so the only way to irradiate them is to wait until they hatch and remove them before they reach maturity (which can take a week but usually takes two weeks for most species). Once they reach maturity they will begin laying eggs again. They can reproduce asexually so it only takes one survivor for it to continue.
Not sure if things have changed since you made this video 3 yrs ago, but actually home gardeners/plant keepers can now get beneficial bugs against plant pests in Canada. I’m in Canada too and have bought & used beneficial predatory mites for my indoor plants & indoor gardens quite a few times now - stratiolaelaps scimitus to go in soil against fungus gnats, and amblyseius swirskii mites against thrips (at least their larval forms, with manual removal for any adult thrips). These predatory mites work very well when used correctly and may require a few repeat treatments every 2-4 weeks to fully get rid of the pests. You can buy these kinds of beneficial predatory mites/bugs from certain sellers online and you don’t necessarily have to be a commercial grower to do so - I’ve found and bought from at least a few sellers with success.
Thanks for this video! I've been trying to get rid of thrips for a while now and I didn't realize they have very small and white larvae. I'll be more vigilant in my pest control and hopefully my plants won't look so eaten 😕
Nice! Yeah - it works super well on plants with "strong" leaves.
4 года назад
I am such a scaredy cat of monsters. I like the idea of the sticky lint roller. Thanks for this idea and sharing your thoughts out loud with the rest of us (lol).
Thank you for this great video. I just realized I have thrips on a ficus elastica that I invested quite a bit of money on. The grey fuzz tipped me off, then I saw a larvae. Used the lint roller this morning. Will follow up with insecticidal soap.
Grey fuzz sounds like a different bug in my opinion, sounds like mealy bugs. Grey fuzzy on plants, small grey fuzzy bugs especially on the underside of leaves in stem crevices etc. I get them in my pothos all the time
Thanks, I kept wondering what they were since I only typed “tiny black bugs on plant leaves”. I kept getting info on aphids but they say those are pear shaped. Mine looks like tiny grains of rice like these thrips. You say they are usually on the topside but for me they seem to gather at the underside of the leaves. My cayenne pepper plant is so fragile, makes it hard for the physical removals. So I spray with neem oil and insecticide soap. I can see their eggs on the leaves (like little grains of sand). They seem to stay on the leaves even when I try to rub or scratch at the leaf surface. I hope the soap and neem oil kills these eggs.
I initially wanted to stay more natural/organic (neem oil, etc.) but after becoming weary battling thrips I now use Captain Jacks, Bonide Systemic, and Mosquito Bits steeped water regularly. This is working this far but I have read that they can become immune to certain treatments so I have Bonide Eight and a plethora of other products to alternate between. I now treat all new plants with Captain Jacks and start systemic right away. If anyone is battling thrips right now, I really feel for you. Get right on it at the first sign and hang in there! 💛
Hi thanks for the info n direct to treatment.... My question is how often do i have to spray every couple days ? For how long 4 weeks ,??? Thanks in advance 😊
Ugh, brought an abandoned plant home from work as it wasn't looking well and now am dealing with thrips on several plants. I thought I did a good check of the incoming plant. My bad, but will be consistent and keep removing them. Do you think water with a drop of dish soap is good enough or should I just buy insecticidal soap? Thanks for the video!
I'm so sorry to hear about this- makes my heart sink! I had issues with thrips started on 1 plant and now I at least have them on 10-15 houseplants after treating them with neem oil for several months I gave up and bought insecticides- wish me luck and I'd suggest you do the same before they take over 😞
Same here... I'm using a Q-tip dipped in alcohol to physically remove them when I see them, itcdoes spot the leaves though my will try the soapy water next. I've also just started dusting the plants with Diatomaceous Earth... It usually kills all insects that walk on it, eventually. That said, I heard an old timer say they're practically impossible to totally erradicate. Just lovely. (Update: I caved in and bought insecticide with Spinosad it, it's an organic bacteria and it's supposed to be really excellent for Thrips. I had to spray it on all the plants about four or five times in a two week period... just to make sure I got all the larvae and eggs. But knock wood, it did the trick, no more thrips in the house for now. In America the products are called Captain Jack's dead bug Brew concentrate or spray, or Monterey garden insect spray. Both have Spinosad in it. You do have to wear a mask and preferably spray it outside because you don't want to inhale the bacteria.
Thrips really seem to like my hoyas and pony tails. I've been using Neem oil but just recently decided to try insecticidal soap instead. I don't think i'll ever completely get rid of them, but I can try to keep the population under control with regular spraying.
The past week or so, I've been spraying my plants with diluted neem oil. Has helped slow down the spread and the removed affected leaves. It's on pepper plants I've seen these critters the most, usually on sweet non-spicy varieties. Left unchecked, this annoying pest will spread like wildfire to other vulnerable plants.
Yes! My cayenne pepper is suffering massively from these guys. I had no idea what the issue was and then I looked under the leaves, BAM! Bunch of thrips and thrip poo. Just got neem oil and am trying it. I was using insecticide soap first and that also seem to do a lot on their numbers.
If you're having trouble identifying these tiny insects, a jewelers loupe is a very handy tool to have. There are 30 different species of thrips which are crop pests, 11 of which are in Canada. Identifying which species are on your plants can give you an advantage in the battle, as they have specific weaknesses and resistances. They are extremely difficult to eradicate once they take hold. Buy some yellow or blue sticky traps. Place at least one by the pot, and one near the canopy. They are useful in evaluating how well your chosen treatment is working. Safers soap is a good first step to battle an infestation as the video author recommended. Should spray both sides of the leaves and the soil twice a day for several weeks. You need to eliminate all the adults, and larva when they hatch, or they will return in short order. After that stick to preventative schedule using soap monthly and maybe neem oil. Good luck all. If you are American just buy something with spinosad in it. lol
gnats are bigger and they fly around alot more, they are attracted to carbon dioxide so they will fly at you or up your nose. gnats also hang in the soil so you usually notice them when you water your plant.
Thrips are very thin with pointy ends ...gnats look like tiny flies or fleas with fly legs and wings ...Thrips are very dark and tiny after the larvae stage, hard to see any wings til they get larger. Like a spec of a fiber. Thin and longish as opposed to fat and round.
I wipe the leaves of my Monstera with a damp (nearly wet) kitchen towel. About to use a reusable rag which I wash in laudrary detergent with the regular clothes wash. Doing this twice weekly. Also removed the top surface of the soil and replaced with new soil.
There is evidence of thrips on my syngonium, but I really can't see any, even with a magnifying glass. I do use a systemic (Bonide in the US) so I wonder if they're biting it and dying. Two weeks ago, I used spinosad spray just to be on the safe side. I feel like a crazy person just staring at this plant constantly 😅
What I need is tips for preventing thrips. I’ve been getting them all season. I had a monstera that was thrips free for over a year (I had it in isolation) and as soon as I moved it out of isolation it became infested again. I even decided to start spraying all my plants every two weeks alternating between insecticidal and neem and less than a week after spraying with insecticidal soap I found thrips on another plant. It’s frustrating.
I hear they move really fast from plant to plant. Like those nematodes in that spongebob episode. I’ve read something about Irish spring soap, mint, and some other plant that keeps pests away cus of their smell. If the neem oil treatment I’m doing doesn’t work then I’m gonna try those. Maybe the strong scents will make them all leave.
I'm just curious if you are using the lint roller weekly and the insecticidal soap monthly why would you still have thrips? Is it something that is ongoing and continuous? I don't think I've ever had thrips before so I'm very curious as I have at least 200 plants to look after so this could be a disaster for me.
I sadly have them om my Monstera as well. Any idea if it will ever go away? I also use Neem oil instead of insecticidal soap. Also the lint roller was a great idea. Going to get one soon.
Hi! Thanks for the great video! I have thrips on my adansonii. It lives in my bathroom with numerous other plants. I don't have any other plants within 4 feet of it though. Will the thrips infect the others? Should I treat them with the insecticidal soap too? Thanks!
You can buy the insects in canada, and you should alternate the families of pesticides, because you're going to create resistance among thirps poppulations. Also, do the yellow larva walk slowly or fast just curious about that?
Wow! I recently got a Giving Plant frm Hirts by Mail. It was full of thrips w many fallen n eaten, (sucked on) leaves. Thrips also layed eggs into my plant leaves and into some soft stems. The Thrip droppings are tiny black specks like pepper & they also leave this ghostly casings.. like they shed to grow bigger? Creeps me out! Thrips are the worst! Since the fly a little, I had to keep away frm my other plants. Yes! The soap spray works and repeat to maintain! Now I place hand gel on my hands and wipe leaves n stems w my hands to feel any bumps & wipe anything away. I also repotted with fresh soil, removing most of the old. Poor plant doesn’t look so pretty up close but she’s well now. Peace. 🌱
I bought green lacewing eggs but I didn’t see any of them in my apartment. I wonder if I should just buy the larva instead. I just bought 2 new plants and they looked pretty stressed out when they arrived
Someone suggested making or buying a mini plastic greenhouse to temporarily put the infected plants and beneficial insects in, and close it up so they don't escape until they eat up the thrips. Maybe with a screen for air flow.
I'm still confused about whether i have thrips or aphids. I heard that some aphid species can be black also. I think they started on my new mint plants in the cooler weather, since most of their leaves eventually dried up and fell. They also spread to my other houseplants when I brought them all back in. I had seen tiny black spots on them and my chard and I thought it was just specks of earth. I thought my plants were reacting to the shock of the change of environment (dryness and heat of the radiators). Didn't realize that I had been infested! Been trying the homemade dishsoap in water treatment but the troubles are far from over yet. My christmas cactuses have brown spots and have been loosing their leaves but I can't see any critters on them. Its my first year that I got this problem and its quite overwhelming!
Aphids are typically easier to identify as they are slightly larger than thrips. They do come in many colours but aphids best identifying features are cornicles. These cornicles appear as 2 little horns on the backside of the aphid. They have more of a pear-shaped body and will typically be feeding on new growth. They are pretty easy to get rid of, so if you are having a lot of trouble you may be dealing with thrips. Thrips have slender bodies!
Hello. Could you tell me if adults have a high speed when they move? I have some small insects in the bottom of my vases. They are very fast. I can’t understand if these are springtails or thrips
No, I would say adult thrips are slow-moving and tend to stay on the plant. Fast-moving insects that hang around the underside of the pot are most likely springtails.
@@HousePlantJournal thank you! I have these strange gray insects everywhere, even in my succulents. Always in the buttom of vase. I can't understand what is happening as it is the first time in my life. So I'm not sure if I need to use medicine or no.
Ive gotten my 1st infestation of thrips on my office plants at work. Never had them at home. We did neem oil but it didnt work completely. We are moving to WFH and I have 2 months to get them gone. Ive been doing similar to lint rolling but with tape. And washing with soap. At home, we have cats so i also cant use neem again as its toxic to them. Im going to keep at it, change the soil before i bring them home and use nematodes in the soil.
Is there another pest that looks like thrips? I am having a hard time identifying a pest on a pothos. I see what looks like tiny black hairs on my plant. I tried a magnifying device and I cannot make them out still looks like tiny pieces of hair. I have done research and cannot identify what these are. I dont think thrips because I see no larvae at all or black poop spots. Ordered a jewelers loupe and systemic along with captain jacks. I will bring out the big guns cuz i have no clue what it is!! I will be treating every plant regardless because I dunno what it is and how fast it may spread.
Interesting thing about Safers end all (and their reg. Insecticidal soap)... Thrips is not included in the label. I think I'm going to write them and ask. I wonder if it's because the active ingredient pyrethrins comes from chrysanthemum which is one of thrips favourite plants. 🤷♀️
Do thrips swim? I noticed in my Calathea, I have them on a pebble tray, and there are tiny white about 1mm long swimming around... I cant visually seem them ON my plant though.
Thank you so much for this video. I am in need of those tips. I did use the safers insectcidle soap. Did not work for me . Lint remover is a cool idea I'll try that on my poor monstera.
Thank you for a straight to the point video! I know you said adult thrips are slow moving, but are the younger ones fast moving? I ask because I am trying to identify a very small (about the size of an adult thrips), grey coloured, fast moving insect that appears to live in the soil of my potted plants.
I shower my plants twice a week (some of my plants have spider mites who reproduce faster than thrips), topside and underside of the leaves, all crevices...And after the plant dries out, I treat it with insecticidal soap or horticultural oil :)
I like that end consumers are not allowed to use systemic insecticides. They are dangerous, I agree with the policy of only commercial producers being able to use them.
If you follow these instructions you'll never get rid of them. The black thrip you speak of (Echinothrip americanus) is only one of 2 species , which hatches every 5 days approx depending on temp. If you spray once monthly you'll have the problem for the rest of your life. The other thrip species has life stages in the soil and this approach you mention won't work either (cream thrip- western flower thrips).
Thanks Darryl. I was on the verge of chucking my rhaphidophora tetrasperma out before you responded to my IG story. I’ll give this a go for a bit and keep the plant isolated in the meanwhile. 🤞🏼BTW - are they still on your Monstera or where you able to successfully erratic the buggers?
I am trying out a weekly soapy water shower (using natural liquid soap and additional vegetal oils), which I wipe off after some time to get rid of the insects. I will add physical removal to this routine, unfortunately, I am not sure my Schefflera will like the lint roller... This liquid soap already helped me eradicate a shell mealybug infestation, so I have high hopes for it.
Was drinking a beer when I got to the part about using a lint roller. Now the insides of my nose feel fizzy. I dunno why I found that funny but good to know that’s an option. I think I have thrips on my ficus lyrata and it’s unfortunate this will be the first type of pest I’m gonna have to deal with. Been scouring RUclips for ways to identify and terminate.
Yes you should follow the same tips, because Thrips lay eggs in the soil around 80 eggs per thrip. I would repot your soil and disinfect the old soil or throw it out.
Oh no! I think I have thrips 😫 I looked up the safers end all as I’m in Ont Canada, I’m not able to get it shipped from Amazon here 😭 how did you get this? Thank you
its a tough battle, keep the infected and the plants that were nearby seperate from the healthy ones. Keep treating on a daily, weekly, monthly basis like Darryl said.
I have elephant ears potted outdoors and I can’t figure out what’s infecting them. I’m thinking it’s thrips. The problem is that the leaves repel liquid. Other than trying to remove them (there are a TON 😣) do you have a treatment that would work on elephant ear leaves?
think I have these on my tree, a large tree, hanging over my garden. They are tiny light green and lime green almost translucent bugs, no wings, and short legs. How do I control that population?
I have an insect on my raspberries plants outside They look like thrips only a little bit bigger and the are earing my raspberries Not Cool To your knowledge do thrip live on plants outside and do they eat berries?
Are you familiar with plant enhancers/booster? These can help plants activate a better defense mechanism (against bugs or fungus for example. Some herbs can help like horsetail and nettle. Make a tea of it, let it cool and spray plant with it. Look it up, it's a very interesting topic. :-)
Is there any chance that you can link an article on this? I have done several searches on both nettle and horsetail for plant enhancers and plant boosters as well as a few others and I can not seem to find any articles for this. I just found thrips in my propagation bins for my rain forest plants and now I need to treat them all. Velvery leaf plants such as philodendron verrucosums, micans, gloriosum, luxurians, anthurium magnificum, doriyaki and so many other more expensive plants. I only use New Zealand sphagnum moss and was shocked to find in my search that thrips can come from sphagnum moss. These plants are going into vivariums that will house frogs so I can only use natural products that will not harm my delicate plants, frogs, springtails and isopods. I do quarantine all new plants.
That's a good question - I didn't treat the soil in particular because I've only ever seen the larvae/adults on the leaves themselves. They seem to hatch from the cracks/crevices along the stem so I think they lay their eggs on the actual plant rather than the soil.
You should treat the soil or better yet change it completely! Google the life cycle of thrips. There is a period after the eggs hatch and the larvae that the prepups enter the soil.
They also lay eggs in the soil, when the time is right they will hatch out and eat your plant again. Thrips are very smart, so we have to outsmart them.
One day you're young and havin fun, and then the next your lint rolling your monstera on a Saturday night....
Thank you for the helpful tips!
truer words have never been spoken
Lmfao. Yes girl.
😂
😂
And now we're thripping!
Thank you for the up close and personal look at these little buggers. I finally feel like I might be able to spot them with a lot more confidence. Would love a similar video on Spider Mites.
Yes thanks! I agree! It's so good to actually see what they look like- any other pest videos would be great!
Spider mites are usually when the soil is too wet. So try to let the soil fully dry between each watering. This way the mites will prevent laying eggs. If its a full infestation mites then its better to repot and wash.
Its really refreshing to see someone approach thrips in a calm and collected way. Usually there is a much more severe and negative reaction to them. I'll keep up with consistent manual and physical removal!
@Lèmon Lēe have been doing similar approach but they don't seem to go away completely. is it possible to have them gone totally? or is it going to be an ongoing treatment forever? been trying to sustain three plants for an year this way now, very scared for it to spread to others-):
@Lèmon Lēe I find thrips pretty easy to get rid of if you really work on physical removal. I did daily removal with insecticidal soap and weekly spraying on my monstera deliciosa and eradicated them within a month. It was thrips free for over a year until I moved it from isolation in my bathroom and put it back in my living room. Took less than a month for new thrips to show up. What I need is a way to prevent thrips from getting to my plants in the first place because even though I can get rid of thrips, the work to do so is too much to be constantly dealing with new infestations.
@@SuperUsername147 im reading all of these answers and i wanna cry, my monstera deliciosa is the plant infested ad my most prized possession. i wanna cry.
Wow, straight to the point, actually showing videos of the thrips, and such a calm demeanor. You just got a new subscriber. 😊
Thank you for getting straight to the point and giving the solutions in such a calm manner. I've been watching other videos on thrips and getting more and mpre anxious! To the point I was about to just throw my "suspecte" infected plants away. But I now feel like I might actually have a shot at saving them 🙏
You're the first plant youtuber I've seen from Canada, and who's even acknowledged we can't use any of the systemic, neem, etc stuff here, so THANK YOU lol. I'll have to try these tips. Thanks.
Yes! So annoyed with other usa youtubers wining about thrips when they have spinosad and other systemic pesticides to swiftly deal with it
Could you explain to me why Canadians can’t buy/use it? I’m Canadian too and I’ve been trying to figure out why we don’t have it & if it’s legal to bring back across the border
@@emilyblair4287it's poisonous. To more than insects. We can use neem oil though! And BT
Have you tried clove oil with water in sprayer, if you want it strong add more than 10 drops. It numbs them to death, it's organic.
I am just now fighting my first thrips infestation. I've so far wiped them off and sprayed a soapy solution on the plants more susceptible to them and those that had any on them. It really has made sense why a few of my plants were showing weird signs of dwindling health. Hopefully my continued treatment works and gets rid of them! I am presuming they appeared due to my windows being opened during this summer...
Eww eww eww. I thought they were specks of soil for the longest time 😭 I've been rubbing them off and then touching everything. Thanks for the concise video.
Cool! Lint roller, great idea!👌🏽 using insecticidal soap also, though I can’t stand the smell!
You can use castile soap and water with peppermint oil, clove oil, etc. added...organic and works. Just research which other oils if you're interested, as I'm not quite sure which others besides the 2 I listed, but I'm sure there are more!
The lint roller idea is genius!
What a considerate housemate you are! And I like your lint roller trick!
The lint roller tip is really useful! I usually take the plants to the sink and use some pressure water on all the leaves. I'm also planning on using a humidity tent to isolate the cases that I've found in my collection.
Thanks for the helpful video, thrips are the worst!
My method is a weekly plant shower where I blast the leaves and stems with a high pressure shower head. Support the leaves with your hands. Make sure to get under all of the leaves. After the shower I spray with a mixture of neem oil/water/dish soap. You can find recipes online. I add lavendar oil to mask the neem smell. Keep out of direct sun while it's drying, neem oil can burn your leaves. I've also used insecticidal soap on occasion. I just got rid of them from my monstera but it's taken a loooong time. Keep up with a weekly shower even if you think they're gone. You got this!
Omg! My philo hope I just saw a black thing and was like.. is this thrip! Found this video., I wondered why my leaves were looking yellow and brown! I only saw one so I took outside and sprayed with the hose! I’ll be checking this daily now! How long did it take you to get rid of the buggers? Do they spread?? 😭 so far I haven’t found anything on any of my other plants
Oh and.. do you spray the soil also??
Very helpful video. I always wondered what they look like. Thanks a bunch.
I was admiring my very old, large Philadendron Selloum this am when I noticed these tiny little black bugs which I identified as Thrips! I love this plant! I started wiping it down with insecticidal soap but that would have taken hours... my husband carried it to our huge walk in shower and I sprayed it like crazy. Tonight I noticed I must have missed some. Going to use a granular insecticide which you apply to the dirt, then water. It goes up through the roots and bugs die when they feed off it. This plant is just too big to be wiping off and carrying to the shower. Thank you for your informative video!
The granular insecticide is the systemic one that he says is banned in some countries and some US states too
The lint roller is an amazing idea. THANK YOU
Thanks for the video. I thought mealy bugs were bad but thrips are worse; I've dealt with both.
they are both a pain in my butt
@@BotanicalWoman i agree; i was able to contain mealy bugs on my m. Adansonii last year with consistent use of treatment. I used alcohol w/cotton tip as well Bonide insecticidal spray and the powder. This year I haven't seen mealy bug
Thrips...
Thank you for the great tips! My giant Hope Philodendron has a big thrip problem that I discovered about two weeks ago (it also had an aphid problem a month and a half ago). So today I:
- took it out of its dirt,
- washed as much of the dirt out as possible (the dirt was very tightly bound in the roots),
- split the plant into three plants to make control easier, and
Wiped each leaf (front and back) with soapy water,
I also discovered some scales as well while cleaning the leaves, so I removed them! I then placed each plant in water instead of new dirt, for the meantime, while I get control over the thrips.
Let me know if these steps are beneficial for my plant, or if I just killed it 🙃
Give us an update! Is everyone still alive?
Thanks for the video! It helped me confirm what I suspected, and they're definitely thrips (Californian thrips, said someone?). In fact after pruning, I threw my whole monstera under a hot shower (based on some advice I received), cleaning each leave and hoping to discourage some bugs in the soil as well with the hot water. After it dried, I sprayed with a home mix of dishwasher soap, olive oil and apple cider vinegar and left it in the shower for a few days. I've repeated it twice now, but today I noticed the thrips are back. They're smaller now, and there are fewer of them. But I guess I'll keep repeating this, and try to find an insecticide that would work on these. Battle is on!
Thrips larvae are often laid inside the leaf tissue so the only way to irradiate them is to wait until they hatch and remove them before they reach maturity (which can take a week but usually takes two weeks for most species). Once they reach maturity they will begin laying eggs again. They can reproduce asexually so it only takes one survivor for it to continue.
Thank you for the tips, I love the lint roller idea. 💚
Not sure if things have changed since you made this video 3 yrs ago, but actually home gardeners/plant keepers can now get beneficial bugs against plant pests in Canada. I’m in Canada too and have bought & used beneficial predatory mites for my indoor plants & indoor gardens quite a few times now - stratiolaelaps scimitus to go in soil against fungus gnats, and amblyseius swirskii mites against thrips (at least their larval forms, with manual removal for any adult thrips). These predatory mites work very well when used correctly and may require a few repeat treatments every 2-4 weeks to fully get rid of the pests. You can buy these kinds of beneficial predatory mites/bugs from certain sellers online and you don’t necessarily have to be a commercial grower to do so - I’ve found and bought from at least a few sellers with success.
It's the systemic insecticides that are not allowed, not the beneficial insects.
Super awesome advice about using a lint roller!!!!! Thank you
Thank you, I will be on the look out 👀 for these types of pests.
What can i use for epiphetic plants like nepenthes or orchid? Im always scared because they are good for absorbing stuff by their leaf
Lint roller!!!!!! I love it! So brilliant.
Great idea with the lint roller!!
Thanks for this video! I've been trying to get rid of thrips for a while now and I didn't realize they have very small and white larvae. I'll be more vigilant in my pest control and hopefully my plants won't look so eaten 😕
I've used insecticidal soap against thrips and it worked very well for me.
Don't forget to spray the top soil, because each thrip lay around 80 eggs.
Ohh lint roller! Love that idea. I already have that because of my cats
Nice! Yeah - it works super well on plants with "strong" leaves.
I am such a scaredy cat of monsters. I like the idea of the sticky lint roller. Thanks for this idea and sharing your thoughts out loud with the rest of us (lol).
Thank you for this great video. I just realized I have thrips on a ficus elastica that I invested quite a bit of money on. The grey fuzz tipped me off, then I saw a larvae. Used the lint roller this morning. Will follow up with insecticidal soap.
Grey fuzz sounds like a different bug in my opinion, sounds like mealy bugs. Grey fuzzy on plants, small grey fuzzy bugs especially on the underside of leaves in stem crevices etc. I get them in my pothos all the time
lol lint roller! very creative Darryl
Thanks, I kept wondering what they were since I only typed “tiny black bugs on plant leaves”. I kept getting info on aphids but they say those are pear shaped. Mine looks like tiny grains of rice like these thrips. You say they are usually on the topside but for me they seem to gather at the underside of the leaves.
My cayenne pepper plant is so fragile, makes it hard for the physical removals. So I spray with neem oil and insecticide soap. I can see their eggs on the leaves (like little grains of sand). They seem to stay on the leaves even when I try to rub or scratch at the leaf surface. I hope the soap and neem oil kills these eggs.
Thank you for helping me finally diagnosing the bugs on my plant! No wonder spraying with soap wasn't working..
I initially wanted to stay more natural/organic (neem oil, etc.) but after becoming weary battling thrips I now use Captain Jacks, Bonide Systemic, and Mosquito Bits steeped water regularly. This is working this far but I have read that they can become immune to certain treatments so I have Bonide Eight and a plethora of other products to alternate between. I now treat all new plants with Captain Jacks and start systemic right away. If anyone is battling thrips right now, I really feel for you. Get right on it at the first sign and hang in there! 💛
Hi thanks for the info n direct to treatment....
My question is how often do i have to spray every couple days ? For how long 4 weeks ,??? Thanks in advance 😊
Ugh, brought an abandoned plant home from work as it wasn't looking well and now am dealing with thrips on several plants. I thought I did a good check of the incoming plant. My bad, but will be consistent and keep removing them. Do you think water with a drop of dish soap is good enough or should I just buy insecticidal soap? Thanks for the video!
I'm so sorry to hear about this- makes my heart sink! I had issues with thrips started on 1 plant and now I at least have them on 10-15 houseplants after treating them with neem oil for several months I gave up and bought insecticides- wish me luck and I'd suggest you do the same before they take over 😞
Same here... I'm using a Q-tip dipped in alcohol to physically remove them when I see them, itcdoes spot the leaves though my will try the soapy water next.
I've also just started dusting the plants with Diatomaceous Earth... It usually kills all insects that walk on it, eventually.
That said, I heard an old timer say they're practically impossible to totally erradicate. Just lovely.
(Update: I caved in and bought insecticide with Spinosad it, it's an organic bacteria and it's supposed to be really excellent for Thrips.
I had to spray it on all the plants about four or five times in a two week period... just to make sure I got all the larvae and eggs.
But knock wood, it did the trick, no more thrips in the house for now.
In America the products are called Captain Jack's dead bug Brew concentrate or spray, or Monterey garden insect spray. Both have Spinosad in it.
You do have to wear a mask and preferably spray it outside because you don't want to inhale the bacteria.
Can you put black or natural raised beds around the squares of your flower gardens for strawberries
Thrips really seem to like my hoyas and pony tails. I've been using Neem oil but just recently decided to try insecticidal soap instead. I don't think i'll ever completely get rid of them, but I can try to keep the population under control with regular spraying.
The past week or so, I've been spraying my plants with diluted neem oil. Has helped slow down the spread and the removed affected leaves.
It's on pepper plants I've seen these critters the most, usually on sweet non-spicy varieties.
Left unchecked, this annoying pest will spread like wildfire to other vulnerable plants.
Yes! My cayenne pepper is suffering massively from these guys. I had no idea what the issue was and then I looked under the leaves, BAM! Bunch of thrips and thrip poo. Just got neem oil and am trying it. I was using insecticide soap first and that also seem to do a lot on their numbers.
Oh, the roller is such a cunning method!:-D
If you're having trouble identifying these tiny insects, a jewelers loupe is a very handy tool to have. There are 30 different species of thrips which are crop pests, 11 of which are in Canada. Identifying which species are on your plants can give you an advantage in the battle, as they have specific weaknesses and resistances. They are extremely difficult to eradicate once they take hold. Buy some yellow or blue sticky traps. Place at least one by the pot, and one near the canopy. They are useful in evaluating how well your chosen treatment is working. Safers soap is a good first step to battle an infestation as the video author recommended. Should spray both sides of the leaves and the soil twice a day for several weeks. You need to eliminate all the adults, and larva when they hatch, or they will return in short order. After that stick to preventative schedule using soap monthly and maybe neem oil. Good luck all.
If you are American just buy something with spinosad in it. lol
I find it weird to be commenting mostly everything this video was about! Lol
How do you distinguish fungus nats from thrips?
gnats are bigger and they fly around alot more, they are attracted to carbon dioxide so they will fly at you or up your nose. gnats also hang in the soil so you usually notice them when you water your plant.
Thrips are very thin with pointy ends ...gnats look like tiny flies or fleas with fly legs and wings ...Thrips are very dark and tiny after the larvae stage, hard to see any wings til they get larger. Like a spec of a fiber. Thin and longish as opposed to fat and round.
Thrips look like tiny long black rectangles to me.
Me: they look the same to me
I wipe the leaves of my Monstera with a damp (nearly wet) kitchen towel. About to use a reusable rag which I wash in laudrary detergent with the regular clothes wash. Doing this twice weekly. Also removed the top surface of the soil and replaced with new soil.
There is evidence of thrips on my syngonium, but I really can't see any, even with a magnifying glass. I do use a systemic (Bonide in the US) so I wonder if they're biting it and dying. Two weeks ago, I used spinosad spray just to be on the safe side. I feel like a crazy person just staring at this plant constantly 😅
i also use systemic for thrips and a spray, captain jacks, they seem to be gone? but i will continue to monitor
They love my syngoniums! What the heck.
What a swift yet very informative video. Really appreciate you sharing.. subscribed 🥰x
What I need is tips for preventing thrips. I’ve been getting them all season. I had a monstera that was thrips free for over a year (I had it in isolation) and as soon as I moved it out of isolation it became infested again. I even decided to start spraying all my plants every two weeks alternating between insecticidal and neem and less than a week after spraying with insecticidal soap I found thrips on another plant. It’s frustrating.
Same🥲
I hear they move really fast from plant to plant. Like those nematodes in that spongebob episode.
I’ve read something about Irish spring soap, mint, and some other plant that keeps pests away cus of their smell. If the neem oil treatment I’m doing doesn’t work then I’m gonna try those. Maybe the strong scents will make them all leave.
Beneficial insect sachets can be very effective for prevention and cure. Not a cheap method though
Very informative video. Thank you for sharing!
I'm just curious if you are using the lint roller weekly and the insecticidal soap monthly why would you still have thrips? Is it something that is ongoing and continuous? I don't think I've ever had thrips before so I'm very curious as I have at least 200 plants to look after so this could be a disaster for me.
I live near a cornfield and these Thrips hop like fleas. Are they the predatory kind?
I sadly have them om my Monstera as well. Any idea if it will ever go away? I also use Neem oil instead of insecticidal soap. Also the lint roller was a great idea. Going to get one soon.
I think thrip is in my aroid mix , not just the leaves
Please advise
Thankyou
hello what are your thoughts about food grade diatomaceous earth?
Thanks for the video! Do you rinse after you spray with the insecticide or spray and leave on every month?
Hi! Thanks for the great video! I have thrips on my adansonii. It lives in my bathroom with numerous other plants. I don't have any other plants within 4 feet of it though. Will the thrips infect the others? Should I treat them with the insecticidal soap too? Thanks!
You can buy the insects in canada, and you should alternate the families of pesticides, because you're going to create resistance among thirps poppulations. Also, do the yellow larva walk slowly or fast just curious about that?
I get Thrips on my roses. So annoying. They make the rose petals turn brown and they never fully open. What would you suggest?
I've never treated them on roses. Do you keep them outdoors?
Soap spray.. commercial or make your own. Also lace wings and lady bugs are good for outside.
House Plant Journal yes, outdoors
Wow! I recently got a Giving Plant frm Hirts by Mail. It was full of thrips w many fallen n eaten, (sucked on) leaves. Thrips also layed eggs into my plant leaves and into some soft stems. The Thrip droppings are tiny black specks like pepper & they also leave this ghostly casings.. like they shed to grow bigger? Creeps me out! Thrips are the worst! Since the fly a little, I had to keep away frm my other plants.
Yes! The soap spray works and repeat to maintain! Now I place hand gel on my hands and wipe leaves n stems w my hands to feel any bumps & wipe anything away. I also repotted with fresh soil, removing most of the old. Poor plant doesn’t look so pretty up close but she’s well now. Peace. 🌱
I bought green lacewing eggs but I didn’t see any of them in my apartment. I wonder if I should just buy the larva instead. I just bought 2 new plants and they looked pretty stressed out when they arrived
Someone suggested making or buying a mini plastic greenhouse to temporarily put the infected plants and beneficial insects in, and close it up so they don't escape until they eat up the thrips. Maybe with a screen for air flow.
I'm still confused about whether i have thrips or aphids. I heard that some aphid species can be black also. I think they started on my new mint plants in the cooler weather, since most of their leaves eventually dried up and fell. They also spread to my other houseplants when I brought them all back in. I had seen tiny black spots on them and my chard and I thought it was just specks of earth. I thought my plants were reacting to the shock of the change of environment (dryness and heat of the radiators). Didn't realize that I had been infested! Been trying the homemade dishsoap in water treatment but the troubles are far from over yet. My christmas cactuses have brown spots and have been loosing their leaves but I can't see any critters on them. Its my first year that I got this problem and its quite overwhelming!
Aphids are typically easier to identify as they are slightly larger than thrips. They do come in many colours but aphids best identifying features are cornicles. These cornicles appear as 2 little horns on the backside of the aphid. They have more of a pear-shaped body and will typically be feeding on new growth. They are pretty easy to get rid of, so if you are having a lot of trouble you may be dealing with thrips. Thrips have slender bodies!
Hello. Could you tell me if adults have a high speed when they move? I have some small insects in the bottom of my vases. They are very fast. I can’t understand if these are springtails or thrips
No, I would say adult thrips are slow-moving and tend to stay on the plant. Fast-moving insects that hang around the underside of the pot are most likely springtails.
@@HousePlantJournal thank you! I have these strange gray insects everywhere, even in my succulents. Always in the buttom of vase. I can't understand what is happening as it is the first time in my life. So I'm not sure if I need to use medicine or no.
I didn’t know that about Canada! But thanks this was super informative
Thanks Darryl great tips
I found thrips in my raspberries. so I won't be able to remove them with cotton balls or tape. What beneficial insects enjoy dining on thrips?
Thankyou!!!!very interesting and informative!
Thanks so much! Any other pest videos would be so good!
Ive gotten my 1st infestation of thrips on my office plants at work. Never had them at home. We did neem oil but it didnt work completely. We are moving to WFH and I have 2 months to get them gone.
Ive been doing similar to lint rolling but with tape. And washing with soap. At home, we have cats so i also cant use neem again as its toxic to them.
Im going to keep at it, change the soil before i bring them home and use nematodes in the soil.
Is there another pest that looks like thrips? I am having a hard time identifying a pest on a pothos. I see what looks like tiny black hairs on my plant. I tried a magnifying device and I cannot make them out still looks like tiny pieces of hair. I have done research and cannot identify what these are. I dont think thrips because I see no larvae at all or black poop spots. Ordered a jewelers loupe and systemic along with captain jacks. I will bring out the big guns cuz i have no clue what it is!! I will be treating every plant regardless because I dunno what it is and how fast it may spread.
Interesting thing about Safers end all (and their reg. Insecticidal soap)... Thrips is not included in the label. I think I'm going to write them and ask. I wonder if it's because the active ingredient pyrethrins comes from chrysanthemum which is one of thrips favourite plants. 🤷♀️
Do thrips swim? I noticed in my Calathea, I have them on a pebble tray, and there are tiny white about 1mm long swimming around... I cant visually seem them ON my plant though.
Most likely springtails. They are attracted to moisture. Thrips on the other hand prefer dry conditions similarly to spider mites.
Thank you so much for this video. I am in need of those tips. I did use the safers insectcidle soap. Did not work for me . Lint remover is a cool idea I'll try that on my poor monstera.
Good luck! Remember, it's going to take multiple treatments. It's not a one-time deal.
Thank you.
Thank you for a straight to the point video! I know you said adult thrips are slow moving, but are the younger ones fast moving? I ask because I am trying to identify a very small (about the size of an adult thrips), grey coloured, fast moving insect that appears to live in the soil of my potted plants.
Sounds like fungus gnats unfortunately. I'm sure you already figured it out but now though. Cheers!
Can I safely use End All on Calatheas?
Thanks this is a really good video and very helpful!
Thank you! Can I use handsoap and wash the leaves every day? I don't have them in adult stage yet and I want to get rid all of them!!!!
I shower my plants twice a week (some of my plants have spider mites who reproduce faster than thrips), topside and underside of the leaves, all crevices...And after the plant dries out, I treat it with insecticidal soap or horticultural oil :)
I use Neem Oil are other plants outside
I like that end consumers are not allowed to use systemic insecticides. They are dangerous, I agree with the policy of only commercial producers being able to use them.
I tried to fight thrips with neem oil and it didn’t work. Only imidacloprid seems to be strong enough. Thanks for the tips tho 💚
If you follow these instructions you'll never get rid of them. The black thrip you speak of (Echinothrip americanus) is only one of 2 species , which hatches every 5 days approx depending on temp. If you spray once monthly you'll have the problem for the rest of your life.
The other thrip species has life stages in the soil and this approach you mention won't work either (cream thrip- western flower thrips).
What do you suggest as an alternative?
Thanks Darryl. I was on the verge of chucking my rhaphidophora tetrasperma out before you responded to my IG story. I’ll give this a go for a bit and keep the plant isolated in the meanwhile. 🤞🏼BTW - are they still on your Monstera or where you able to successfully erratic the buggers?
My Thai Constellation is thrips-free!!!
I am trying out a weekly soapy water shower (using natural liquid soap and additional vegetal oils), which I wipe off after some time to get rid of the insects. I will add physical removal to this routine, unfortunately, I am not sure my Schefflera will like the lint roller...
This liquid soap already helped me eradicate a shell mealybug infestation, so I have high hopes for it.
I wrap the pot and soil tightly in a Saran Wrap/ plastic bag. Turn my plant upside down resting on something then hose it off with water.
Great info thank you
Was drinking a beer when I got to the part about using a lint roller. Now the insides of my nose feel fizzy. I dunno why I found that funny but good to know that’s an option. I think I have thrips on my ficus lyrata and it’s unfortunate this will be the first type of pest I’m gonna have to deal with. Been scouring RUclips for ways to identify and terminate.
Do lady bugs kill thrips?
Hello! I had a thrips infestation on my Monstera and now, most of the leaves have brown spots. Should I juste let the leaves be or cut them?
Cut them, because thrips lay eggs in soil, leaves and stem. Also thrips have disease which spread through the leaves and infect new growth.
I’m pretty sure I have a thrips problem, but I’ve never seen them on my plants. I always see them in the soil. Should i follow the same tips?
Yes you should follow the same tips, because Thrips lay eggs in the soil around 80 eggs per thrip. I would repot your soil and disinfect the old soil or throw it out.
Oh no! I think I have thrips 😫 I looked up the safers end all as I’m in Ont Canada, I’m not able to get it shipped from Amazon here 😭 how did you get this? Thank you
Canadian Tire carries Safer's End All
Informative vedio
I have found this also on the leaf
Hey Darryl. Any tips for treating thrips on succulents?
its a tough battle, keep the infected and the plants that were nearby seperate from the healthy ones. Keep treating on a daily, weekly, monthly basis like Darryl said.
I have elephant ears potted outdoors and I can’t figure out what’s infecting them. I’m thinking it’s thrips. The problem is that the leaves repel liquid. Other than trying to remove them (there are a TON 😣) do you have a treatment that would work on elephant ear leaves?
If you are really sure its thrips then you can use diy blue sticky traps or buy them online. Yellow is for fungus gnats.
think I have these on my tree, a large tree, hanging over my garden. They are tiny light green and lime green almost translucent bugs, no wings, and short legs. How do I control that population?
Did you try taking it into the shower and spraying it down like he suggested?
Thanks for sharing ❤️
I just used rubbing alcohol on a q-tip..seemed to kill them on contact.
I have an insect on my raspberries plants outside They look like thrips only a little bit bigger and the are earing my raspberries Not Cool To your knowledge do thrip live on plants outside and do they eat berries?
wow veruy nice and informative, thasnk u
Hey Canadian colleague Thanks for the video! By the way, End-All only have 0.1% pyrethrin where Doktor Doom have 0.2%, way stronger. 👍🌿
Are you familiar with plant enhancers/booster? These can help plants activate a better defense mechanism (against bugs or fungus for example. Some herbs can help like horsetail and nettle. Make a tea of it, let it cool and spray plant with it.
Look it up, it's a very interesting topic. :-)
Is there any chance that you can link an article on this? I have done several searches on both nettle and horsetail for plant enhancers and plant boosters as well as a few others and I can not seem to find any articles for this. I just found thrips in my propagation bins for my rain forest plants and now I need to treat them all. Velvery leaf plants such as philodendron verrucosums, micans, gloriosum, luxurians, anthurium magnificum, doriyaki and so many other more expensive plants. I only use New Zealand sphagnum moss and was shocked to find in my search that thrips can come from sphagnum moss. These plants are going into vivariums that will house frogs so I can only use natural products that will not harm my delicate plants, frogs, springtails and isopods.
I do quarantine all new plants.
Do you not have to treat the soil as well ?
That's a good question - I didn't treat the soil in particular because I've only ever seen the larvae/adults on the leaves themselves. They seem to hatch from the cracks/crevices along the stem so I think they lay their eggs on the actual plant rather than the soil.
You should treat the soil or better yet change it completely! Google the life cycle of thrips. There is a period after the eggs hatch and the larvae that the prepups enter the soil.
They also lay eggs in the soil, when the time is right they will hatch out and eat your plant again. Thrips are very smart, so we have to outsmart them.