Caterpillar Problems

Leonking · Aug 31, 2016

Hello Everyone,

So I am new at this and all seemed to be going well. Today while checking out the ladies, I found a caterpillar on one of my plants. Then another, and another. I started to check them all and
Found a few more.
The plants are now in the flowering stage and it even looks like some of the ladies are ready for harvest.
Being new to this, I seem to think that they are ready but not quite sure. Maybe some of you can give me some advice on this.
My question is about the caterpillars. Can I spray some Monterey bug spray on the buds themselves to eliminate them? That's where they seem to be hiding. Or are the ladies to far into flowering to be sprayed?
Your help is really appreciated in this matter.
I am including some pictures to help show if they are to far into the flowering stage to be sprayed and also to see if they are ready for harvest.
Thanks in advance for your help

tinderthumbs · Aug 31, 2016

not sure on the bugs but the plants sure look good and I think u for sure could let them grow about about 2-3 weeks get more color on the colas u got a scoop? ooo and also take some of them bigger fan leafs of to expose more of the cola to more light

Leonking · Aug 31, 2016

Rt. On, will do. Thanks. By the way, what's a scoop? Sorry, this is my first time growing.

tinderthumbs · Aug 31, 2016

micro scope

Leonking · Aug 31, 2016

Actually, that was on my todo list for tomorrow. Picking one up so that I can check the trichomes. That will also help determine when they are ready correct?

tinderthumbs · Aug 31, 2016

yes if they r rdy they will be cloudy instead of clear n shiny

Leonking · Aug 31, 2016

Sweet, thank you for your help!

tinderthumbs · Aug 31, 2016

any time hon

Freshone · Aug 31, 2016

You can use bt (bacillus thurengensis) spray to kill caterpillars but it takes some time and it sounds like your close to being done so may not be a good choice now so what's left?It's labor intensive but start picking them off.do it early in the morning and late evening when they are out on the leaves,i like to use a bamboo shishkebab skewer myself,get as many as you can because the ones you miss shit in the buds and cause bad spots,budrot etc.

Leonking · Aug 31, 2016

Thanks Freshone. I did find a few that I picked off. They seem to be hiding in the buds. They are very small and hard to find. The one in the picture is the biggest I found. Maybe 1/2 " long. All others that I picked off were about 1/8 to 1/4 ". I will take your advice and try to pick them out early am and in the evening.
As for the Monterey bug spray, do you have any experience with it? I used it for leaf hoppers and white flies. Did pretty good for that but that was late in the grow before flower. Was curious if it's to late for the flower stage to spray the buds?

Freshone · Sep 1, 2016

Leonking said:
Thanks Freshone. I did find a few that I picked off. They seem to be hiding in the buds. They are very small and hard to find. The one in the picture is the biggest I found. Maybe 1/2 " long. All others that I picked off were about 1/8 to 1/4 ". I will take your advice and try to pick them out early am and in the evening.
As for the Monterey bug spray, do you have any experience with it? I used it for leaf hoppers and white flies. Did pretty good for that but that was late in the grow before flower. Was curious if it's to late for the flower stage to spray the buds?

Yes I do,they say you can spray late with no harm but I notice it leaves a smell and kinda melts tricks.BT takes a few days to kill but stops their digestive system so they can't eat pretty fast.I don't spray it late myself,id rather pick them off late.They live in the buds but come out to eat when it's cool early and late so best picking is then.

Freshone · Sep 1, 2016

Btw,you get them from moths laying eggs on your buds at night so it's good to do some preventive sprays through early flower.

Leonking · Sep 1, 2016

Thanks, appreciate the help! I will start picking them first thing in the morning.

Seamaiden · Sep 1, 2016

This is your learning run. Those girls have at LEAST a month to go. You have to start using alternate treatments of Bt and Spinosad, one applied every week. It's not too too late, but it's late and you ARE going to lose a good bit of bud to mold, no getting around it at this point.

Treatments begin the minute bud set starts, and end two weeks prior to planned harvest.

Do not harvest now. Read the thread in my signature line on how to harvest without a loupe.

Leonking · Sep 1, 2016

Seamaiden said:
This is your learning run. Those girls have at LEAST a month to go. You have to start using alternate treatments of Bt and Spinosad, one applied every week. It's not too too late, but it's late and you ARE going to lose a good bit of bud to mold, no getting around it at this point.

Treatments begin the minute bud set starts, and end two weeks prior to planned harvest.

Do not harvest now. Read the thread in my signature line on how to harvest without a loupe.

Thank you very much for the thread and the advice. I really appreciate all the help I can get. So I actually have one treatment of each correct? Being that I have about a month to go and that I should stop 2 weeks prior to harvest. Is this rt?

Seamaiden · Sep 2, 2016

You're quite welcome. Yes, IF your harvest is truly a month out, then one treatment of each should be applied. After that, you're going to have to watch the buds very closely during drying and curing for rot. When trimmed you'll find where the caterpillars get in and live, because it's fully of their frass (aka bug poop).

If you haven't read the how to harvest thread, go through it. You'll be checking every week for new pistils, bud building, etc. When the plant stops throwing out a whole bunch of new white pistils, you're a week or two out. That's the gauge I would use here.

Oh, when you find the bug poop sections I suggest spritzing with isopropyl, mostly because bug poop seems to cause me really bad allergies and whatever it is that irritates my insides seems to be neutralized when I use some iso. Plus it'll kill mold spores, etc. Then it just evaporates. Use 70% if not diluting.

Nog · Sep 2, 2016

You can pick them off.
You say they are small, means they have hatched not long ago.
They will get bigger and then turn green from eating the buds.
I squash them between my finger and thumb, quickest way of killing them.

If you keep checking them for caterpillars and squashing the one's you find your damage should be minimal, they will get a bit of bud here and there but not too much.

By the way caterpillar shit in the buds gives off a nice smell when burnt, smell like incense.

It is probably a form of hash actually, digested buds which contain cannabinoids.

str8smokn · Sep 2, 2016

The shit is what causes bud root..^^^^^ and it's not good to smoke shit.
STR8

Nog · Sep 2, 2016

str8smokn said:
The shit is what causes bud root..^^^^^ and it's not good to smoke shit.
STR8

No, what causes the bud rot is the caterpillers eat through the stem of the budlets, that is the small buds that go to make up a cola or large bud, and then the budlet dies, and if it's moist it goes rotten.

Often your first sign of a caterpillar is a brown patch in the bud, and if you pull it away from the bud you will see it comes away easily, and if you look close you will see the stem of the budlet has been eaten through.

The caterpillar shit does not cause the mold.

Seamaiden · Sep 3, 2016

Whenever I find the rot, I find a bunch of frass inside there. The mold doesn't irritate me anywhere nearly as much as the frass. It doesn't really matter to me how the cats have caused it, they are fundamentally the root cause and must be dealt with.

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