Page 16 - Griffin Gazette - March 2026

This article will focus primarily on aphid and thrips control as they are the two primary targets for preventative
greenhouse drench applications. There are a handful of routes that end with these pests taking up residence in
your crops. The first is that they get routed directly to the greenhouse on starting rooted and unrooted material
(Figure 2). “Dipping” incoming plant material is a very good way to mitigate this risk. See Griffin’s January 2026
Insider Article on dipping or call GGSPro for more information regarding dip options and procedures.

The second route for pest migration to crops is from the floor to the foliage. Aphids can harbor on basically
any weed present in the pre-season greenhouse. To compound the situation, aphids don’t need to mate to
reproduce, so it only takes the presence of one female to start colonization of the crop. Even after baskets are
hung, aphids can form wings to fly up and multiply on clean material, where thorough spray coverage becomes
considerably more difficult. Thrips hold over in the cracks and crevices of the floors or benches as the pupal
stage. Once the heat is turned on in preparation for new crops, the development of the pupae speeds up, and a
new population of adults moves from hiding places to active growing areas. Reach out to GGSPro for inter and
intraseason sanitation strategies to help keep your production spaces clean before and while plants are present.

Figure 2: Thrips infestation due to non-treated starting material.

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