04/05/2025
“Something is terribly wrong with our roses! They look like they have been sprayed with herbicide. The leaves and blooms are all brown and distorted. We have not had a decent bloom in weeks and some plants have lost over half their leaves.”
Thrips are our smallest insect pests, with adults of common species being less than 1/16 inch long. Chilli thrips are small even for thrips, less than 1 mm (1/25th inch), but these tiny insects can cause big problems on roses, peppers, and many other plants.
This non-native thrips first appeared in Florida in the 1990s. It has spread since then, especially in the nursery trade. First detection in Mississippi was in 2014, in greenhouse and nursery settings. More recently, chilli thrips has begun to appear in landscapes around the state, especially rose gardens.
Fortunately, such infestations are still relatively uncommon, but incidence is likely to continue to increase, and it is important for gardeners to be aware of this new pest and the damage it causes.
Chilli thrips attack more than 200 species of plants, but roses and peppers are especially susceptible. Heavily damaged blooms will have brown edged petals and not open properly; heavily damaged leaves with be curled, distorted, and covered with dark-colored lesions. Other plants that can be damaged by chilli thrips include strawberries, blueberries, tomatoes, eggplant, Indian hawthorne, hydrangea and many more.
Several insecticides are effective against chilli thrips, but none can be counted on to give 100% control with a single treatment. Retired MSU Extension Entomologist Dr. Blake Layton explains your control options here: https://ow.ly/KxPk50VuRXM