Thrips are tiny flying pests and love chlorophyll. They can be seen in grazing herds like tiny cattle mowing across a leaf. Not only do they damage the leaves, but they’ll also lay eggs on top of them. You can use natural predators or chemical treatments to clear out an infestation after it starts. Treating for thrips once isn’t enough, multiple treatments are needed to ensure adults, juveniles, and eggs are killed off.
The only way to truly prevent their infestation is by regular, thorough cleaning. These insects are hard to filter out due to how tiny they are. They love to graze chlorophyll off the top of leaves in herds and even lay eggs and colonize in the buds themselves. That’s one nest you don’t want to smoke.
Keeping a constant airflow or misting the plants should keep thrips from landing on the plants or taking flight. The best spay is pyrethrum and should be sprayed 2-4 times during a 10-day cycle. Hopefully, this will help them flush them out.