Best way to control thrips pests

Thrips are small in size, highly hidden, and highly harmful. They often occur in open-field and facility vegetable cultivation in all parts of China. They are stubborn and difficult-to-eradicate pests that can occur throughout the growing period of leguminous vegetables such as beans, melon vegetables such as pumpkins and cucumbers, and Solanaceae vegetables such as eggplants and peppers. Here are the best ways to prevent and control thrips pests.

1. Causes of thrips pests

1. Improper cultivation environment treatment

After pupating, thrips will fall into the soil or plant residues. If the cultivation field is not thoroughly cleaned or pests are not thoroughly eliminated before sowing or planting, the pupae will hatch when they encounter suitable environmental conditions. If thrips have been found in the previous crop, the risk of insect pests occurring during cultivation will be further increased.

2. Migration from outside

Thrips not only frequently occur on vegetables, but also easily occur on field crops such as rice. They can easily migrate between different crops, causing cross-harm. If there are crops infested with thrips in the surrounding fields during the growth period of vegetables such as Leguminosae, Cucurbitaceae, and Solanaceae, thrips can migrate in with the help of their own abilities to fly and jump.

3. Improper prevention and control measures

In a dry and warm environment, their reproductive capacity will be enhanced and generations will overlap. When conditions are right, it only takes two weeks for thrips to grow from eggs to adults. Moreover, judging from the current status of insect pests and prevention and control, thrips have generally developed resistance to common drugs. If the prevention and control timing is not well managed or the drugs are used improperly, it is easy to cause an outbreak of thrips. Moreover, due to its small size, the best prevention and control period is often missed in the early stages of an infestation due to lack of careful observation.

2. Classification of thrips

There are about 3,000 known species of thrips in the world, 300 of which are found in my country, mainly in the Thripidae family and the Cynothrips family. The main species that cause damage to fruits and vegetables include melon thrips, onion thrips, etc., in addition to rice thrips, western flower thrips, etc.

1. Melon thrips: also known as palm thrips and brown-yellow thrips, it mainly harms wax gourd, wax gourd, watermelon, bitter gourd, tomato, eggplant and legume vegetables.

2. Onion thrips: also known as tobacco thrips and cotton thrips, it is large in size and has a wide host range of more than 30 species. The main crops harmed include lily vegetables such as shallots, onions, garlic, and cucurbitaceae and solanaceae vegetables and cotton.

3. Rice thrips: Hosts include rice, wheat, weeds, barnyard grass, and oatstraw. In addition to the above hosts, rice thrips can also parasitize on corn, sorghum, sugarcane, tobacco, and beans.

4. Western flower thrips: a world-famous dangerous pest native to North America. It is also one of the species that causes harm to my country, with the largest occurrence area and the fastest spread.

5. Ginger thrips: The thrips that occur on ginger are mostly yellow thrips, etc.

3. Thrips pest control methods

1. Spraying time: It is recommended to spray in the morning or after 5 pm; in addition, check the tender shoots frequently to detect problems early and prevent them in advance. Taking advantage of the thrips' tendency to attract blue colors, blue boards can be set up to lure and kill them.

2. Remove diseased bodies in time to effectively control the population of thrips; at the same time, strengthen fertilizer and water management to enhance plant resistance. Orchards with conditions can add appropriate amount of water to increase soil moisture and inhibit the pupation and emergence of thrips.

3. For routine prevention, recommended pesticides include imidacloprid, acetamiprid, dinotefuran, spinetoram, avermectin, cypermethrin, emamectin benzoate, etc.; during the peak period, you can also use a mixture of two or more (contact killing + systemic absorption), or a compound pesticide, and increase the number of times the drug is used.

4. When applying pesticides, you can spray the ground and sweep it to kill the larvae. In areas with serious damage, 1000-1500 times diluted 2.5% spinosad suspension or 2000-4000 times diluted 10% imidacloprid wettable powder can be used for foliar spraying. Apply once every 7-10 days and spray 2-3 times in a row. To ensure the efficacy of the medicine, try to choose medicines with a long lasting effect and use auxiliary agents such as adhesives.

5. Silicone additives can be used appropriately when preparing medicines.

6. Pay attention to tree nutrition, such as organic matter nutrition (irrigation and foliar spraying are helpful) and appropriate supplementation of calcium fertilizer 1-2 times to improve the crop's resistance to insects and diseases (pay attention to the greening and maturity of young shoots, you can use potassium dihydrogen phosphate).

The key to preventing and controlling thrips is to protect the tender shoots. The best time for prevention and control is when the new shoots are just 1 cm long. It is best to ensure that the shoots grow evenly and spray pesticides uniformly to prevent thrips from flying to the newly grown shoots.