There are so many different looking types of thrips it's hard to tell, could be. Mine look like tiny black ants from a regular distance, but I also have some of what I call "tan flea" looking bugs too and I'm not sure what those are. When you look for images of thrips there are many shapes and colors of them.

I'm mostly going by symptoms but I have caught a few glimpses of them...

Emily and Stormy, I believe these tiny little specs on this dropped flower to be thrip. Nasty little buggers. The flower and blades of grass should give you some idea on scale. Cell phone pic and it surprises me how clear it actually is considering circumstance. H hope it helps.

I'm a fan of Bayer Advanced. It is a systemic that feeds, and fights insects & fungus. A little pricey, but well worth it. IF you can't get it at your local garden shop, Amazon.com has it. HTH

What Bayer Advanced do you use?

I strongly recommend NOT using that Bayer product - Imacloprid or something like that is the main ingredient and along with probably giving you a different infestation after killing the thrips, this is known to be killing our honeybees - jandey posted about it in another thread.

I'm using a product with Spinosad in it as the active ingredient because it's considered organic but is stronger than insecticidal soap. (Green Light Lawn and Garden Spray With Spinosad) Like all insecticides you need to be spraying when bees and birds are not actively foraging (when it's getting dark.)

It will kill something if you spray it directly, but once it dries the key is that it will only affect insects that actually BITE your plants. So, you're not just blanket killing anything that walks across your plants, they have to bite your plant to be affected. This helps to keep some of the "good" insects that keep the balance.

You may have to go to a nursery to get it and there are other products with Spinosad in them as well, this is just the one I use. Good luck!

I have used Spinosad on my vegetable garden. So I have some.

And dinkledoodle, I don't know if that's the main ingredient in the product you're using, but many of the Bayer products use that and it's pretty harmful from what I've read. I bought a bottle myself, only to be discouraged (thankfully) by some other well meaning members!

Ok, so those in the picture are definitely one of the pests I have, and then I have other teenie tiny black ant things too. I kept thinking those were the thrips but kms2, FINALLY my "tan flea" question is answered, thank you! THOSE are thrips. Now, could I have 2 kinds of thrips?!

Emily,

I think it's pretty common to find more than one species of thrips on the same plant.

The tiniest thrips, like the one in K's photo, are the ones that suck juice from your plant and thus do the damage. Larger thrips are not plant eaters--they actually prey on the tiny thrips...at least this is what I've read on the Interweb.

The sense I get from what I've read is that the larger the thrips, the more likely it is that it's beneficial and the less likely it is that it's lunching on your plumies.

To my eye, the distinctive feature of all of them is the cigar shape. I don't think that those ant-ish looking critters in the top photo are thrips...but whatever they are, they may be there because they're eating the thrips.

Good luck. It's very hard to know what's what when it comes to bugs.

Greg

Greg
What could they be in the first photo. I have never seen them before, until I put my rooted plumies outside. They are a pain to deal with and they get all over the plants. Wish I knew.

Jackie

Jackie, are you getting any symptomatic problems on your plants? Those bugs may not be doing anything to them. Mine get deformed leaves and inflos and stunted growth. I have noticed a great improvement from the Spinosad, I just have to get back on my routine of spraying weekly, they need a spray right now.

Thanks for the info Greg, I seem to be the thrip capitol of the world over here, LOL! That would make perfect sense!(oh, and thanks to your beautiful pictures, both jandey and I got ourselves a Moragne #78!!! I had never seen that one before and I love it!)

kms2 thanks again for posting that pic, that has been making me wonder for a long time now!

LOL Emily I had to laugh at your thrip capitol of the world. Actually I have a few leaves looking a lil bit deformed. I dont know for sure they are doing the damage. I am going have to get on bug patrol and sneak up to watch and see if they are just landing on them or having lunch

Jackie

K, thanks for posting that pic--that's definitely what was infesting my new Lemon Drop when I got it home:

Then these guys showed up:

Lots of them:

All over the inflos:

And before you know it, thrips nearly all gone. Awesome! Emily, you want I should bring you some? ;)

WOW Jen !!! I think we all need to keep a few of your friends around just in case. Cool pics !!!

Emily, I think the 1st pic are some of the guys that will pollinate your blooms so they are good to have around. Peg

So the white spiders are good?! I wasn't sure but I've seen quite a few on my plants too! It's really hard to spray the Spinosad without a few casualties sometimes, it makes me feel really bad if I get a spider or ladybug on accident :( But I had to spray last night because one of my big older plants has deformed flowers (they still smell great though!)and if that one has that many thrips then they are probably getting my others too. I also saw a couple of deformed leaves on 2 of my cuttings. I can't let the thrips get ahead of me and do the kind of damage they did before, my plants are finally recovering!

Peg, a seed pod would be AWESOME!!!

Emily, to me spiders are always good for my plants since they're insectavores. The Spinosad shouldn't hurt them if as you say they're not directly sprayed.

Believe it or not Thrips actually help pollinate your plumies. So if your into getting seed pods you may want to leave the thrips. I personally do not like seed pods as they slow flower production. Spinosad does not work that well for me as I usually spray for Spider Mites.

Well Good Luck