Identify thrips and treat them properly
Silvery stippling, black specks, deformed new growth. Before you apply anything, you need a name for what you are looking at.
Show a photo — free diagnosis →How to recognise thrips
Thrips empty the contents of leaf cells, leaving a silvery patch where air collects in the empty cell. Next to it sit minute black specks of frass — the mark that separates thrips from almost everything else.
Young leaves and flowers grow deformed because they were fed on at the bud stage. The damage is therefore already weeks old, even if today is the first time you see it.
Why a single treatment is not enough
Thysanoptera pass through several stages, and part of that development happens off the leaf — in the substrate or in sheltered crevices. In warm conditions the generations overlap.
That is why Dr. Phyto works with a treatment calendar across several weeks, with dates, reminders and a follow-up check. The technical basis is published by the Julius Kühn-Institut and the EPPO Global Database, among others.
How do I tell thrips from spider mites?
Both leave pale stippling on the leaf. In favour of thrips: silvery feeding scars together with minute black specks of frass, and deformed young leaves. In favour of spider mites: fine webbing in the leaf axils. Both can be confirmed with a hand lens and sticky traps. Dr. Phyto shows the look-alikes with every diagnosis and states a confidence level.
Which product may I use against thrips?
Only a product approved in your country for the crop in question, and only in the approved use and dose. Approvals differ by country. For Germany the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety maintains the database of approved plant protection products. For crops that will be eaten, the pre-harvest interval and residue limits are a mandatory part of the approval. We deliberately name no product.
Are thrips notifiable?
That depends on the organism. Which harmful organisms are regulated EU-wide is set out in Annex II of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072. The engine holds 37 EU quarantine organisms. If one is suspected, the diagnosis shows a warning and names the competent national authority. Dr. Phyto is not an official diagnosis.
And if the plant cannot be saved?
Then Dr. Phyto says so. Recovery is never promised. Instead of a treatment that no longer helps, you get advice on how to protect the rest of your plants.