Every year at this time, growers start to think about strategies to minimizing western flower thrips on their chrysanthemum crops. This year, Thrips parvispinus is causing extra concern, given that chrysanthemum is one of its reported hosts.
Although there have been no reports yet of Parvispinus damaging chrysanthemums in North America, it's still good to exercise a bit of caution. However, jumping the gun and spraying chemicals will likely just disrupt your biocontrol program for western flower thrips, leaving you with a bigger mess on your hands.
This post contains information on things you can do to put your mind at ease about all sorts of thrips this chrysanthemum season. Many of you reading this post might be worried about Thrips parvispinus this year, as we get everything from tropicals and foliage plants, to chrysanthemum and gerbera cuttings, from Florida.
The good news is that cutting dips are a proven tactic against thrips pests in Canada and several products were recently registered in the U.S. for this use. This technique uses reduced-risk pesticides such as oils, soaps and microbial insecticides to effectively smother thrips when they are briefly submerged in these products, reducing incoming populations.
Read more at onfloriculture.com