Thrips on the cannabis plants, now what?

Trips on your cannabis plant

Found thrips on your plant?

You would rather not see thrips in your grow room, let alone on your cannabis plants. But what now? What is the best way to combat these gluttons or even better, how can you prevent thrips? In this article you can read everything you need to know about the little critters. In addition, we give you a number of useful tips for combating and preventing thrips on weed.

The life cycle of thrips

 

Thrips are small insects that have no less than 6 life stages. As larvae they are difficult to see with the naked eye. They are then only 0,5 millimeters in size. This is followed by the "prepupal" and the pupal stage, after which they grow into an adult. This entire cycle takes 20 to 30 days at a low humidity and a temperature that fluctuates between 11-20 degrees.

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Recognizing thrips on the cannabis plant

 

You can recognize thrips by the light dots on the top of the leaf. These damages can be yellow to silver in color. The spots are caused by the holes that the thrips make in the young weed leaves. They bite their way through the leaf tissue to feed on the sap. You may also be dealing with thrips if you notice the young leaves curling up.

Fighting thrips on cannabis plants

Control thrips biologically

These small insects are generally easy to control, but consistency is important here. Do you discover thrips while your plants are still growing? Then you can fight the animals very well with a biological agent. You can spray the cannabis plants with this. However, this only applies if the plant is not yet in bloom. Do your cannabis plants already have small ovaries? Then it is better to use one of the control methods below against thrips.

 

  • take advantage of the natural enemy of thrips by introducing predatory bugs. This is especially effective when the cannabis plants are already in bloom. You can order predatory bugs online, but the better garden centers also sell them. You release the animals on the infected plant, after which they go hunting. In addition to thrips, predatory bugs also eat spider mites and aphids. So a nice addition.

 

  • Neem oil is also effective against strips. You can use the decoction of this oil on flowering plants, but avoid spraying the tops of the cannabis plant as well. So you only use a mixture of neem oil on the leaves of the plants. You make a decoction of 0,5 liters of water, 7-8 milliliters of oil and a little bit of green soap. Spray both the underside and the top of the leaf.

 

One last tip: if you want to combat thrips with a biological product and your plants are not yet in bloom, you can also opt for a product called pyrethrum