bud eating green caterpillars

[DVS_mofo]

Dont use that vossman you will have unsmokable bud.

 

[bicycle racer]

mosquito nets are not a bad idea since the only real pest problem i have is caterpillars and i know moths or butterfly eggs are the culprit. its weird sometimes i have had thrip problems thats it though. i sometimes see spider mites but they never get anywhere and seem to die off i think natural predators like lacewings are keeping other bad insects in check. i do see lacewing eggs here and there. lately i have been spraying spinosad weekly or every other week this has more or less stopped the caterpillars so far.

 

[happyinmendo]

If you know you have problems with them you can set traps for them early in spring to kill them off early so you don't have to spray for them.

 

[Blaze]

The traps can also act as an early warning system as well - if you start finding moths then you know to apply BT.

 

[bicycle racer]

what kind of traps do you mean? it would help indicate when to use spinosad or bt.

 

[Useless]

I hate the little bastards. Monterey Insecticide with Spinosad is the way to go.

Use it every 2 weeks, up to 3 weeks before harvest. I get the bottle with the garden hose attachment. Then you just hook it up, and spray the plants, soil and all surrounding vegetation and soil within 10 feet. No more cats.
What causes the bud rot is the feces from the 'pillars. It is prime eating for bacteria, and botrytis is especially fond of the poop. It is a perfect food source for bacteria and fungus to form. I battled these bastards on my last outdoor grow, and the Monterey worked like a charm.

Good luck...

 

[bicycle racer]

yep spinosad products work very well.

 

[Blaze]

The traps that you can use are the same kind that the vineyards use. Just do a google search on moth traps or vineyard traps and you will see what we are talking about.

Bt takes a while to work, so once you notice that you have the worms it may be too late, which is where the traps come in. If you are growing outside, planting corn near by seems to help keep them away as well. They will generally go for the corn first, which again can act as an early warning system.

I'm not as familiar with spinosad so I can't say if it works better than Bt or not. Spinosad is considered a prohibited nonsynthetic, and the OMRI seems to have some valid concerns about its use. Because of this I am still leery about using it.

Here is some info on spinosad for those who are interested"

 

[knoxvillain1]

whats always worked to get rid of caterpillars in my operations is wormwood broth what youll need to do is boil about 10 liters of water and put about 30 grams of dried wormwood ( 400 grams of fresh if you have it) in a bowl. poor the boiling water on the wormwood and let it steep for about 15 minutes after it cools down dilute it wither 3 times as much water and give your plants a good spray. havent had a caterpillar problem since i started using this stuff.

 

[MedDudeChcioCA]

Thanks so much for the info on Spinosad. I think that will be the way to go next summer. It is always so depressing finding that crappy mold after the feces sets in and it rains. Hopefully we can resolve that issue next summer.

 

[happyinmendo]

Safer has a bacillus thurigensis formula for caterpillars. So does greenlight, they are both semi cheap. You can get bulk amounts in concentrate from Ag supply.

 

[HNIC]

i hate those things! they seriously ruined half of my outdoor last year, and i was spraying the plants with BT quite often. fucking things....

 

[CannaCrone]

i hate those things! they seriously ruined half of my outdoor last year, and i was spraying the plants with BT quite often. fucking things....

I feel your pain HNIC. We had them too this year. We would go out each day to find new areas of brown on the buds and when we touched the spot, it just fell off. With these type of worms though, they get way down into the center of the buds where the Bt spray doesn't really get to. We found it was just getting on the outer most areas so the worms weren't ingesting it. We went out at dusk with flashlights and hunted them down then threw them in water and watched them squirm. :winking0067:

CC

 

[Badmf]

Howdy! Thought I'd chime in. Use DE Diatoemaecous Earth on the ground around your plants. Wrap the stem about 1" above the ground with "Copper Tape" its sold at HD amongst others. Snails/slugs and caterpillars won't cross it. Follow that with"Tree Goo" a very very sticky substance that nothing will cross. I use netting for flying pests like grasshoppers and wire fencing going to a solar electric fence charger! Peace! Bad...

 

[HNIC]

badmf, the catepillars never touch the ground because the moths lay their eggs on the plants, and they have all the necessary food they need right there, so they just live a happy life of being high as shit and living in their own feces (kinda like a crackhead, but a healthy version).

 

[CannaCrone]

Someone on another site that I was having this same discussion with posed the question: "Wonder what it would be like to smoke that worm shit? Must be pure THC!" :thinking: LOL! You just KNOW some dingle-berry out there is gonna try this! :puke Watch, it'll become some gourmet treat like caviar. :rofl $1,000 an ounce.

:damnhippie: CC

 

[CannaCrone]

Howdy! Thought I'd chime in. Use DE Diatoemaecous Earth on the ground around your plants. Wrap the stem about 1" above the ground with "Copper Tape" its sold at HD amongst others. Snails/slugs and caterpillars won't cross it. Follow that with"Tree Goo" a very very sticky substance that nothing will cross. I use netting for flying pests like grasshoppers and wire fencing going to a solar electric fence charger! Peace! Bad...

That copper tape does work great for snails, slugs, and the caterpillars that crawl on the ground and up the stalks.

The worms I was referring to in HNIC's post are ear worms. They're like the ones that attack corn. They come in lots of different colors. A brown moth lays eggs on the corn or in this case our mj and when the little worms hatch they crawl inside the corn cob or our buds. They eat and grow their way from the center out so you don't see signs of them until parts of the bud turns brown and falls off. Nasty buggers.

:damnhippie: CC

 

[Badmf]

Thanks for clearing that up I haven't had them around here and thats good! If I did I'd opt for netting as I mentioned but didn't clarify. I spray it with neem and cayeene mix no problems as late in bloom enough Sun still gets trough, hope this helps! Peace! Bad...

 

[Moppel]

Those mofos have ruined many crops. I had this problem with my outdoor few years back in spain, we had to take plants down 2 weeks earlier cause of them. Funny thing was they get the fuck out of there as soon as you start drying the buds. I had thousands of caterpillars in my drying room....green ones , brown ones, small , big , all kinds of em.

 

[bicycle racer]

bt and spinosad sprayed in intervals weekly will stop pretty much all of them. the key is multiple treatments throughout flower.