I went out to check the girls this morning and noticed a branch on one of the plants had what looked to be bud rot. Well I began to pull the rot away and found a little worm(clearish white black head). I decided to cut the branch off removing all the buds with bits of rot in them and when I got home started to pull some of the larger buds apart to find 6 or so more of the little fuckers, one which had actually burrowed in to the stem of the branch and was chillin inside. Anyways I ran out and bought captain jacks bugspray (spinosad) and went back to spray the girls down and prevent any further damage to my crop. My question is am I going to regret spraying the plants? They are approx. 2-3 weeks from harvest and I just couldn't stop thinking that these worms were going to destroy my beautiful plants. The bottle says its organic and can be used on fruits and flowers up until harvest.
Spraying for budworms during budding?
- Thread starter kevmac2k
- Start date
indcolts77
Active Member
I used the same exact spray about 3 days ago and im about 10-14 days from harvest.... i would wait 7 days before harvest at least...if you got 2-3 weeks left get one more spray in and kill the fuckers...it works great on the worms
Thanks man I really hope this stuff stops them in their tracks I dont want to see them spread throughout my plants. I always worry about rippers this time of year and now I have to worry about worms on top of it.
Vindicated
Well-Known Member
Most caterpillars feed at night. Some like to sleep in the soil during the day and crawl up to feed at night, while others camp out and never leave their hiding spots. They are pretty good at getting deep into the plant, so spraying doesn't usually help. Plus they are pretty resistant to most insecticides. Moths can travel really far so even if you kill one family, another can move in the very next day. Some years you might be lucky and not notice any then on other years you just can't stop picking them off. Same goes for grass hoppers. You just deal with them as best you can.
What I like to do is shake the hell out of the plants at night and early in the morning. I also use a hose with a fancy spray nozzle (it's really not that fancy, you probably have one too) and I set it to Jet Spray or Fan. I blast my plants from different angles for a couple of minutes and really focus under the leaves and the buds. If I know a branch has several caterpillars I'll spray soapy water and pick off as many as I can by hand. If it's really bad, I'd just cut that section off.
If your area has such a bad problem that your at risk of losing a significant portion of your crop, then you should invest in screens, until you can get a handle on the pest problem. I've never had to go that far and my property looks like a wild untamed field. It also helps to grow big plants. Big healthy plants can weather just about anything.
What I like to do is shake the hell out of the plants at night and early in the morning. I also use a hose with a fancy spray nozzle (it's really not that fancy, you probably have one too) and I set it to Jet Spray or Fan. I blast my plants from different angles for a couple of minutes and really focus under the leaves and the buds. If I know a branch has several caterpillars I'll spray soapy water and pick off as many as I can by hand. If it's really bad, I'd just cut that section off.
If your area has such a bad problem that your at risk of losing a significant portion of your crop, then you should invest in screens, until you can get a handle on the pest problem. I've never had to go that far and my property looks like a wild untamed field. It also helps to grow big plants. Big healthy plants can weather just about anything.