â MinorðĐš
Pests
Thrips on Cucumber Plants
Commonly affects: Cucumis sativus (Cucumber)
Silvery streaks and small dark specks appear on leaves, with distorted new growth and sometimes scarred fruit skin in heavy infestations.
Potential Causes
- 1Thrips feeding on leaf and fruit surfaces, rasping the tissue
- 2Warm, dry conditions favouring population growth
- 3Nearby infested plants seeding new populations
Solution Steps
- 1Use blue sticky traps to monitor and reduce adult thrips
- 2Apply insecticidal soap or a spinosad-based treatment for active infestations
- 3Remove heavily damaged leaves to reduce the population reservoir
- 4Keep the growing area free of weeds that can harbour thrips
Prevention Tip
Blue sticky traps are more attractive to thrips than yellow ones and give an earlier warning of a building population.
