Puzzle... Is it a thrip or is it a springtail?

Discussion in 'Indoor and Greenhouse Plants' started by ilbacio89, Feb 25, 2019.

  1. ilbacio89

    ilbacio89 Member

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    Hello! Been dealing with what I took to be thrips on my houseplants - they were doing damage to some of the plants' leaves, making them silvery/transparent. They've been gone on most plants for a few weeks now, but one of my plants seems to have some insects on it, and I'm wondering if it's still thrips or it may be a dark springtail type.
    I have a staghorn fern that I have sitting in a concrete planter, the plant root ball + peat moss is in a cut out pantyhose. When I water it I lift it out of the concrete planter, into an underpot with some water, and let it sit a while. When it went in the water I saw lots of little black/dark grey insects moving rather quickly on the rootball. They don't seem to jump, so that would indicate that they aren't springtails - but I'm hoping that the body might indicate otherwise. There are lots of little ones too - same overall look but just tinier.
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    For getting rid of the thrips last time, since I live in Canada and cannot get Spinosad, and also have cats and therefore cannot use most of the other effective anti-thrip measures, I've been dunking all the plants in soapy water with lots of hydrogen peroxide, as well as soaking the soil with peroxide. Overall decently effective but I was disappointed that the peroxide doesn't seem to kill them on contact.
     

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  2. sarahlynn1313

    sarahlynn1313 Member

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    Have you tried rubbing alcohol diluted with some water on the areas with them?
     
  3. Junglekeeper

    Junglekeeper Esteemed Contributor 10 Years

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    I had a thrip infestation which I eventually got rid of using insecticidal soap. With these particular ones the adults were slender and black while the juveniles/pupae were white. They fed off the leaves, not the roots.

    Thrips Management Guidelines--UC IPM
     
  4. ilbacio89

    ilbacio89 Member

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    Thanks for the replies!

    I haven't - since they're in the root ball. Alcohol would likely hurt the plant roots no?

    Yup, those match my previous infestation. Perhaps I still have thrips on this plant but a different sort - the juveniles look just like the adults. I did a peroxide + soap bath for the plant roots, and it looks like nothing's crawling around anymore. So will repeat and hopefully get rid of any remaining eggs :/
     

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