FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I have some sort of pest attacking my nepenthes. At first I thought spider mites, because I've never seen the darn thing, and there's been lots of mottling and deformation of new pitchers and leaves. Now I think there might be another pest, but I'm not sure which. I've attached 2 photos of a newly forming hamata pitcher with a little yellow thing that looks like a miniature maggot, it's barely visible which is why this is the first time I've seen it. You can also see that the hamata pitcher is shrunken in a bit, and the lid is also a bit shrunken in.

The second 2 photos are of an alata pitcher that didn't form properly. You can see dotted veins like a bug has eaten a long a path, and a few other chewed patches. This pitcher had a very hard time forming. Some plants are getting the growth points attacked now.

Any idea on an ID of the pest?

That's a new one to me. I am interested in finding out what it is!

I believe that is a thrip.

sanguinearocks101 wrote:I believe that is a thrip.

I believe you are correct!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp2zXV0f-cQ

Matt wrote:

sanguinearocks101 wrote:I believe that is a thrip.

I believe you are correct!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp2zXV0f-cQ

That video is brilliant! Yes, I think you might be right, it looks even more likely to be thrips. For other people's future reference, here are some more photos of damage. A close up of the pitcher damage: A shrunken new pitcher on a hamata (they get worse than that, and sometimes the lids are sunken in too: Warping growth tip and possible other leaf damage: New leaves not uncurling properly and remaining curled - they tend to remain curled to some greater or lesser extent, with the edges often browning up, the pitcher often doesn't form properly, if at all, and the whole leaf tends to die prematurely: Hopefully that damage helps some other people identify a potential thrip problem if they google this.

Also, some solutions I am going to try. I attempt to do everything completely organically, no poisons of any kind, and not even natural poisons because they can muck up the microbes in the soil. So I have been solving my pest issues by improving plant and soil health and also introducing natural predators. I seem to have virtually eradicated aphids, haven't seen mealy bugs in years, and now I will kill these suckers too.

I bought two predators the other day, because I also found spider mites on my fly traps and may have them on the neps too. The predators are Persimilis and Californicus, two predatory mites that apparently compliment each other well. Californicus apparently does really well in greenhouses, loves spider mites but will also attack other mites including microscopic mites and even small insects like thrips, so here's hoping it solves my problem. Got theme here: https://bugsforbugs.com.au/product/californicus/

Here is their page on thrips, with recommended predators: https://bugsforbugs.com.au/whats-your-p ... hiteflies/

If Californicus doesn't work, as thrips isn't it's favourite food, I will try montdorensis, although that is small and mainly goes for young thrips, not adults. Orius apparently will attack adults too, but some Orius species also bite humans, so that could be annoying. I need to find out if Orius Tantillus bites humans.

Thanks for the help with the ID.