Advances understanding the relationship between flower-
thrips and blueberries in Florida
H. Alejandro Arevalo and Oscar Liburd
University of Florida Gainesville
2006
• Small insects ~1mm long• Usually yellow-cream
color• Feed and lay eggs in
flowers• Petals• Ovaries
• From egg to adult in 15 days
• Present only during flowering period in blueberries
Flower thrips & blueberries General information
Flower thrips & blueberries Sampling
Flower thrips & blueberries Dispersion behavior
Day 1 Day 3 Day 5 Day 7
Day 21Day 17Day 15Day 13
Dispersion
R=0.9908; F = 107.8; df = 3,9; P < 0.0001
Size of thrips populations in relation to flower phenology
Days after blooming
0 5 10 15 20 25
Ave
rage
# o
f Thr
ips
capt
ured
0
50
100
150
200
250
x column 1 vs y column 1 Col 1 vs Col 2
22.5313.68x0.5
e192.94.16f(y)
10 70 20901Percentage of open flowers
Num
ber o
f ins
ects
Time
ManagementEILET
Flower thrips & blueberries E.I.L.
y = -0.4032x + 62.726R2 = 0.9377
50
55
60
65
70
75
0 5 10 15 20 25No. of thrips per flower
% of
frui
t for
med
Flower thrips & blueberries E.I.L.
Flower thrips & blueberries E.I.L.
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6No. of thrips per flower
% of
frui
t dam
aged
Flower thrips & blueberries E.I.L.
EIL = 3 thrips / flower at flower opening
30 thrips / 10 flowers
Traps = 107 thrips in 16/63 of a trap421 thrips/trap
Flower thrips & blueberries Conclusions• White sticky traps and flower sampling are the best
monitoring methods for flower thrips
• Thrips are present in blueberry fields for about 25 days from flower opening to ‘petal fall’.
• 7 days after bloom initiation the hot spots are defined.
• Once the hot spots are defined the population growth is exponential for the next 10 days until ‘petal fall’ starts.
• The ELI is about 3 thrips per flower at the start of the flowering period or 400 thrips per trap
Acknowledgements
• Florida Blueberry Association• Miller’s, Straughn’s, Paine’s, Southland, and
Mixon Family Farm• S- EPA grant #: X8-96424405-0• Southern Region SARE #: GS05-12• Small Fruit and Vegetable Lab at UF
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