Thrip females feeding on a cucumber leaf, female thrips on squash flower, and feeding injury on cucumber. Photo by Joel Allingham.
Florida extension reports in the The South Florida Pest and Disease Hotline Research Connections that Thrips parvispinus, an invasive polyphagous thrip is impacting vegetables and other crops in Florida. It was first detected in the continental U.S. in a greenhouse in Orange County, Florida in August 2020. In the spring of 2023, T. parvispinus specimens were collected for the first time on cucumber, yellow squash, and zucchini. High numbers of adults and heavy feeding injury were observed on cucumber leaves.
Scouting and early detection are important. In fall 2023, various traps have been set up in vegetable fields in Palm Beach County to monitor T. parvispinus populations in order to help growers with insecticide application timings
