This can be a visitor publish by Avery Johnson (former OMAFA summer time pupil and present M.Sc. pupil learning Thrips parvispinus) and S. Jandricic.
Having issue figuring out thrips on sticky playing cards and wish clear photographs to ship to your advisor or extension agent? Don’t wish to spend money on a microscope? Nicely, you’re in luck, as a result of we’ve performed the legwork to search out some good alternate options to get top quality photographs.
Lately, thrips species apart from western flower thrips have grow to be a major downside in Ontario greenhouses, possible as a result of decreased pesticide use, international commerce, and different components.
Particularly, pests like onion thrips (Thrips tabaci), pepper thrips (Thrips parvspinus) and chrysanthemum thrips (Thrips nigropilosus) have been inflicting important injury to greenhouse ornamentals in Ontario and past. Onion thrips may also be a difficulty in greenhouse tomato, hashish and greenhouse strawberries.
Appropriate identification is step one to raised management, as different thrips species are usually not managed by customary biocontrol packages developed for western flower thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis). Figuring out this, we developed a simplified thrips identification key for growers, however it requires having the ability to see small options on the thrips, similar to hair patterns.
Extension specialists similar to Sarah Jandricic and Cara McCreary at OMAFA usually get photographs from frazzled growers who’re anxious they’ve an typical thrips concern. However specialists and technical reps aren’t in a position to assist until the picture is of a sure high quality.
We at all times encourage growers to spend money on microscope. They are surely the “gold customary” to your identification wants, offering excessive magnification and clear photographs. For example of this “gold customary”, you may see an image we’ve taken of a pepper thrips, under (Fig 2). This picture was taken of the thrips caught to the thick glue of a sticky card (which was then lined in cling wrap), which makes getting good photographs much more of a problem. However, by taking this picture by the eye-piece of the microscope utilizing a smartphone, you may nonetheless simply see the tiny hairs on the pronotum of the insect (circled), that are a key identification characteristic.
Nonetheless, your farm might not be keen to spend money on a high quality microscope fairly but. Additional, getting good photographs of thrips by a microscope utilizing the digital camera in your telephone may take a bit of apply, requiring a gradual hand and good lighting. So what are the alternate options?
Though smartphones are constantly getting smarter, no smartphone digital camera presently has the power to seize the small particulars obligatory for insect identification – even when utilizing a macro setting discovered on many telephone cameras immediately.
To satisfy someplace within the center between smartphone and microscope, we discovered and tried out magnifying (or “macro”) lenses that clip-on to any smartphone. Every of those units have been comparatively straightforward to make use of, at an inexpensive value, and all accessible on Amazon. We examined 3 macro lenses with completely different magnifications (15x, 24x, and one claiming to be 200x) to search out the best choice. Our aim for every of those attachment lenses was to see in the event that they made identification simpler within the discipline and/or might assist with maintaining picture data of pests.
The thrips circled in crimson within the picture under is what we used for all check photographs. In all circumstances, when testing an attachment, we cropped the ensuing picture so we might zoom in and evaluate picture high quality and particulars.
Lens Choice #1: CiCiglow 0.45x Extensive Angle Lens with 12.5x Macro Lens
This attachment comes with 2 lenses: a large angle lens that may cowl a big discipline of view and a comparatively low-powered macro lens. These can be utilized individually or collectively. That is probably the most inexpensive choices, working anyplace from $9-12 CDN on Amazon.ca.
Sadly, as you may see from the picture under (Determine 5), even whenever you zoom in and crop the picture, you may’t see plenty of element. This is smart, as a result of the facility of this attachment is just not that completely different from a hand-lens you’ll use within the discipline.
Even coupled with the telephone’s digital zoom, you may’t make out vital options like the color of the attention spots (ocelli) and even actually inform what color the legs are.
Total, we might avoid any telephone attachments which might be lower than the magnification of widespread hand-lenses (e.g. 10-20x).
Lens Choice #2: Apexel 12-24X 2-in-1 Macro Lens.
This feature is much like that above, however has 2 macro lenses that can be utilized collectively or individually. When used collectively, they supply extra magnification than your typical hand lens. This set will run you round $32 CDN.
The element on that is objectively higher (Determine 6). Now you can see the color of the ocelli on the thrips in addition to the color of the legs. These are vital options for some thrips species.
Nonetheless, let’s face it: the extent of element nonetheless isn’t there for an important figuring out characteristic: the small hairs on the pronotum (or “shoulders”) of the thrips. These hair patterns can assist you distinguish a lot of the thrips species we run throughout in Ontario greenhouses.
Lens Choice #3: 200X Clip On Microscope Magnifier Lens with LED gentle
Our final contender was delivered to our consideration by Koen Merkus of Biobest Netherlands. And boy, is it a doozy!
Though I completely contest its declare to be 200x magnification (discovered on excessive powered, costly, compound scopes), it IS darn good for a clip on lens. When coupled with the digital zoom in your telephone, I’d estimate it’s precise magnification to be round 45-50X. It additionally has an LED gentle that helps enhance the standard of the photographs considerably.
Total, the magnification stage, plus the LED gentle on lens possibility #3 blew the opposite lenses away as compared. The photographs taken utilizing this attachment have been nearly nearly as good because the picture taken by our dissecting microscope at 45X.
The most important draw back (apart from this attachment being costlier, at round $45 CDN), is that this attachment does require a cost for the LED gentle to work and we will’t converse to how effectively it holds a cost but. It does include a charging cable, and a bit of carrying case for each, although.
This specific lens won’t produce even low-quality photographs if the sunshine isn’t working, because the attachment principally has to sit down proper on high of the specimen. It subsequently isn’t good for stay specimens both.
Though we at all times suggest investing in a dissecting microscope, so you may simply study each useless and stay bugs at varied magnifications, smartphone attachments do provide a viable various for figuring out useless bugs or these caught on sticky playing cards. The entire lenses have been extraordinarily person pleasant and simple to connect to a smartphone, however solely possibility 2 and three actually produced respectable photographs wanted for insect identification within the greenhouse.
Nonetheless, solely lens 3 actually gave sufficient element for thrips identification to species, which is vital for anybody who grows crops inclined to Thrips parvispinus and will must know if they need to take rapid motion with pesticides or not.
So relying in your particular wants from an attachment like this, you need to use our comparability to guage for your self which of those lenses would work finest for you.
Hyperlinks to the attachments on Amazon:
Lens Choice #1: The 12.5X telephone lens with 2 in 1 extensive angle lens and macro lens
Lens Choice #2: The removable 12-24X 2 in 1 macro lens
Lens Choice #3: The 200X Clip On Microscope Magnifier Lens with LED gentle (Word: if this hyperlink doesn’t work, merely search “200x hand lens” within the Amazon.ca search bar, and the identical product from a special provider will possible come proper up).