What's eating my peas?

[Likac66]

Went to harvest my peas today but I discovered lots of tiny orange maggot/larvae on the outside of the pea pods. It seems they are eating the outside of the pod and I'm worried they will affect their growth. Not sure whether to spray them with something.

[Two_Sheds]

I can't see any maggots in that photo

[jacob]

I get that -- the marking on the outside does not harm the peas. (There's a possibility that this has something to do with pea moth, in which case you might lose a few peas in a few pods, if you don't eat them quickly.)

(Personally, I wouldn't spray anything with anything)

[Likac66]

No, there are tiny orange maggot type larvae that definitely moved. They are very small. I think in the picture you can see a tiny orange dot - that is one of them. I thought they were tiny maggots as there is a small black dot on the end of each like you see on maggots. But they were only about 1mm long.

[Likac66]

Oh, I think they might be pea thripp. Will now have to research these.

[Two_Sheds]

Not sure whether to spray them with something.

No, don't. Esp. if you don't know what they are. Sprays are completely unnecessary in the home garden: losing one or two pea pods isn't worth worrying about. Whatever it is, is going to be food for some bigger beastie, which will feed an even bigger creature ...

take out a pest species and you upset a whole food chain, leading to the almost-total loss of our wild bees, birds & butterflies

[Likac66]

Now I know they're pea thripp I won't spray. Some pods are absolutely covered though so I don't think they will develop. I took the worst effected pods off and hope the rest won't be ruined.

[Two_Sheds]

I've never had that problem. Pea moth is rife here, but not thrip

Ah, that's why: they "thrive in warm, dry summers". It's cloudy here and cool. It usually is, on the coast

heavy rain will wash them off the plants. In dry spells, overhead watering will have the same effect. In fact, well-grown outdoor plants, with plenty of water, resist attacks much better

thrips are very often resistant to insecticides (but the spray will kill other, beneficial, insects)

http://www.which.co.uk/documents/pdf...ors-153713.pdf