Have you experienced about thrips problem? Any gradual damage to your Monstera leaves?

Not all causes, but I will share my experience with a relatively common thrips problem.

This is how I try to fix my thrips problem from my previous experience.

Don’t panic! You can try something for your plant!

Have you ever seen a leaf like this?

Thrips is one of those problems that can happen to anyone and is very frustrating. However, if you remove the problems one by one, they may not affect the leaves that appear in the future, so be patient and work on them.

If the underside of the leaf looks a little yellowish or brownish rubbed, look for small dusty spots around it.

As you can see, they are about 1 mm in size, but if you look closely, they are often moving. When I saw it, I panicked.

However, I asked my advisor and researched on the Internet to find my own way to deal with it.
This is my way of coping with it, and I can’t say that it is effective for everything, but I think it is worth a try.

This is my way of avoid Thrips.

1. First, remove Thrips with a wet tissue or soft cloth.
2. If it’s a small plant, wash the whole plant once it’s out of the soil, depending on the season. (I don’t think this will work for everything, but if you have plants that can do it and are in the right season and environment, it is worth a try.)
3. Replace the potting soil (again, not sure if this is necessary, but I replaced everything because I was concerned)
4. Spray Thrips with an effective medicine
5. Check after a week to make sure everything is ok. From now on spray the leaves with Neem oil ( water, and soap) and wipe the leaves clean front and back with a soft cloth.
6. Periodically wipe the leaves clean with Neem oil. (Once a week, or at least twice a month)

Another way is to cut the leaves.

This will generally relieve the problem, but will not bring back leaves that have already been damaged by Thrips.
The above procedure is to create an environment for future leaves to grow without problems, and leaves that are currently damaged by Thrips cannot be restored.
Therefore, I cut the leaves that have been damaged too much before I do step 1.

Be careful, if you cut your damage leaf

When cutting, one must be careful where to cut.
If the older leaves of a monstera that has been cut to gain are the problem, just cutting is fine, but if there is a problem with top cutting or the newest leaves that already have several leaves, be careful not to cut the lower part of the stem.

Leave the part where the next leaf will appear, and the next leaf will appear as before.

The above is not a solution to all Thrips problems, but it is the procedure I actually follow.
I would be happy if it is helpful.