Flowers are the perfect accessories to naturally beautify your yard. It’s an instant day-brightener to walk past someone’s house and see a gorgeous array of flowers and colors. Peonies (Paeonia) are a garden favorite partially because of how hardy they are, but mostly because they’re a magnificent sight to behold. They come in a variety of colors, and the numerous petals are guaranteed to make any yard look enchanting.
Unfortunately, if there’s one thing that could come in the way of successfully growing peonies, it’s the flower’s arch-nemesis — the thrip. Thrips are notorious insects that can inflict serious damage on your precious peonies. The worst part is that, because they’re so tiny, it’s hard for gardeners to know they’re there until it’s too late and the plants have already been dealt with. Luckily for you, there is an easy way to get those pesky thrips off your peonies in no time, and all you need is a few bursts of refreshing, cold water.
Thrips feed on the sap from your peonies, which wouldn’t necessarily be a deadly thing if not for their other habits. These tiny pests can birth 15 generations in just one flowering season, and the resulting thousands of insects can easily overwhelm your plants. Because of how small they are, they’re practically impossible to see; you’re more likely to notice the damage they do to your flowers instead. Once your flowers are under attack, you have to act fast to rid them of these pests.
Cold water will wash the thrips off of the flowers
No one wants to grow peonies only to have them maimed and covered by thousands of thrips. Further, by the time you are sure these pests are around, it’s often too late to use pesticides because they’ve already started causing negative side effects. The action of the thrips sucking the plant sap out of the leaves can give the flowers silvery lines and cause discoloration. Also, since they are pathogen vectors, thrips can transmit a host of diseases such as impatiens necrotic spot virus and tomato spotted wilt virus. If you want to rid your peonies of thrips, cold water is the answer you’ve been looking for.
Blasting thrip-infested peonies with very cold water should rid you of the annoying pests. Use a hose or any container that can give you enough propelling force, and blast the plants three times for three days straight. To prevent thrips from occurring, make sure to water your peonies as often as you should because these pests aren’t big fans of moisture. You can also triple check the young plants to see if they are infested once you purchase them from a nursery. If you notice any suspect leaves or flowers, prune them off before transplanting the peonies into the ground.
