How to Get Rid of Thrips on Roses
Thrips are tiny insects that scar petals and distort buds, especially on pale roses. Remove and destroy affected buds, encourage predators, use blue sticky traps, and treat severe cases with insecticidal soap or spinosad.
Thrips are slender insects barely visible to the eye that rasp at petals and developing buds, leaving brown streaks and preventing flowers from opening cleanly. Pale and fragrant roses are hit hardest, and damage peaks in warm, dry weather.
Manage them by cutting off and destroying infested buds, encouraging natural predators such as lacewings and predatory mites, and hanging blue sticky traps to monitor numbers. For serious infestations, insecticidal soap or a spinosad-based product applied to buds helps — but avoid broad insecticides that also kill the thrips' natural enemies.