Got my first pests today. I've been growing outdoors on a small scale for about a year now, and have had two crops and just moved a third group of plants from their seedling box to my outdoor garden area. I chopped my last outdoor plant from my prior harvest today. I had last inspected it about 4 days ago and it looked like it could go another several weeks, but when watering it today it looked ready to chop big time. I didn't bother with the magnifier, it really looked like it needed to come down no matter what the trichomes said. That's when I noticed a caterpillar. I flicked it off and looked around and couldn't see any more. Then I chopped it, brought it inside, and started trimming. It seemed brittle. It was super huge and dense nugs but they would just flake away with less than delicate handling, I've never seen wet buds do that. And then as I was trimming I found three more worms. No pics, they freaked me out and I chopped them in half with my Fiskars and dumped them in my bowl of trim and leaves. Bugs freak me out 
. So now I'm wondering how I keep them from coming back on my young plants?
I grow outdoors in 45 gallon pots over a large gravel area. It's hot desert climate, decent amount of sunlight although there is a patio that provides early shade. Soil is all Fox Farm, nutes have all been Blue Planet Nutrients, with some off brand root stimulator (I couldn't find Advanced Nutrients or Canna, and needed to buy some that day) and a little molasses. I do have a veggie garden on the other side of the yard quite a ways off and it had a pest problem several months ago, larger caterpillars that almost ate my entire tomato and pepper plants overnight. I have since used a pesticide I bought from Lowes and it's been working perfectly over there, but not sure what to use on my weed now. The five I have outside are early in veg.
. So now I'm wondering how I keep them from coming back on my young plants?I grow outdoors in 45 gallon pots over a large gravel area. It's hot desert climate, decent amount of sunlight although there is a patio that provides early shade. Soil is all Fox Farm, nutes have all been Blue Planet Nutrients, with some off brand root stimulator (I couldn't find Advanced Nutrients or Canna, and needed to buy some that day) and a little molasses. I do have a veggie garden on the other side of the yard quite a ways off and it had a pest problem several months ago, larger caterpillars that almost ate my entire tomato and pepper plants overnight. I have since used a pesticide I bought from Lowes and it's been working perfectly over there, but not sure what to use on my weed now. The five I have outside are early in veg.