Black Thrips Special

Black thrips in chilli and other crops mainly affect the flowering stage of the crops causing flower drop and affecting the fruit set. They are usually found in citrus crops but affect other crops as well.

Preventive Measures

• Practicing intercrop with agathi/maize/sorghum gives shade to the growing crops thereby reducing the growth of thrips.
• Growing of 2-3 rows of border crops like sorghum or maize can minimize their movement from adjacent fields.
• Planting trap crops like marigolds in between the field can reduce the damage to some extent.
• You must not grow chili right after a set of sorghum.
• Mixed cropping with onion and chili is also not a good practice.
• While watering the seedlings, simply sprinkle the water which will reduce thorp multiplication.
• Installing blue, yellow, and white sticky traps @ 60-70 traps/ha at crop height helps in the mass trapping of thrips.
• Spraying of neem oil (10000 ppm) at 2 ml per 1 liter of water acts on the eggs of thrips and also acts as an antifeedant which limits the damage to the crop.