Wheat thrips

Adult

The adult is black or black-brown; the wings are transparent, with long fringe hairs.

Larva

The larvae are red.

Damage

• After 8–12 days the larvae appear. They feed first on the glumes and then on the grain.
• In damaged plants the ear curls, which leads to empty spikelets (white ears) or shrivelled grain.

When to look

• At the start of heading in winter wheat, adult thrips appear and lay eggs in groups of 4–8 behind the glumes.
• Active colonisation of winter crops was recorded at the stem elongation stage.
• Larval hatching and the start of their feeding on the ear of winter wheat were recorded in the period from flowering to grain formation.

No rate and no spray timing here: both come from the label and the register.

Agronomy

Control measures: early stubble cultivation and autumn ploughing; pre-sowing cultivation of the autumn-ploughed land for spring crops and early sowing of spring crops.

Overwintering

Larvae go into winter; their stock is determined by an autumn survey.

Favourable conditions

With favourable overwintering, warm, moderately moist weather in spring and warm, dry weather in summer, active colonisation of crops and population growth are likely.

Every fact rests on a quote from its source, and each quote was checked against the page it is printed on.

1. Зайцева І. А., «Сільськогосподарська ентомологія. Курс лекцій», навчальний посібник, 237 с. · Дніпровський державний аграрно-економічний університет, Дніпро, 2021 · p. 105
2. EPPO Global Database · European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization
3. Прогноз фітосанітарного стану агроценозів України та рекомендації щодо захисту рослин у 2025 році · Держпродспоживслужба, НААН, НАН · p. 39