What do thrips look like on tomatoes and how to deal with them?

Tomatoes, like many other vegetable crops, are susceptible to various diseases and pests. Among such insects, thrips can be distinguished, which suck vital juices from the fruit and leaves of the plant. They are rapidly increasing their population, so their presence must be dealt with as soon as possible. We will consider their varieties and methods of struggle in this article.

Thrips is a sucking insect whose body length varies from 1 to 2 mm. Its color is usually black, gray or brown. Due to the fact that their larvae are yellow or greenish, it is difficult to see the pest with the naked eye.

Common types of thrips are tobacco thrips, bulbous thrips, rosaceous thrips, variegated thrips, and Californian thrips.

The variegated thrips feeds on absolutely any plants and lives in flowers.

Ornamental affects all flowering plants outdoors, and in the northern and central parts of Russia it can live indoors.

Rose thrips live in buds. Its length can be up to 3 mm, and the body is black. Living in a bud, it completely harms the entire plant, reduces its resistance to fungi, and kills its viability.

Tobacco thrips, together with its larva, destroys melons and some vegetables. About 400 plant names are vulnerable to this parasite. In addition, it carries various viruses. It prefers to infect only healthy plants in the juice itself.

California thrips, or flower, affects absolutely all ornamental plants and crops, bringing with them many dangerous diseases.

Bulbous affects the cultures of the lily family, including ornamental plants: lilies, daffodils and gladioli. The body of the parasite is dark brown, up to 2 mm long.

Thrips generally grow in very dry and warm air with irregular watering. The best environment for their appearance is greenhouses, there, on the contrary, there is increased air humidity, and there are no drafts and ventilation, it is these factors that contribute to the development of larvae.

It is rather difficult to determine the first signs of thrips appearance. Basically, the lesion begins in the greenhouse or during the flowering period of the seedlings. The larvae of the parasite look like very small grains, hardly distinguishable in color from the color of the leaf. They are located on the inside of it, so the defeat is not conspicuous.

The defeat from thrips is caused by dried up empty anthers, thickened at the beginning of the pistil, flowering is very fast. The damage they cause to a tomato is sometimes similar to that of a spider mite, but from thrips it is more visible and much stronger. The pest pierces parts of the plant and tries to suck out all the nutritious sap from it, so the flower is covered with white or yellow specks, and the leaves, in turn, seem to be beaten with the smallest needles. These injections then merge into one spot of silvery-white color. Over time, the area of ​​the injections turns brown or black. This means that phytopathogenic fungi have entered the plant tissue. Thrips also affect the root system, developing constrictions on the roots.

The most effective are chemicals.

This is an insectoacaricide of intestinal action, which enters the parasite's body through the outer integument when spraying or after eating leaves, acts on its nervous system, causes paralysis, and then death. The product does not pollute the environment and degrades quickly in soil or water... Its effectiveness has been noticed even in hot weather. Thanks to him, tomatoes are protected for about 20 days after irrigation indoors and up to 15 days outdoors.

The drug will help get rid of thrips in the open field. This is a biological preparation of contact-intestinal action. Within 8-16 hours after the treatment of the plant, the pests cease to move and feed, and subsequently die. The maximum effectiveness of the drug is recruited on the 5-6th day after treatment. "Akarin" not addictive to the pest, therefore, its effect is not reduced with frequent treatments. The product combines well with other fungicides and insecticides, growth regulators. The tool cannot be combined with drugs with an alkaline reaction. The solution is applied immediately after dilution, spraying is carried out in protective clothing, since the product has a hazard class 3, is highly toxic to bees.

This is the best remedy for thrips. The drug destroys pests immediately after contact with their skin. If the poison still does not hit the pest, then the insect will definitely eat the poison with the poisoned food. The preparation contains imidacloprid, which causes paralysis of insect organs. Approximately on the third day, all pests die, while both adults and their larvae are destroyed. Does not wash off with rain, protects plants from 2 weeks to 1 month, it all depends on weather conditions. Does not depend on the temperature difference, penetrates into the plant through the leaves. The drug not only destroys parasites on the plant, but also restores it, accelerates cell reproduction, so it quickly returns to normal.

To fight thrips, there are different folk methods - these are various infusions and decoctions. You can scare off pests with smelling liquids. With the help of marigold flowers, you can make an infusion that scares away parasites from tomatoes. To do this, pour 50 grams of flowers with 1 liter of cold water and bring to a boil, then turn it off. Within 3 days, the solution is infused. After that, it must be filtered and used for spraying.

The simplest and most affordable is infusion of garlic... It is a repellent that fights not only thrips, but also other types of insects. To do this, crush the head of garlic in a garlic bowl and pour a glass of hot water. After a day, you need to strain - and can be used for spraying.

You can buy green potash soap at your gardening store. It is bred according to the instructions, and the leaves are washed with it. Thanks to potassium, the chemical composition of the cell sap changes, after which the sucking insects lose interest in eating the plant.

In order to prevent the appearance of any of the types of thrips, you must first of all prevent the spread of weeds that interfere with growth. They also need to be removed immediately after weeding.

In the fall, you need to dig up the ground. Such a procedure not only kills parasites, but has a beneficial effect on the earth, saturates it with oxygen and makes it friable.

Before planting seedlings, it is necessary to disinfect the ground with special means. When growing seedlings, check them at the time of parasite infestation, as the greenhouse provides the best conditions for its occurrence.

For information on how to deal with thrips on tomatoes, see the next video.