Prevent Thrips On Your Bulbs With The Help Of These Household Staples

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Thrips are tiny insects that are particularly hard to see, but they can cause serious damage to your plants. These small pests reproduce through eggs that can remain dormant for weeks on unplanted bulbs. To make matters worse, they are asexual. A single female can lay eggs that will produce offspring, making them especially hard to get rid of. If left untreated, thrips will feed on your plants until the blooms and fruit become disfigured. You may also notice brown spots or silvery streaks on the leaves where the thrips are feeding. This scarring is a telltale sign your plants have thrips. What can you do about it? You can use a few specific household cleaners, like dish soap or Lysol, to remove thrips larvae from your bulbs and prevent future infestations before you even put them in the ground.

You can naturally deter pests from your bulbs this spring with this clever gardening tip, but you need to start as soon as you have the bulbs in your possession. Thrips prevention matters whether you bought them from a garden center or dug them up after last year's blooming season was over. There are a couple of recommended methods to prevent thrips on your bulbs. First, if you are overwintering your bulbs, store them at 35 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit for several months, but do not let them freeze. This will kill all pest larvae, including thrips larvae. Second, once it is time to plant your bulbs, you can clean them with insecticidal soap — commercial or homemade — or soak them in a Lysol solution to keep thrips out of your garden all season.

Insecticidal soap is an effective way to prevent pests like thrips from taking over your garden. However, you can't just squirt some dish soap in a bowl, drop in your bulbs, and call it a day. Instead, you need to create a solution of insecticidal soap and water. Insecticidal soap is made from potassium salts and fatty acids. To treat your bulbs with it, mix one tablespoon of liquid insecticidal soap and one quart of water in a spray bottle. Shake the mixture well before spraying it on your bulbs. You can also spray it on your sprouted in-garden bulbs. Wait three days after the first treatment and reapply. If you don't like the idea of using insecticides in your garden, try Castile soap, like this Yoken Pure Organic Liquid Castile Soap, or regular old dish soap. They're gentle alternatives that you may already have in your kitchen or bathroom.

Similarly, soaking bulbs in Lysol can kill thrips and their larvae, with some caveats. Soaking is only recommended for a few species, such as gladiolus, ranunculus, and anemones. Soaking most other bulbs — like daffodils, dahlias, tulips, and many more — is one popular planting myth you should skip this fall. If soaking is recommended, you will want to do it as soon as you dig the bulbs up in the fall. This gives them time to dry out completely after soaking and before planting. When you are ready to soak your bulbs, mix one tablespoon of Lysol into one gallon of water in a large bowl. Allow the bulbs to soak for several hours, then remove them from the solution. Allow them to dry completely before storing them somewhere dark and well-ventilated for the winter.