dude Looks like bud rot GUESS what

i had a plant that got destroyed by squirrels, that same plant, three weeks later one of the lower branch flower had a bad rotting top leaves so i pinched the tip of the bud fresh growth and BOO i squished catipillars!!! They were living in the hollow stem. SO today i bought some intectidal soap ALL ORGAnic do youthink if i spray all the bud sites it will soak into the stem and the catipillars will die or run away or do i have to use some thing more professional?? Let me know all your thoughts HElp a brother out man. ok so they are in ground, topped at fourth node, stems like a maple tree sapling this one plnat has seven bud sites gets late morning sun to two- three o clock sun what can i do to eradicate the bugs

I'm bumping you, you've got a problem.

well have you ever encountered white clusters of gunk on the stem at all

Nope, my girls are doing alright. But, I've been seeing more and more bud rot and bud worm threads the past week or so. It's not uncommon.

larzpotatoe said:

well have you ever encountered white clusters of gunk on the stem at all

Click to expand...

Not to derail the thread, but I actually have had that problem on a plant. I knew it was bug eggs or something of the sort, but what kind of bugs are they? How bad is it and what can I do to kill them?

Well, I'm assuming bud rot can ruin your whole crop. I know you don't want to smoke moldy bud (unless we refine the molding, like we did to make cheese). As for the bugs themselves, the pix I've seen show them really buried DEEP into the buds, a fucking mess to my eyes. I seem to recall one fellow saying that he fumigated with sulfur (like they used to do in the old days), and it STILL didn't get them all! That shit is NOXIOUS, too.

So, I like going organic whenever I can, especially if it's something I'm going to eat or smoke. To that end, because of my experiences this summer, I LOVELOVELOVE tobacco tea, even better than pyrethrin.

Basic recipe (to be sprayed on all surfaces of plant and soil, not to be disposed of where it can get into waterways).

• 10 grams loose leaf tobacco (I like Bali Shag or American Spirit because I know they're organic and additive-free)
• 1 liter water
• Few drops or flakes of soap

Now, you can either use very hot water, drop in the tobacco and let it steep overnight, or you can put all in a pot and place over VERY LOW heat. You don't even want it to simmer, so if your stove can't do below a simmer, put the pot into another one or put it on the very edge of the burner. Steep like that til the tobacco loses most of its color, turns tan.

Cool that mixture, and add a few drops of non-antibacterial/antimicrobial soap, Ivory or anything that doesn't say it kills germs. This is to help the tea spread onto the leaves and all surfaces, and it also keeps it from stinking like an ashtray.

If this mixture is not strong enough, up the dosage; 12.5 grams tobacco, 15 grams, all per liter of water.

If you don't smoke ciggies, or even especially if you do, try not to get this on your skin. Don't let any pets or animals near it, especially not drink it (it may well kill them), and please heed the waterway warning. This shit is POTENT. The only thing it doesn't quite kill outright are leafminers. Fortunately, I actually don't have a whole lot of pests up here, what with all the meat bees, hornets, wasps and ants that keep everything in check. Oh, and the praying mantises, too. Lots and lots lately.

Oh yeah, and once it's made/mixed, it's not like other pesticides that you have to use up within a certain period of time (like Neem).

Best of luck!

Dude, awesome recipe. I just ran by this thread, Thanks for the information Sea Maiden

BT is good for getting rid of caterpillars and other squiggly wormy things.

It's a bacteria that infects and immobilizes their gut and causes them to starve to death.

In that sense it's organic since it's not a chemical.

What would I Google?

Google for Bacillus thuringiensis. I used to use this in my veggie garden.

You want to look for something called Safer Caterpillar Killer this product contains Bt bacteria that effectively eliminates budworms, tent caterpillars, hornworms and other leaf eating pests without harming beneficial insects. Great on trees, shrubs and vegetables. This stuff works well. But even after you spray you gotta be very aggressive going over each and every bud.....yes lot's of backbreaking work but you gotta inspect them as you need to keep plucking the catipillars off the buds.

Reasons: One it still takes some time to work on their nervous systems and for them to die. Two what you really need to worry about is the catiplliars shit it leaves behind, that is what causes mold....So you gotta cut these pieces of bud out and accept small losses.

I know it's like cutting off finger tips but it's got to be done to save the rest. I have just recently had to spray and go thru all this myself. I think I spent 12 hours one day between picking off catipillars and snipping out chunks of bud with poop in them. I have lost about 3 oz's so far and will probably lose another 3 0z by the time I'm done.

Good luck
mrgreenbudz

Thank you Quickset and Mr.greenbudz! I had tried "bt caterpillar killer" and other variations on the theme, and hadn't hit the bacillus mark.

The caterpillars are from moths, they lay eggs inside the bud and the caterpillars develop there.

As suspected, but which moths?