When it comes to gardening or farming, pest control is important for maintaining healthy crops and plants, as infestations can lead to significant damage.

Thrips, in particular, are a common pest that growers need to manage effectively. Otherwise, they can wreak havoc on your plants, causing damage that can reduce yields or ruin their appearance.

One way to tackle these pests is through the use of natural insecticides. They protect your plants without the harmful side effects of harsh chemicals.

Environmental Plant Management recognizes the need for this kind of solution and offers Protection Plus™, a natural thrips insecticide spray that’s specifically designed to combat thrips. This eco-friendly solution is highly effective in controlling thrip populations while being gentle on the environment and your crops.

Protection Plus™ offers peace of mind for growers, providing an effective, safe way to keep these pests at bay while ensuring your plants stay strong and healthy.
 

Efficacy testing shows Protection Plus,
the best natural thrip insecticide,
kills 90% of thrips on first application.

 


Thrips and Their Impact on Crops and Plants

One of the biggest challenges growers face is keeping their plants free from pests like thrips. These tiny insects may not seem like much, but they can cause serious problems if left unchecked.

Thrips feed on plant tissue, weakening your crops and leading to poor growth or reduced yields. They attack everything from a wide range of crops to ornamental plants, leaving visible damage and slowing down growth.

The rapid reproduction of thrips can make infestations difficult to control. That’s why eliminating them as quickly as possible is so important. Thrips management, whether through natural insecticides or other control methods, helps protect your plants and ensures they stay healthy and productive over the long term.

Stages of the Thrips Life Cycle

  • Egg Stage: Thrips lay their eggs in plant tissue, typically inside leaves or stems, making them difficult to detect. A single female can produce 80 to 300 eggs, depending on environmental conditions. Optimal hatching occurs in warm, humid climates, usually within 2 to 7 days.
  • Growth Period: After hatching, thrips undergo several nymph stages over the course of 1 to 3 weeks. During this time, they feed on plant cells, causing visible damage and contributing to the spread of the infestation. Rapid maturation in favorable conditions leads to faster infestation growth.
  • Mature Insects: Adult thrips can live for several weeks to a month, depending on environmental factors. In this stage, they continue to feed and reproduce, exacerbating the infestation by laying more eggs and spreading the population across plants.


How Thrips Insects Infest Plants

Thrips have a tendency to spread rapidly across your plants, typically starting by settling on a single plant and feeding on its leaves, stems, or flowers. From there, they move to neighboring plants, often spreading the infestation without you even realizing it.

Once thrips begin feeding, the damage can be severe. They drain nutrients from the plants, restricting their growth and weakening them over time. When left untreated, thrips can reduce crop yields and cause permanent damage to ornamental plants.

As thrips reproduce quickly, the infestation can grow rapidly, compounding the damage and making management more challenging.

Recognizing Thrip Plant Insect Damage

Identifying thrip damage early on can make all the difference in managing these pests. One of the first signs is leaf spots and distortion, which may cause leaves to appear curled, discolored, or silvered on the surface. Thrips also cause stunted plant growth, making your crops or flowers look weak and unhealthy.

In some cases, the foliage might develop small black dots, which are actually the excrement left behind by thrips. Flowers affected by thrips may lose their vibrancy, making your garden or crop field look dull.


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Protection Plus -
Kills Thrips on First Application

  • Earth-friendly: natural, food-based ingredients
  • Lower cost: Eliminates excessive treatments and the need for product rotation
  • Guaranteed pure: Quarterly testing to be free of over 400 forbidden ingredients to ensure our products are safe and natural for tough hemp and cannabis testing requirements
  • Free of all Proposition 65 ingredients
  • Residue-free, non-oil based formula doesn’t clog pores or hamper plant growth
  • Industry high kill rates

 


Effective Thrips Control with Our Natural Insecticide

Protection Plus™ has consistently proven effective in targeting various pests, making it the best insecticide for thrips insect control. Its specialized formulation ensures not only its potency but also its safety and ease of use.

As a natural, oil-free insecticide, the formula eliminates current thrip infestations upon contact without risking plant or pet safety, unlike conventional insecticides that contain chemicals, pyrethrins, and neem oil that may pose risks.

In addition to its pest control capabilities, our natural insecticide helps reduce biofilm on plant roots, improving nutrient absorption and promoting strong root development. For best results, ensure the plants are properly hydrated, wait one hour, and then apply the product in low doses on a regular basis.

With its flexible application options—whether as a foliar spray, soil drench, or dip—Protection Plus™ caters to a variety of pest control strategies. It offers unmatched reliability to those looking for a reliable and safe solution to manage thrips while maintaining plant health.

Key Ingredients in Protection Plus™ Natural Thrips Insecticide

Protection Plus™ thrips insecticide is crafted with natural, food-based ingredients selected for their high effectiveness in managing thrips.

The formulation relies on citric acid as its primary active ingredient, supported by additional components such as water, yeast, soap, sodium benzoate, and potassium sorbate.

This blend provides a non-toxic, oil-free solution for eliminating thrips without leaving harmful residues. Designed for safe use on a variety of plants, including sensitive crops like hemp and cannabis, Protection Plus™ is an ideal option for both commercial growers and home gardeners.

Mode of Action Against Thrips

Protection Plus™ provides a powerful solution for controlling thrips throughout their entire life cycle, from eggs and larvae to adults.

Unlike conventional insecticides that merely immobilize pests and leave risks of resistance, this non-systemic formula works as a contact eliminator that causes thrips to collapse and suffocate as it dissolves their exoskeletons upon exposure. This ensures the swift and complete elimination of the pest population, leaving no opportunities for insecticide resistance.

Upon contact with Protection Plus™, thrips can die within a range of 3 seconds to 24 hours, depending on the thickness of their exoskeletons. Because our solution is a contact eliminator that leaves no residual effect, pests, along with their larvae and eggs, must directly be exposed to the formula to be eliminated.

If an adult thrips comes into contact with the spray but does not die right away, it may still lay eggs before finally dying. Eggs that haven’t been directly exposed to the solution will remain unaffected. To achieve full pest elimination, consistent applications are necessary to address newly laid eggs, as the solution must come into direct contact with pests at any stage of their life cycle to take effect.



Protection Plus™ Thrip Insecticide Protocol

Our Protection Plus™ insecticide is a great product that offers versatile application methods designed to meet various growing conditions and thrip control needs. Explore how each protocol is tailored to maximize effectiveness while minimizing plant stress, ensuring a healthier growing environment.

  • Outdoor and Indoor Soil Applications: Protection Plus™ can be applied to the soil after watering. Water the plant until runoff and wait an hour to ensure f