Pathetic Broad Bean crop

[WilliamD]

That's a shame Marb. The following is a good summary of thrip control. I've pasted it from planetnatural.com, where there's more info available.

Thrip management is a matter of garden maintenance — reducing the places where thrips may breed — and requires removing plant debris while it’s still on the ground and green. Thrips lay their eggs in slits they cut in live plant stems. Vigilance — spotting problems early and responding to them — is also required. Check your plants for damage and clusters of the pests at the place where leaves are attached to stems. Don’t wait to take action. Take the measures listed below. And be sure to use the safest, most proven products.

• To get rid of thrips remove weeds and grass from around garden areas to eliminate alternate hosts. Clean up crop debris in the garden, especially onion leaves after harvest. (Dry mulch will not attract thrips. Green mulch will.)
• Inspect all plants you import into the garden for signs of thrips or their damage. Discard any infested plants by securely bagging and putting in the trash.
• Blue sticky traps are helpful for monitoring adult populations.
• If found, use the Bug Blaster to hose off plants with a strong, encompassing spray of water to reduce pest numbers.
• Release commercially available beneficial insects, such as minute pirate bugs, the effective thrips predator (feeds on eggs and larvae before they can become adults), ladybugs, and lacewing, (especially effective in green houses) to attack and destroy all stages of this pest. For best results, make releases after first knocking down severe infestations with water spray or other method.
• Severe populations may require a least-toxic, short-lived botanical insecticide (pyrethrin) to reduce pest numbers. Follow-up with predatory insects to maintain control.
• Safe, smothering insectical soaps made from naturally occurring plant oils and fats, are also effective for knocking down heavy infestations (and won’t harm most naturally occurring beneficial insects). Spinosad, and neem oil can be used to spot treat heavily infested areas.
• Tip: Thorough coverage is necessary when using natural contact insecticides, especially on the undersides of leaves and where leaves attach to stems, a favorite place for thrips to congregate.