HELP! Caterpillar infestation, bud rot! Neem ineffective

Don’t like grrrrrrrrrrr @Rugar89

If that was the Cervantes video it was hydrogen peroxide. @bob31

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@Whodat66 I’ve seen those webs full of them too (tent caterpillars). I think they’re different

Well okay then @Trav the eggs on the leafs got me I would be going to war with the entire insect population in my yard and bushes then sneak over and do my neighbors to make a barrier. That one picture completely changed my mind about outdoor growing next year . Im in a illegal state and would have to do a stealth grow in the woods behind my house so the outside plants were going to be pretty much on their own . Now I will just stick with my tent where I have a much better chance of preventing a issue and can stop most problems before they get to far out of hand . Sorry this happened to you guys .

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I do my wash with a little peroxide

@Trav

Caterpillars cutworms, cabbageworms, ect.)

There are several different kinds of catapillars that may affect cannabis plants, mainly the ones that affect the plants, do almost the same damage, some do more severe depending on the numbers you have eating on your plants. Most caterpillars will do damage by chewing holes in the leaves, the holes will be kind of big, if so you know it’s not going to be a smaller kind of pest.
If you find caterpillars have been eating at your plants and you need to get rid of them; there are several non-toxic and least toxic methods to choose from. You can also shake your plant a bit to make the caterpillars fall off your plants. . If your plants are affected during late flowering or close to harvest, please try to use the safest means of control to be safe to your health.

Prevent and Control

Hand picking: Easy way to control them is to pick them up and knock them into a bucket of soapy water. If you are scared about handling caterpillars, you can use some gloves or have someone else pick them up for you.

PERMETHRIN dust
BTK in dust form can be used to kill caterpillars. BTK can also be used to foliar spray your plants. One tablespoon of neem oil added to your BT mix helps stick the mix to the plants better when you are foliar spraying… BTK is available in liquid form. Apply BTK on all of the leaves both top and underside If you decided using the dust kind,spray your plants down with water before you apply the dust Apply every week to 2 weeks and or after it rains. The caterpillars must eat the BT as they are feeding on foliage in order for the caterpillars to be rid of.

Organic

Insecticidal soaps, neem, oil, and spinosad are the safest insecticides that can be used to control… Soaps and neem are non-toxic and are great to use when you have a lot of pests and want to be friendly to nature and its animals. Spinosad works very very good in controlling the caterpillar population and is non toxic to wild-life, pets, and humans. It hardly has any impact at all on the plants.

wrote by
Stitch
Posted by
Garrigan

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@Trav

Another control, compliments of Mother Nature, is the praying mantis. This amazing stick like bug may not thrive in all areas, but if you have them in yours, help is on the way. Praying mantis’ eat caterpillars and will not leave the plant until it has cleaned its plate, so to speak.

You can further control the caterpillar population by applying a neem oil spray. It is best to spray after the sun goes down or on a cloudy overcast day, as the sun renders the concoction ineffective. Spray the tops of the plants and at the base to deter caterpillars from climbing up from the ground. It is not necessary to saturate your plants, but coat them well. If any caterpillars are not killed on the spot, they will die as they travel through the plant and into the path of the oil.

To make your own neem oil spray, pour 1 to 1 ½ teaspoons liquid dish washing soap to a gallon of warm water. Add one ounce of neem oil to the container and shake well. Pour mixture into a spray bottle. Do not store any unused portions, as it loses its potency after four to eight hours. Apply once a week until there is no longer evidence of the caterpillars in your garden. Neem oil can be purchased online or at any garden center.

Of course, you can always hand pick caterpillars off your plants. Just make sure you destroy them or they will be crawling right back onto your precious plants.

If you want to start growing, download my free grow guide and order some marijuana seeds. All top quality marijuana seeds are available in my marijuana seed shop. We ship seeds to the US, CA and many other countries. For any growing related question please visit the marijuana support page.

Source: ILoveGrowingMarijuana.Com

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I wouldn’t use neem oil on buds. Latewood says it will foul the taste. I’m also dealing with the little bastards right now and have had to remove several buds that got ruined overnight! :rage:

I use the search and destroy method. It sucks because this is my life until harvest now. Every year it’s the same thing with the damned worms!

I feel for you. They’re a nightmare pest!!!

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Thanks for the additional info @garrigan62. Mixing a bit of neem with the BTK seems like a good idea for veg, but my 3 plants are making nice sticky buds and I’ve read advice to the contrary regarding buds & neem.

So yesterday evening I DRENCHED every single bud, leaf, stem, and surrounding yard plant with a 1TBS / 2L water mix of BTK concentrate. Did the big tops twice- aggressively getting the spray nozzle down inside the buds and spray the hell out of them.

Went out this morning at first light with an LED light and tilted over the top of the good plant to crack open the bud, and sure enough there’s one in there. BUT, it was lying on its side writhing, looking unhealthy. Progress? Hope so.

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@Oldstoner You know the crazy thing is that all of us that have this worm infestation have in common, is that we look after our plants very carefully, checking multiple times a day AND STILL they sneak in there and do a bunch of damage. By the time you see them there’s hollowed out buds, rotten crap filled worm caves all over. Disgusting.
I imagine that a guerrilla grow would be susceptible to major damage from just about everything if left unchecked for too long. Not sure how they do it successfully. Sheer numbers?

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Crazy idea, but if they are almost beyond salvaging, could you smoke them out? Make a fire and find a way to funnel the smoke into a tent. Get rid of as much O2 as possible and seal it for a bit? Just spitballing here.

@Whodat66 Well mine aren’t that far gone, at least not yet. I’ve no delusions that they are killed off in one treatment though.
My friend tells me he set up a “fog chamber” kind of like they do for termites and bombed them with something- spinosad or some other, sorry I don’t remember. Says they’re “gone” but I think treatments like these are bandaids, not cures. The moths are still out there laying eggs so at the moment they’re the real issue.

Need to get some mosquito netting and some way of propping it up.

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Hey All!

Just back early this morning from a 2 week vacation. My friend was the girl-sitter and battled mildew, 100 degree temps this week, and now the dreaded bud worms. He did a great job! Couldn’t wait the see my girls so checked them in the dark last night. Quick 2 hour nap and checked them first thing this morning to find more worms/damage the Gold Leaf. ARRGHHHHHHH!!! Quickly made up a spray bottle of Monterrey spinosad (thanks again to you all for the advise to get this already in anticipation!!!). Sprayed all 7 of my girls down and got 5 more dead worms from the GL. Looking at the life cycle timeline from Trav, going to spray them once a week until a week or so before harvest alternating spinosad and dipel. This is my first grow…gawd it breaks your heart to see those buds get destroyed. BTW…the gold leaf is super sticky. Damned bugs!

Happy Labor Day All and Happy Growing!!!

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@DaGoose OUCH! Those are big ones that really mangle buds in a hurry.

You must have unobstructed sunlight in your location- those plants are massive!
I’m cornered in a suburban condo complex in orange county (I have 7 immediate neighbors-- think ant farm housing) and can only get partial sun for a few hours, but bright indirect most of the day. So mine are only about 4 feet tall and a single main cola. Doesn’t help that I started seeds in mid June due to unforseen circumstances. Guess I can learn the same lessons on smaller plants. :slight_smile: Maybe I’ll become a multi-millionaire some day and can buy a modest size house out here with a back yard. LOL

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Hi Trav!

I’m in North County San Diego. Bought an old fixer-upper in a semi-rural neighborhood many years ago with a big lot. The girls get about 5 hours of direct light between the morning and evening, and then filtered in the afternoon…under a huge tree so that helps with the heat. My neighbors are about 70-80 feet away in 3 directions so I worry mostly about the smell. They are in 12 gallon pots so stand maybe 5 feet high above the soil. I pinched them way back to stay bushy otherwise they would be very noticeable lol! And yeah, you need heaps of money these days to get a house with a decent yard in OC!!! The worms are about 3/4 inch long. Lucky me eh?

Cheers!!!

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So any luck bud? Cause I’m still having the bud rot and caterpillar issue as well and it just seems to be getting worse :disappointed:

I feel for you M :persevere:

Dry the worms and smoke them…

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@Manny_FTGUTube I still see worms in there and just caught a moth scurrying down into a bud to cause more trouble. Buds are still real damp and it’s on the verge of raining here. Hopefully it’ll clear up soon so these things can dry out. This time it looked like a pantry moth. They create the same kind of little worms

Do you have access for a fan to blow on them a little to help dry them out? Sorry if I missed it from an earlier post