A customer has a question and I hope we can get some opinions on it, thanks
“I must have missed the part about how to treat the soil to kill off the existing caterpillars I saw. Scared to death about putting my “babies” in the ground with those varmints already there. Certainly that would be a recipe for disaster. I was wondering about nematodes or some harmless agent that would nuke them first.”
Some De sprinkled in a circle around the base of the plant should help keep them away
Thanks! Sorry, but what is de? I was hoping to treat the soil before I put the plants in the ground. I saw a caterpillar when I was preparing to plant.
Diematatous earth
Lol…ohhh! Ok, thx
If there in the ground there’s not much to worry about… it’s when they crawl up the trunk and start to eat that you should be worried about. …lol
They have these little copper chane Link fence looking things that wrap around the trunk of your plants and stops them from making there way up to your plants… I can’t remember what there called , but they work like magic… if you can find them… maybe look up copper plant protection from caterpillars… 
Any ideas about what I can put in the soil to kill the hemp boring caterpillars BEFORE I put my plants in the ground? I didn’t even grow last year and found one in the soil as I was preparing to plant. Sigh!
The boring caterpillars are a little bit more tricky to deal with , but at the same time they have to make it up into your plant and they usually go into areas of the plant where it is susceptible to disease or broken branches or anything that may have damaged the plant , if they’re able to get up to the softest parts of the plant is where they usually burro in , by placing the thing that I was talking about around the trunk of the plant it usually stops them from making their way up to the top of the plant where it’s more susceptible to being attacked if that makes any sense to you hopefully…
You are my new best friend forever… smile! Wink 
Thank you sooo much for taking the time to answer! I freaked when I saw one
living in the soil without any plants even in the ground yet!
What an awesome forum this is!
Happy growing!
Andi
I need to go and look for theses stem protectors you speak of @peachfuzz would a Garden center carry them or think on line only bro ?
I have googled the copper protection thangys & can’t find them…yet! If
anyone knows where to find them, please let me know!
Make sure you get Food Grade DE, not the pool type. Either food grade or garden safe DE will be safe
I didn’t forget about you guy’s… I’ve been having issues finding things… one more place to look and I’ll c if I can find it…
@Countryboyjvd1971 I used this last year…honestly, I dunno how much it helped…one thing I read about it, the sooner in the lifecycle it’s applied the better it works…I started a little late.
Thanks @kabongster I book marked this post and will check into this a little more
Just looking to be prepared just in case I need it
I sprinkled DE on floor of green houses and that seems to be keeping any crawling insects out at the moment I also installed screens on doors so I can leave green house open during the hot days and air will still flow through while keeping flying insects out hopefully lmfao
I know I’ll never stop them all but it’s worth a try lol
