Yeah! It's Bud Worm Season. Pics

BT is just a bacteria..they eat it and die. I like the screen area idea..keeps mantises at home.

Im not having any budworms over here

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what does the caterpillar poop look like? ive seen some black specs on top of the leafs on a couple plants of mine

grower215 said:

what does the caterpillar poop look like? ive seen some black specs on top of the leafs on a couple plants of mine

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like small poppy or strawberry seeds, if it's on top of a leaf its likely fly shit.

Ive read a good potion of this thread and im really scared that im going to lose my plant. So ive found some caterpillars on one of my plants and ive picked them off and cleaned their dropping off as well. my plant is about 2 months old is it too late to use BT? this is a outdoor grow btw.

this is my second year doing any out door, but im in tacoma, wash, and i have not seen any of these catapillares you have there. its not that we dont have differnt moths, but i see no worms. not in washington? maybe just the right temp in cal. hey. i have something to say about the term "ORGANIC". DONT THINK ITS PERFECT this organic this, organic that. cant hurt u if its organic, right? tell me. when you go into the woods, or meadow, and find one of many poisinous mushrooms, not to mention a few other bad things, do you think they are NOT ORGANIC!? most of natures purenst poisons, are ALL ORGANIC!! and deadly! did you know if you have the "word" organic, on your product, you have to pay for the priviledge? its all buisness. pay em their fee, and tought that whats in there is organic. lmao. fox farm is not organic, nor are many. but, nearlly all of the ingreideients, come from mother earth. they mine em. now thats organic, without paying the fee to brag it up. the days of bottled nuclear waste we mixed with water are over. i am more turned off by peeps who feel they need to use 15-15-15, in order to force grouth, and wonder how the heck they are gonna ever flush that foul-tasting stuff out. its more of a problem with that, than any danger from the assortment of stuff we have at our disposal to use. but, im just one opinion. right now, im using the two flora novasl, from gh. and the kool bloom. i had been using the fox farm for near 3 years, with no real complaints, other than there is no way to fit all those feedings into the schedule. i used open sesame ounce. beastie blooms twice, and cha ching last, on plants that looked faded. if not faded, id give em one last beastie. only the big bloom is listed as "organic" of their entire line. (bat/worm). peace to all. time for a bong.

hey. i just remembered. i was out one day, and a whole bunch of yellow jackets were all over my plants. they must have been after something. i know they would not harm anything. i left em be........lol

I've always used spinosad in the past. Just helping with a friends grow this year. We didn't see any worms but figured we'd have them, so tried bt for the first time Monday. Today we are seeing a few worms crawl out from a bud and look like they are dying. Woo hoo!

How long does will bt be effective? With spinosad I sprayed every week, same with bt?

I sprayed my last dose a 2-3 weeks ago (both bt and spinosad, though not at the same time) and am still finding dead insects. I think it stays effective for at least a couple-three weeks unless you have a heavy rain.

Ok, I thought it degraded and went away after a certain amount of days

obijohn said:

I've always used spinosad in the past. Just helping with a friends grow this year. We didn't see any worms but figured we'd have them, so tried bt for the first time Monday. Today we are seeing a few worms crawl out from a bud and look like they are dying. Woo hoo!

How long does will bt be effective? With spinosad I sprayed every week, same with bt?

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My experience (just a couple of seasons so limited) is that one needs to spray every week. I know some people spray every few days but that may be overkill after the first week or so. I think next year if/when I get the caterpillars, that I'll try spraying every three days for a week+ and then maintain 'til the end with a weekly spray.

I do prefer this product to spinosad for caterpillars because you can supposedly spray a product and eat it right away. Spinosad gives different lengths of time for safe eating of veg/fruit after application...so I definitely don't want to smoke it.

obijohn said:

Ok, I thought it degraded and went away after a certain amount of days

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According to the manufacturer of Monterey, spinosad is effective for up to 4 weeks. I think ppl spray it a lot more than neccessary (myself included). I was alternating weekly with BT and Azamax, then went to every 10 days and stopped a few weeks ago as harvest is nearing. If you are in an area that has a lot of issues (I'm not), you might need to spray nore often or continue closer to harvest.

when pruning I would suggest looking inside the nugs for the pillars .. the caterpillars do alot of damage but their shit does even more IMO especially in really dense nugs.

Next year I am going with netting on adustable poles covering the entire grow. I'm sick of those lil bastards.

Everyone looks real good comin around this time of year heres a few of my babies..like and comment thanks a lot
Purps!!
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WHite fire go
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I keep getting those worms every year! I used BT before, but still.

This year has been the best, tho. I increased the spraying to up to twice a week, and/or once after a heavy rain. I still had worms, but less than previous years. And since its raining so much, It washess off the dead worms and leftover bt before cuting down.

A piece of advice I would give to novel outdoors growers: If you find a single worm/caterpillar, no matter if its the size of a rice grain or a cigarette butt, or you find your best buds getting mold: just ASSUME you have more worms and spray all your plants with BT. You're never safe. Every year I think I am until the last days come and my best buds rot from their shit!

toocoolo said:

I keep getting those worms every year! I used BT before, but still.

This year has been the best, tho. I increased the spraying to up to twice a week, and/or once after a heavy rain. I still had worms, but less than previous years. And since its raining so much, It washess off the dead worms and leftover bt before cuting down.

A piece of advice I would give to novel outdoors growers: If you find a single worm/caterpillar, no matter if its the size of a rice grain or a cigarette butt, or you find your best buds getting mold: just ASSUME you have more worms and spray all your plants with BT. You're never safe. Every year I think I am until the last days come and my best buds rot from their shit!

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using BT twice a week is a good idea...i would also use pyrethrin before flowering to kill eggs. if you are growing an indica (short plant) use some mosquito netting like the one below...it will improve your harvest and keep moths from getting to the plants. word of caution though - keep the netting closed at the bottom..moths can fly low and enter from any opening. best of luck

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