curled leaves and red spots - ficus

[NathanM]

Hey guys,
I can't remember what the cause of this is... A couple of my figs, seem to be only tiger bark atm, are suffering from curled leaves and they have red spots on them. Is it thrips perhaps? I've just given the offending trees a really good spray with bug spray and will remove all affected leaves very soon

[Magzy]

yes they are thrips, i pull the leaf off straight away when i see it then open it up and squash em. I have never used spray on them because of how tight the leaf closes around them. Dispose of the leaf well away from your trees and keep a look out for more and you should be able to control them. I get them also and this seems to work for me. They are very persistent and annoying, i am having trouble with mealy bug on all my natives at the moment as well.