Harvesting CATERPILLARS!

pinkjackyle

Well-Known Member
nice video but when u get away from thr tourist traps you can really exp. the thai people and what average people eat and grasshoppers and the like are an important protien scource for the masses . a poor but fiercely independant and proud people . hey but we are fixing plant probs ,at least i think i am , back to werk .
 

purplehays1

Well-Known Member
i had caterpillars in an outside grow once. CHOP NOW they will spread there spit all over your buds and they will be ruined.
 

YesMamNoSir

Active Member
That is EXACTLY what the worms look like. All about the same size, two inches. They also blend so well into the buds. I put one of the plants in the dark last night and only found one caterpillar on either of the plants last night. My 3rd biggest bud on the plant has finally worn the stem down and is barely standing up and not dragging the floor. Thanks to caterpillars trying to hollow out a couple stems.

Last night I put some BT on my herb garden that was getting pestered, and I'll know how that worked in a couple days. I do know I found two dead butterflies in the yard. My daughter would not be happy if I became the murderer of butterflies.

I saved 4 of the bud worms and have them under lock and key. I gave them an assortment of basil, jasmine, oregano, sage, and mint and in two days the morphed all the leaves into little black pellets of poop. Tomorrow I will be sectioning them off and starting the trials :}
 

Stickystickyganja

Well-Known Member
That is EXACTLY what the worms look like. All about the same size, two inches. They also blend so well into the buds. I put one of the plants in the dark last night and only found one caterpillar on either of the plants last night. My 3rd biggest bud on the plant has finally worn the stem down and is barely standing up and not dragging the floor. Thanks to caterpillars trying to hollow out a couple stems.

Last night I put some BT on my herb garden that was getting pestered, and I'll know how that worked in a couple days. I do know I found two dead butterflies in the yard. My daughter would not be happy if I became the murderer of butterflies.

I saved 4 of the bud worms and have them under lock and key. I gave them an assortment of basil, jasmine, oregano, sage, and mint and in two days the morphed all the leaves into little black pellets of poop. Tomorrow I will be sectioning them off and starting the trials :}
Haha nice, I want to know how your crazy 1940's Russian style of "testing" goes. Fuck man all I can fear for now is my crop being hit by these evil little things. I have been getting into outdoor grows more now and its just a whole new world from indoors. Bugs, Animals and theives...and a whole lot more fun stuff ;)
 

Dr.Pecker

Well-Known Member
That is EXACTLY what the worms look like. All about the same size, two inches. They also blend so well into the buds. I put one of the plants in the dark last night and only found one caterpillar on either of the plants last night. My 3rd biggest bud on the plant has finally worn the stem down and is barely standing up and not dragging the floor. Thanks to caterpillars trying to hollow out a couple stems.

Last night I put some BT on my herb garden that was getting pestered, and I'll know how that worked in a couple days. I do know I found two dead butterflies in the yard. My daughter would not be happy if I became the murderer of butterflies.

I saved 4 of the bud worms and have them under lock and key. I gave them an assortment of basil, jasmine, oregano, sage, and mint and in two days the morphed all the leaves into little black pellets of poop. Tomorrow I will be sectioning them off and starting the trials :}
That sounds good. if you could find out a safe way to kill the budworms and not mess up your bud the info could be useful to someone else later.keep us posted.
 

YesMamNoSir

Active Member
Well I'm back with some results. The fact that it took so long shows that some of my harvest was successful. When I brought in the two plants that were bug ravaged I only found one more caterpillar beyond the original scare that brought in a dozen bugs. I thankfully saved them in little containers with some tomato leafs in them. A few days later my garden in the front yard was totally devastated by slugs snails and caterpillars. So I had a lot of chances to test products.

First Test........Neem Oil alone did nothing, but make the bugs smell like Neem Oil. It did help with some little mold spots on a couple roses and other flowers though.

Second Test......Pyrethrin did work on caterpillars and other critters but you had to really dowse them in it which may have affected big buds ready to be harvested.

Third Test....Dipel Dust. This one I was really hoping would work because I thought it fit in well with organic gardening. I covered the leaves in the cage with the budworms in it aggressively. The budworms ate all of the leaves with the dipel dust and continued eating them for two days before they rolled over and admitted defeat. This would not be good in a real world scenario because if your garden was plagued by these critters after application they could still torment you for days before you see any effect.

Fourth Test....Sluggo. Sluggo was only used on my outside flower garden and it worked marvelously and even made my passion flower swell up with blooms after a week of application because of the iron and phosphorus in the Sluggo. Will use every couple weeks on flower garden. Will not use on veggies or edibles it has been stated that the Iron they use in sluggo is an EDTA and not listed because it is an inactive ingredient. This may be false but just in case I'll keep using it on the pretty inedible flowers.

5th Test....Diatemaceous Earth/Bentonite Clay. This worked very well as ground cover and to sprinkle around area and in hiding spots would not coat the plant with it though.


RESULTS......After endless research what I've ended up doing with my now vegging plants and as well with my outside garden is this....Take 1.5 TBSP of Neem oil. 1/2 TBSP Pyrethrin. Put these in a shot glass and mix with eye dropper. Then Take 1/2 tsp of DynaGro Protekt (or any potassium silicate) and add to shot glass and suck it back in forth using the eye drop this will emulsify the neem and will change it to a milky color. Mix with a Gallon of H20. Apply this to the plants RELIGIOUSLY till they are dripping wet....top/bottom of leaves, stems and around base of plant. And then take the DE/Bentonite and spread around the garden perimeter and any shady spots that bugs would like to hang out in. ( While cleaning out my flowering room There was a little pile of leaves that I had collecting in the corner and I found several worms and spittlebugs hiding, so keep room clean of debris and take away any cool shady hiding spots for these bugs!)
PLEASE if anyone else has anything to add to this do so. I got really lucky this time and caught it early but if it would have happened a month earlier when I was out of town and not staring at fully developed buds everyday the conclusion would have been different.
 

Dr.Pecker

Well-Known Member
Well I'm back with some results. The fact that it took so long shows that some of my harvest was successful. When I brought in the two plants that were bug ravaged I only found one more caterpillar beyond the original scare that brought in a dozen bugs. I thankfully saved them in little containers with some tomato leafs in them. A few days later my garden in the front yard was totally devastated by slugs snails and caterpillars. So I had a lot of chances to test products.

First Test........Neem Oil alone did nothing, but make the bugs smell like Neem Oil. It did help with some little mold spots on a couple roses and other flowers though.

Second Test......Pyrethrin did work on caterpillars and other critters but you had to really dowse them in it which may have affected big buds ready to be harvested.

Third Test....Dipel Dust. This one I was really hoping would work because I thought it fit in well with organic gardening. I covered the leaves in the cage with the budworms in it aggressively. The budworms ate all of the leaves with the dipel dust and continued eating them for two days before they rolled over and admitted defeat. This would not be good in a real world scenario because if your garden was plagued by these critters after application they could still torment you for days before you see any effect.

Fourth Test....Sluggo. Sluggo was only used on my outside flower garden and it worked marvelously and even made my passion flower swell up with blooms after a week of application because of the iron and phosphorus in the Sluggo. Will use every couple weeks on flower garden. Will not use on veggies or edibles it has been stated that the Iron they use in sluggo is an EDTA and not listed because it is an inactive ingredient. This may be false but just in case I'll keep using it on the pretty inedible flowers.

5th Test....Diatemaceous Earth/Bentonite Clay. This worked very well as ground cover and to sprinkle around area and in hiding spots would not coat the plant with it though.


RESULTS......After endless research what I've ended up doing with my now vegging plants and as well with my outside garden is this....Take 1.5 TBSP of Neem oil. 1/2 TBSP Pyrethrin. Put these in a shot glass and mix with eye dropper. Then Take 1/2 tsp of DynaGro Protekt (or any potassium silicate) and add to shot glass and suck it back in forth using the eye drop this will emulsify the neem and will change it to a milky color. Mix with a Gallon of H20. Apply this to the plants RELIGIOUSLY till they are dripping wet....top/bottom of leaves, stems and around base of plant. And then take the DE/Bentonite and spread around the garden perimeter and any shady spots that bugs would like to hang out in. ( While cleaning out my flowering room There was a little pile of leaves that I had collecting in the corner and I found several worms and spittlebugs hiding, so keep room clean of debris and take away any cool shady hiding spots for these bugs!)
PLEASE if anyone else has anything to add to this do so. I got really lucky this time and caught it early but if it would have happened a month earlier when I was out of town and not staring at fully developed buds everyday the conclusion would have been different.
slugs like beer poor some in a bowl and dig a little hole and set the bowl in it so the slugs can crawl into it easily it will blow you away they drink the beer and fall in and drown.its my favorite treatment for slugs because i get to drink some beer.
 

YesMamNoSir

Active Member
I know it sounds shitty......but I am allergic to most beers. I do not like to mess with them too much. I had my fiance do the beer in the bowl trick out front and it did work for a couple days. It trapped a few slugs, I don't think it made a dent in the population though. It is fun to think that they're drowning in beer and dying happy and drunk.

What I have come to report though is ESSENTIAL OILS! Using the sluggo, dipel dust, pyrethrin and neem meal I have ridden the garden of most unwanted pests. I noticed another plant a few days starting to get ate at again and i used an essential oil mix that i made myself and haven't seen anymore chomps missing in my garden. It has also ridden the compost right by the garden of all flies!! I also had a rain bucket that was continuously getting flooded these past couple weeks and going stagnant and breeding mosquitoes. Since I have used my aromatherapy oils I have not had a single bug bite in my garden. To be honest I am pretty fucking blown away about the efficiency of their use. I mixed Tobacco, lemongrass, peppermint, lavender, eucalyptus sprayed down the perimeter and I have these bricks and logs I used to make a barrier I dowsed them with the spray, and ever since no pests. I also put this mix in a candle and left it burning around some of the ravaged plants.
 

dante76

Active Member
The best defense for budworms is SPINOSAD...this stuff works. I swear by it. In order to get the best results from it, you'd have to spray your plants 2 -3 times per week during each week of flowering. Spinosad is most effective at killing larvae and the small hatchlings that emerge from eggs laid by moths/butterflies. BT only kills adult catepilliars.

If you spray the flowers with spinosad as directed ( 2 - 3x per week) you'll be killing any new eggs laid during flowering; as a result there will never reach the adult stage. At first I was worried about spraying this stuff directly on the flowers but didn't have any problems. Its totally organic and if you're worried still, use MightyWash before or after harvest to clean your bud.

My last harvest, i lost 75% of my bud to catepillars; my new harvest....0%; no catepilliars; no damage to any buds!!! Just don't go too long between spraying becuase moths lay eggs constantly.
 

YesMamNoSir

Active Member
Thank you very much, I have not tried spinosad yet, and I am close to another 12/12 switch and see moths hovering the halide.

The caterpillars turned out to be bud worms. With weekly treatments of protekt and neem/pyrethrum bugs have not been an issue but they are hovering. I also caught a bunch of lizards in my vegetable garden and set them loose in the grow shed, been watching them eat moths like crazy. Nothing makes me happier than to see a gecko perched on my white widow.

In the outdoor veggie garden I've been using BT every two weeks on my basils, oregano, sunflowers, okra, egg plants, and cucumbers. No problems with this crop as of yet. i also found a sample of probiotics with for baby chicks that is nothing but bacillus subtillus, mix it with 5 gallons every week with fish fert and molasses and wallah, let em eat their way out!!@!@#

I am also really interested in sprinkling diatemaceous earth around the base and stalk have yet to try that.....or hear success/failure stories.
 

YesMamNoSir

Active Member
haha it's burt reynolds in all his glory. Kind of an inside joke. Instead of 420 my friends, fiance and I celebrate "BURT REYNOLDS DAY" and make edibles and hash cigarettes and ride horses all day long.
 

tyson53

Well-Known Member
BT is the best defense for caters...I had bud worms bad last year..sprayed some BT and problem solved...also had cabbage worms in garden and BT knocked them down fast...just spray once a week for 3 weeks in flower when you first see the caters...BT is tasteless after a day or two so wont foul the buds....its just a bacteria not a chemical....has a week life span
 
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