Thrips On Monstera: 5 Tips To Identify & Get Rid Of Them
Thrips are nuisances that might damage the condition of your Monsteras in the long term.
Pests are well-known for harming healthy plants, resulting in discoloration, withering, and growth retardation. It’s critical to take action against the insects right when you detect them. How to identify and get rid of thrips on Monstera?
There are several methods for dealing with thrips infestation on your Monstera plant, including:
- Bug traps
- Insecticidal soap
- Lint roller
- Neem oil
- Trim or prune damaged leaves
This article will guide you on recognizing thrip infestations and stopping these tiny flying pests away from your Monstera plant. Let’s get started!
Table of Contents
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What Are Thrips? How Do They Damage Monstera Leaves?
Thrips are tiny, slender pests with frayed wings and asymmetrically shaped mouthparts. Their body is transversely constricted and features approximately 2 mm in length.
Just very few insect pest species are carnivores. Most of them live by sucking and perforating the contents of plants.
Thrips cause significant harm to plants when they eat them. Thrips are tiny and difficult to detect. They are noticeable only when the plants they eat on undergo apoptosis.
How do they damage Monsteras leaves? Pregnant female thrips infestation pierce the tissue of the plants before laying their eggs.
The caterpillars hatch a few days afterward and start feeding on the Monstera plants fluid right away.
Monstera plants cannot adequately carry nutrients and water throughout the stem without these plant fluids.
The youngster proceeds through two additional larval stages before pupating and becoming a grownup thrip.
This process may need 12 days to finish throughout the warm season. In the wintertime, though, the procedure may take up to 40 days.
Thrips infestation needs warm weather, preferably from 80 to 85°F. They can, nevertheless, survive either at 50°F or at 90°F.
These pests have a 45-day thrips life cycle on average. However, they might create more than 15 generations of descendants in one lifetime.
Thrips species on monstera plant
What Are The Causes of Thrips On Monstera?
Thrips have evolved to eat many plants, allowing them to flourish in practically every environment.
Thrips are more likely to cause problems in gardens with a variety of weeds around them. They frequently act as the starting point for garden infestations.
Thrip havens are probably to be lawns with a plethora of soil debris. That’s because the eggs laid in leaf tissue can easily overwinter and develop as larvae the following spring.
Read more:
Causes of thrips on Monstera plants
How to Identify Thrips Infestation on Monstera?
Because thrips siphon the sap from the Monstera’s leaves, the damage might manifest in various ways.
It could be the remnants of the early punctures where pests release their eggs.
Monstera Plants may lose nutrients and turgor pressure due to disturbed sap flow, which can cause long-term damage.
The following are the primary indicators of thrip infestations on your Monsteras to look out for:
Brown or Yellow Discoloration on Leaves
You’re probably aware that brown or yellow leaves might result from various factors.
Pests may be a hazard if you detect this browning or yellowing around specific spots of the monsteras, accumulating in the center of the leaves rather than clustered on the margins.
Curling, Drooping, or Wilting Leaves
Once the caterpillars siphon the plant sap, the pressure exerted from inside leaves, and root tissues is reduced. If your Monstera leaves are curling, droopy, or wilty, they may suffer a thrip infestation.
Black Spots On Leaves
Little dark-black or brown patches can appear if thrips bury into the leaves and stems to produce eggs!
Inspect for the presence of pests or other evidence that your plants may get an infestation when you notice these dots.
Read more:
- Why is my Monstera drooping? Can it be reverted?
- Are Monstera leaves turning brown bad? Some fixing methods
Yellow discoloration on leaves
How to Get Rid of Thrips on Monstera?
Do your Monsteras get thrip infestation? If yes, don’t worry as there are various ways to save your plants from these harmful pests, as shown below:
Bug Traps
Insects in general, thrips in particular, prefer blue, white, or yellow colors. For this reason, you can use colorful bug traps near your plants.
The thrips will be drawn to these traps and become stuck inside. All of them will eventually fall victim to traps, which saves your Monsteras from bugs.
You can buy these traps at the grocery or make them yourself with a sheet of colored paper, honey, or sticky glue.
Bug trap
If you are unsure to make a DIY trap at home, you can watch this video:
Insecticidal Soap
Potassium fatty acids help make insecticidal soap, popularly called horticulture soap.
In touch with the insects, it will degrade their outer shell. The pests will dehydrate and perish as a result of this method.
Because these soaps derive from water, they dry fast. They will have little impact on the pests after they are dry.
Lint Roller
Many expert gardeners recommend using a lint roller to eradicate thrips, and it works effectively. Lint rollers act as bug traps.
Grasp the leaves in your hand and gently rub the lint roller throughout their surface. The pests will stick to the glue, making physical removal easier.
Lint rollers
Neem Oil
Neem oil is a typical therapy for plant bug infestations! It’s an excellent way to test this solution on a tiny section of your Monstera plant before treating it all.
Because this oil has a funky odor, it’s advisable to use it outdoors or in the basement if at all feasible.
Because it only kills bugs when it’s wet, it’s preferable to use it in the early mornings rather than during the warmest time. As a result, the spray does not evaporate too rapidly.
All you have to do is follow the instructions on the container and add a few drops of laundry detergent. Spray your Monstera plant with the solution and let it dry.
Trim or Prune Damaged Leaves
After getting rid of thrips from your plants, you may see some damaged leaves. It’s best to trim or prune them to create a new foundation for the Monstera plants to grow.
Trim and prune damaged leaves
Can Monstera Recover from Thrips?
The level of harm produced by a thrip assault determines how quickly your plants can recover.
Minimal Damage
Early detection is helpful. If you catch a thrip infection early enough, your plant will recover quickly when the pests haven’t done any extensive damage.
After eliminating the insects, provide your plant with the proper humidity, temperature, sunlight, fertilizer, and water. It rapidly resumes its good growth.
Partial Damage
If a segment of your Monstera plant is ruined, but the remainder is not, you might save the healthy chunk by washing it.
You’ll need to check for thrips and cultivate a new entire stem from the roots.
Extensive Damage
Sadly, once your Monstera plant has already been severely harmed by insects, it will appear excessively and widely damaged and will die.
It’s best to toss this unhealthy plant to avoid the infestation growing to your nearby healthy ones.
Leaf with minimal damage
How To Prevent Thrips In The Future?
You can do several things to keep thrips away from your Monstera. Let’s take a peek at these ways to secure the plant from insects from the beginning.
Identification & Isolation
First and foremost, you need to know how to identify pest infestation right from the start to avoid extensive spreading damage.
It’s often a good idea to quarantine new plants for several weeks before introducing them to others.
Because it’s usually for bug infestations to start with new species, it’s a great way to keep it apart for a while.
Before purchasing a healthy young plant, find evidence of bug infestations at the shop and avoid buying ones that appear sick.
Moreover, if your Monsteras have already been infected with bugs, protect the recovering and infested ones far from your healthy plant.
Isolate the love Monstera plants
Maintain Cleanliness
Keeping the plants clean and clear of dirt is the most effective strategy, as filthy leaves attract bugs. Also, Monsteras feature big leaves that collect dust easily.
Once or twice a week, wash the leaves with a moist towel to tidy them. This also ensures that your Monstera plant looks fantastic.
Use Neem Oil
It is a natural insecticide that has no adverse effects on plants. It suffocates bugs and keeps them away.
Combine neem oil and liquid detergent in a gallon of water before using them. Always test a small section to ensure the soap isn’t too strong or harmful.
This oil helps prevent your Monstera plant from thrips by forming a protective coating. The spray can last for around two days on the plant.
Remove Weeds on Soil
Weeds provide a welcoming environment for thrips, offering shelter, food, and places to hide.
Weeds, unfortunately, can flourish and thrive just about everywhere, even your beautiful Monstera.
So, try to keep plants’ containers tidy and clean by removing all weeds that have sprouted, making your plants healthier and happier.
After dismissing all weeds, apply a 20-20 nitrogen fertilizer. This all-purpose plant food will help your plant stay healthy.
Remove all weeds
In A Nutshell
That’s all about ways to identify and remove thrips on Monstera to consider saving your beautiful plants from infestation. In general, all the recommended methods are practical and easy to apply.
Prevention is better than cure! So, it’s best to apply neem oil, maintain cleanliness, and isolate healthy plants right from the start of insect infestation.
Hopefully, this article will be helpful for your gardening. Thanks for taking the time to follow this post!
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