Skip to main content

How to get rid of thrips on houseplants

thrips houseplants removal thrip leaf jpg
Tomasz Klejdysz/Shutterstock

Thrips can be one of the most infuriating pests for both indoor and outdoor gardeners. There are more than 6,000 species around the world, and gardeners who find themselves in the midst of an infestation often wonder how to kill thrips—or else, how to get rid of them with organic pest control methods—and if their indoor plants are safe.

Recommended Videos

Difficulty

Easy

Duration

10 minutes

What You Need

  • Water

  • Spray bottle

  • Insecticidal soap

  • Trash bag (in the event of a heavy infestation)

Thrips are a rather common pest that can infest your greenhouse, outdoor garden, and indoor plants. They’re very small—adults only reach up to 1/25 of an inch in size—and can be tan or black. Their damage is twofold, from active to residual once they’ve been removed. Thrips cause destruction by scraping at various parts of a plant, including the leaves, fruits, and flowers. Damage from thrips is the worst in a hot, dry climate.

Thrip damage on a plant
Tomasz Klejdysz/Shutterstock

Look for signs of thrips before buying a plant

Once damaged, leaves can turn pale or silvery and will eventually die, which is less than appealing to any home gardener and their success. If you’re at a nursery picking out a plant, the hope is that they won’t have been damaged by thrips. Thankfully, there are ways to tell if thrips are presents.

Step 1: Take note of any discolored, scarred, or twisted leaves.

Step 2: Tap the plant and make note if any insects fly away. Thrips feed and infest in large groups, and when disturbed, they will fly away.

Step 3: If you see a plant at a nursery that appears to be infected with thrips, do not buy it.

A small black thrip
Tomasz Klejdysz/Shutterstock

Check for signs of thrips among plants already in your garden

The first step to managing or preventing an outdoor/greenhouse thrip infestation is garden maintenance. Thrips will spend the winter months buried in the garden soil, emerging in the spring to lay their eggs. Because females don’t need to mate to reproduce, they start laying as soon as they burrow out of the ground.

Step 1: Clean up any plant debris (fallen leaves, broken stems, etc.) as soon as you notice it. These spots are breeding grounds for thrips.

Step 2: Monitor your plants for signs of thrip eggs inside the stems.

Step 3: Remove any weeds or tall grasses that are around your garden. Thrips could infest those areas and then move on to your plants—and you likely won’t realize it before it’s too late.

A person with green and white gloves sprays a pest control solution from a yellow spray bottle onto some roses
LDprod / Shutterstock

Remove thrips naturally

Along with the above ways to prevent thrips, there are also ways to get rid of them naturally without using any harmful pesticides.

Step 1: If at all possible, isolate the infected plant before the infestation can spread to surrounding plants.

Step 2: If you have a small infestation, fill a spray bottle with water and spritz the infected plant. Then wipe away the thrips. Repeat this step every day until the infestation has cleared up.

Step 3: For heavier infestations, you can also use insecticidal soaps, which are made from natural plant oils, to smother the thrips. Getting rid of them naturally could be a bit trickier with larger thrip populations, so you may also have to resort to a short-lived, minimally toxic insecticide to lessen your thrip count.

Step 4: Once the infestation has been cleared out, consider planting certain flowers that attract thrips’ natural predators. These insects are often beneficial to your garden, helping to cull and prevent future thrip infestations.

Step 5: If nothing clears the infestation, place the plant into a trash or grocery bag, seal it off so that the thrips can't escape, and dispose of the plant. It’s always sad to see a plant go, but it's better than letting the infestation spread to the rest of your garden.

A leaf with several small brown thrips and larger white patches of damage
Image used with permission by copyright holder

How to prevent a future infestation of thrips

Now that you've gotten the existing infestation under control, you probably don't want to deal with it again.

Step 1: Inspect every plant before you bring it home. If you notice insects, either don't buy it or quarantine it away from your other plants while you eliminate the infestation.

Step 2: Clear away dead leaves and weeds from your plants to take away the prime breeding ground for thrips.

Step 3: Inspect your plants regularly so that you can begin treating an infestation before it gets out of control.

Thrips can be a very tricky infestation to control, but thankfully, there are natural measures you can use to rid your plants of them. Natural insecticidal soaps can be used both indoors and outdoors, and remember the tips and tricks here to help you prevent an infestation in the first place.

Kiera Baron
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kiera Baron is a freelance writer and editor, as well as a budding digital artist, based in Upstate NY. She is currently one…
What does NPK mean when it comes to fertilizing plants?
Your guide to the main nutrients in the NPK ratio for robust plant growth
A gardener fertilizing a young plant

Just like humans, plants need food to stay healthy and strong. Fertilizers give plants full-sized leaves, healthy roots, and vibrant flowers. Without sufficient soil nutrients, plants will grow very slowly, developing weak stems and pale leaves. Fertilizer helps make up for what the soil may be lacking, so that your garden has a balanced diet to grow and thrive.

When choosing your fertilizer, you might have noticed something on the label called an NPK ratio. If you're wondering what that means and how to use it to choose the best fertilizer for your plants, we have the answers.
What is NPK's meaning in plant fertilizing?

Read more
Creeping Jenny: A care guide for this fast-growing plant
Growing creeping Jenny in your home or garden
Creeping Jenny

Creeping Jenny is a beautiful perennial that makes an excellent houseplant or groundcover. With proper care, it will even bloom bright yellow flowers that are cheerful and charming. What exactly does proper creeping Jenny care entail? If you want to bring this lovely plant to your home or garden, then this guide will answer all your questions. Keep your creeping Jenny happy and healthy with these care tips. From planting to pet safety, we have you covered in this handy guide to creeping Jenny care.
Planting creeping Jenny

Creeping Jenny is best started in early spring, although indoor creeping Jenny can be started at any time if you keep your home warm. This plant can grow in a traditional garden or a container, although its spreading habit makes it more popular as a container plant. If you do plant it in a traditional garden, be sure to give it some room to grow. Space it roughly 2 feet away from other plants, so it doesn’t grow over its neighbors.

Read more
Don’t let these common plant pests ruin things: What to do when you find them
Watch out for these common plant pests
Aphids on the petals of a daisy

As much as we wish it weren’t true, houseplants and greenhouses aren’t exempt from pest problems. Since they’re inside, you don’t have to worry about deer or rabbits or squirrels chomping at the leaves, but bugs can still find their way indoors. Whether they buzz in through a window or hitch a ride on your pets, pests are sure to find your plants eventually. Some pests are more common across different species than others. Here are the most common types of plant pests to watch out for, and what you should do when you find them.
Mealybugs

Mealybugs are sap-sucking insects that cause gradual damage to your plants over time. Houseplants infested with this pest often exhibit yellowing leaves and leaf drop. They have a cottony appearance, which is obvious when contrasted against the green foliage and stems. For survival, they often nestle and cause damage in nooks and crannies like crowded stems or unfurled leaves.
Signs of an infestation
Because yellow leaves and leaf drop are signs of an array of problems, those things alone don’t indicate a mealybug infestation. What you want to look for, especially if some of the foliage starts to fall prematurely, are cotton-like spots on the stems and leaves. Mealybugs also leave behind a sticky substance that’s wax-like and powdery in appearance, so if your plant starts to look like it has a white film coating parts of it, chances are there’s a bug problem.
How to get rid of mealybugs so they don’t come back
Mealybug infestations can be handled in a variety of ways, depending on the size of the infestation and the kind of method you want to use. For smaller mealybug populations, you can use natural solutions like:

Read more