HELP! Caterpillar infestation, bud rot! Neem ineffective

See! You legalize it and THIS!!!

@Willd Looks like cumulative damage. They get inside the bud on the stem and start munching away at the flower base, then after some time the bud starts dying/rotting from the inside-out. Until the bud is actually opened up by hand it all looks fine.

Now, I DID notice some leaf damage a day or 2 before I found the worms. Canā€™t say it was the caterpillars for sure. Could be crickets or any number of garden pests.

I had issues with the WWA I harvested the other week. I did pull off a few inch worm looking things. I think my main problem was the 90Ā° days and 50 Ā° nights. The morning dew was awful. Started putting them under a roof at night with a ceiling fan on. No dew and air circulation

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@Whodat66 Who knew it would be so tricky. Sheet, I figured with frosty buds on at least 1 healthy plant I was on the home stretch to victory! I am terribly naive.

Whodat you must be from NOLA?

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This morningā€™s haul. Picked through in a hurry before work. Iā€™d say for every one worm I find, there are 4 more that I didnā€™t see. Snipped one cored out mushy brown bud.
66 degrees this morning, and the worms are not acting very spry, which is either because the treatment is working, or itā€™s just cool outside.

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I bet that the treatement is working :wink:, @Trav, just be a little more patient :innocent:

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Good luck!

What parts of Southern California are those abominable worms ravaging these poor growers?
We have so many climates in So Cal: Coast, valley, low desert, high desert, mountains.

@KingShark My buddy is in Huntington Beach, I am in south Orange county, near Irvine. @DaGoose is in north San Diego county somewhere semi-rural, @Manny_FTGUTube and @Rugar89 both have infestations; not sure where they are located specifically.

Right now it seems like cabbage looper moth worms, but maybe others as well since I spotted a moth that looked like a pantry moth trying to hide in the buds.

Really dismal news. It is heartbreaking to hear what happened.
I Will have to look up what those moths look like. I am in the hot San Franando Valley in Los Angeles County. Wonder if these pest are hurting other crops in So Cal too? What a Bummer!

Thank you for the location sightings. Keep everyone in the loop and on the look out.

index

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I am in the Antelope valley just about an hour north of Los Angeles the high desert I guess still la county

Oh man! My heart is breaking for all of you @Manny_FTGUTube @Rugar89 @Trav @arpeggio @DaGoose I am so sorry you are all dealing with these.

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Thanks @AnneBonny

@KingShark @Trav @Manny_FTGUTube

Iā€™m in San Bernardino.

I did a real quick look this morning and only found two, but was running late and didnā€™t have much time.
Just got home and now its almost dark. Just not enough time for me to go over them real good now thatā€™s its getting dark early. The two that I did find were pretty lifeless though. That BT must be doing something.

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Good to hear brother, just went over my plants and didnā€™t find many. But still found about 5 or 6 still getting better. Still havenā€™t used anything really but bud rot hasnā€™t really spread

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Yes. Thatā€™s a dead caterpillar. Sickly gray and unmoving. Wave 1 complete?

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:tada::confetti_ball: Outta love but YAY!!!

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@Manny_FTGUTube @Trav

Do you guys really think this is bud rot? Im not so sure now. I mean its some sort of rot, but it doesnā€™t seem to be spreading like I have read that bud rot does. I have a few buds that were not affected, and they are still green. A few buds I scraped some of the black off of, and appears to be new green growth coming back in. I basically had written them off, but now Iā€™m not so sure.

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@Rugar89 I guess not bud rot per se, more of rotten vegetation created by the munching of worms.
Found maybe 5 dead ones today across the 3 plants, so thereā€™s progress on my end. Also, I see some fresh green growth on the buds that werenā€™t damaged too bad on the flower stems. On some flowers the worms ate holes in the stems and pretty much killed the buds, so I snipped those off, washed, and quick dried a few for testing. Smells like lawn clippings but man did it get me stoned. Iā€™d say it was 3x as potent than what I expected.

BTK Treatment #2 coming up late afternoon Sunday. Got a mosquito net screen thing coming from Amazon one of these days too. Not sure how practical itā€™ll be- we shall see I guess. Need to keep those moths, grasshoppers, slugs, etc. out.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01E6583Q2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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Itā€™s not just California. It must be happening to the southern regions. I have 1 Crystal that is being devastated! All my other plants are fine, so Iā€™ve ā€œdonatedā€ that one to the worms. They can have that one since theyā€™re leaving the others alone.

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Great to hear you have the buggers under control Trav! Did another heavy spray on my girls last night. Iā€™m fully saturating each bud using a 2 gallon pump sprayer. Takes a full tank. No new victims noticed this morning which is a great sign. Probably have taken 25 worms to date.

Now I need to get a carbon filter setup installed in the spare bathroom for the drying process. Going to remove the heater/exhaust fan in the ceiling and connect the exhaust there since itā€™s already plummed to a roof vent. Thinking I need a 6 inch model since the room is 5 x 8 x 8. Any suggestions are welcomed.

Keeping my fingers crossed for everyone to bring the crop home without more problems!!

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