Does anyone know what bug this is?

[Chris L]

Does anyone know what bug this is, please?

There seem to be rather a lot in the GH and I've seen them before and they don't seem to cause a problem. That is a typical Mammillaria flower for scale purposes.

Thank you.

[Diane]

It's Thrips - probably Western Flower Thrips. They can do damage, usually unnoticeable at first, but they will suck flower buds, and are a real pest of Lithops and other mesembs, as they feed in the centre of the plants before new leaves emerge, leaving bad scarring. Look for silvery streaks on flower buds, and if you blow on them, the Thrips tend to run about. Alas, no real control, although SB Invigorator might kill some adults. The life cycle is that they lay eggs under the soil, which emerge as nymphs, making control very difficult.
I had them in my mesembs for years, until they almost disappeared of their own accord, but I saw some last week in a Pachypodium flower, so they're still around.

[Chris L]

Thanks for the info. Bit like a mealy bug then.

I've seen them before crawling around, but this is the first time I've been able to get a decent picture.

[brianc]

If you grow lithops keep an eye out, they will scar them bad. But the new heads the following year will be
unmarked.

[peter831shaw]

Thrips are nasty little pests, and as mentioned do lots of damage that is hard to see until too late,

They are attracted to blue, so you might want to avoid wearing blue if you have been working in the garden (they like turfgrass among other plants) before coming into the greenhouse.

You can also hang blue sticky traps above your susceptible plants, just like yellow sticky traps for whitefly.

Don't use them as a control but to monitor for increasing populations.

I have yellow traps above my most susceptible succulents and I don't like wearing yellow anyway.......