Harvest a bit early or continue fighting the budworms?

My plants are at 43 days flowering grown from seed outdoor on a balcony-photos from 2days ago (the three in the rear). The strain is unknown but seems to be some type of purple indica? but not sure. I am having problems with budworms and or green caterpillars and they have done quite a bit of damage. The trichomes look mostly clear to milky with very few amber. I am unsure if I should harvest early due to the budworms or just keep picking them for another few weeks and take my chances as to what is left of my buds. I understand its too late to begin a BT regimen and the safer soap I used was too late in the flowering cycle, but did kill a few worms. I haven't done a grow in 20yrs, so I am basically a newbie again. Any help would be appreciated.

I am having worm problems as well. I am going to tough it out. I check them everyday, if I see a couple wilted leaves I know the culprit is there. I pick him out and remove the damaged area. A couple has filled back in where I had to remove the damaged bud. Didn't see any today so hopefully the 7 I found was it.

Thanks man, I have been doing that daily inspection thing with tweezers and it seems I find worms everyday. Do you use BT? Or go completely without? I understand BT is not helpful unless started at early flower and continued every 2-3wks. Next time if outdoors again I will def use BT. I am going to tough it out for 1-2 more weeks and then harvest, thanks for the reassurance.

At about 6 weeks of flower I used Captain Jack's spinosad and it worked really well, then about a week and a half later the bud worms were back. I have since harvested at 7.5 weeks into flower. I had mostly milky/amber trichs so I just went ahead and chopped. It tastes fine, and I haven't died, lol.

You can use spinosad right up to harvest. I discovered bud worms about 8 weeks into flowering and got some. I seperate the buds and spray inside them every 3 days. Now in week 11, and doing that seems to keep the buds from any more damage. I do see eggs every day and pick them off, but repeat spraying is needed cause I'm not gonna find them all.

Thanks obijohn and kpro,
I may go get some spinosad today since I prob have a few weeks to go. Kpro says tastes fine and he hasn't died lol. Have you used spinosad before also obijohn? My only concern is the taste at this point. I have also read about BT but understand I am too late for that.

I haven't used it before. I top bud broke off a week ago same day i sprayed. tastes fine. I'm told spinosad deteriorates/breaks down within several days, so then it's all gone

those caterpillars are not the same that i got, the ones i got are tiny green and destroy your buds very fast. those almost look harmless besides munching a few holes in the leaves. i dont see any bud damage to ur plant. u could let it go for another 1-2 weeks or harvest now, cause it looks ready anyways.

Thanks carokann, I might have two diff types of caterpillars. The photo is in the bottom of a coffee cup. But the small ones are about 1/4-1/2inch and inside chowing the buds, they seem to be a bit darker. The green ones are found on the underside of the leaves munching down. They have done some serious damage not shown in the photos, but I would really rather harvest than spray if they are close enough. Thanks for the advice

those are ready for harvest, the pistils have completely receded into the calyxes.(hairs into the pods)

Thx for posting such great pics, Amber!

And your plants truely have some beautiful buds!

Keep fighting those worms, as long as they aren't rotting or the worms aren't being too destructive. You may want to try to go for manual removal rather than insecticide/wormicides n whatnot, or it can seriously effect aroma/smoke/flavor at this pt. Up to you tho. Depends how bad they are and if they are spreading/laying eggs all over. If that is the case, you may want to consider harvesting the problem nugs and putting them in a seperate area from the other nugs when they are eventually cut & hung for drying.

Thanks Mazar,
I appreciate hearing that after all the time spent caring for my plants. It sounds like people are saying good things about spinosad, but I decided last night to continue fighting the worms by hand without insecticides since harvest is so close. I have kept their damage down to a point that its not too bad, but will prob lose about 10-20% in all. The local hyrdo store recommended the same, they mentioned the buds can easily rot out if sprayed at this point. Check the new amber trichomes showing

yes those picture of your plant actually look like flowers. Beautiful. And ready!

I've been having problems with those green worms also was woundering if I was close enough to harvest it or just keep taking worms out and damaged areas plant name unknown

SACReDHeRB said:

yes those picture of your plant actually look like flowers. Beautiful. And ready!

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You thik mine are ready

Ambertrichyet said:

Thanks man, I have been doing that daily inspection thing with tweezers and it seems I find worms everyday. Do you use BT? Or go completely without? I understand BT is not helpful unless started at early flower and continued every 2-3wks. Next time if outdoors again I will def use BT. I am going to tough it out for 1-2 more weeks and then harvest, thanks for the reassurance.

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It's very helpful I was 5 weeks into flower had tons of catapillars I sprayed 2 days in a row and they were all dead saved my crop