Chop now, or fight caterpillars?

Dr Widebody

Member
Yo, im in NY and just found a few of those fuckers on one of my plants. Decided to chop now because i didnt wanna damage my crop. Only found 4 so everythings gonna be ok. I hope they dont find my other plant tho!
 

Nostradamus

Member
Thanks for the well wishes cbtwo. I'll be updating here and/or in my journal that's linked to my signature. Cheers.

I started using BT on Monday night and i have noticed a decrease of cats. I cannot find any information on how much BT to use when putting it on.
 

llLOU

Well-Known Member
So I just figured out what's been eating my plant. Caterpillars. I picked off about 4 or 5 of them today. I read up on them already. I've posted some pics of the damage.

Will it be worth my time trying to fight them at this late stage? Or, should I just flush and chop before they have a chance to ruin more of my plant?
Looks just like my plant. I think you have some mildew there, at least that is my situation, and I have been keeping a close eye on the plant, as a branch gets a few mildew spots on it I cut it out and harvest what I can . The plant , and your plant, look like they are at least 4 weeks from being ready to harvest. Keep an eye on that mildew it can screw up your entire plant.:blsmoke:
 

pabloesqobar

Well-Known Member
Looks just like my plant. I think you have some mildew there, at least that is my situation, and I have been keeping a close eye on the plant, as a branch gets a few mildew spots on it I cut it out and harvest what I can . The plant , and your plant, look like they are at least 4 weeks from being ready to harvest. Keep an eye on that mildew it can screw up your entire plant.:blsmoke:
Thanks for the advice. I might not let this thing finish up properly, tho. It's a prop 215 grow, but because it's on my balcony it's stinking up that portion of the complex. People know now. I guess I'm trying to talk myself into chopping this thing just to reduce the stress over it. Life's too short. And, I already have a nice little Easyryder on day 30 which should be ready in about 6 or 7 weeks. It won't get nearly as big as this thing.

Whatever I decide, I will definitely examine for mold, and remove where necessary. Cheers.
 

Nostradamus

Member
I have 5 trainwrecks and 1 unknown chronic/sativa plant that sprouted from a seed that was 10 years old. They say the BT takes 2-3 days to take effect, so you should be seeing results now. I looked at your pic and i think you have been hit harder than myself. oh i am using Thuride.
 

pabloesqobar

Well-Known Member
I have 5 trainwrecks and 1 unknown chronic/sativa plant that sprouted from a seed that was 10 years old. They say the BT takes 2-3 days to take effect, so you should be seeing results now. I looked at your pic and i think you have been hit harder than myself. oh i am using Thuride.
I'm using a product called "Thuricide", probably the same stuff you have. I posted a couple of pics of it on page 1 of this thread. If I'm reading it right, it contains 15% BT. According to the directions you use 4 teaspoons per gallon of water. I use a 32 ounce sprayer (which is 1/4 of a gallon), so I just used 1 teaspoon of it.

Nost, how far along are your plants? I'm curious to find out how long into flowering folks use BT. There's not much info out there on that topic. Glad to hear your plants are not suffering quite as much as mine. Hopefully if you stay aggressive and stay on top of it you can have a full harvest with minimal loss. Cheers.
 

Nostradamus

Member
the sativa plant is about 6 weeks into flowering, is more mature and has less of a cat problem. It needs, maybe a week, i could harvest now. The 5 wreck plants are about a week behind and need at least 2 more weeks. Sativa plant has like 75% red hairs and the wreck plants only like 15%-30% red hairs.

Had a bad morning. went out a few minutes ago and found a grip of fresh moth eggs on the wreck plants and picked out 5 cats. The thuricide does not prevent new moths from coming and that sucks and to answer your question i have seen numerous posts that say you can use it right up thru harvest. However i would wait until at least 3 days after a spray to harves. It seems to me eggs are getting laid at night and i have heard of people using mosquito netting over the plants at night. Of course if moths come in the day too, this wont work.

If you don't chop, i won't chop.

We will have a chop off. Last one to chop wins.
 

pabloesqobar

Well-Known Member
If you don't chop, i won't chop.

We will have a chop off. Last one to chop wins.
Hah, does that also mean if I chop you will chop too? A solidarity kind of thing? In any event, you will probably win that one.

I brought it inside today and picked out more worms. Necessary tools are the head light thingy, and needle nose pliers. I might do it again tomorrow. Cheers.
 

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pabloesqobar

Well-Known Member
I'm trying to find out what happened with your spraying.
Hey Ugrowgirl. I only used the BT spray one time. Unfortunately, it was too late. The BT doesn't appear effective against the small baby worms hanging out in the center of a decent sized bud. I tried a couple of rounds of picking them out by hand. That gets old pretty quick, particularly when you never get rid of them.

From what I've read on here, BT can be effective if used soon enough. If it's a recurring issue, I'd think about using it as a preventative shortly after the plant starts flowering. Before they have a chance.

You can check out some photos of the harvested bud in my journal, linked through my signature. Best of luck to you.
 

Nostradamus

Member
i am drying the sativa plant now, chopped it 2 days ago. Still have the 5 wrecks that i want to let go till at least October 1. Cats have decreased but i still find them, always small which is good. The bigger they are the more they have eaten. I hit the plants one time with BT Thuricide,the same night Pablo did and i think it did help a bit. Pablo is right. Hit the plant early next year, maybe starting in August when they show sex. Do it once a week. My problem now is that it is like 101 degrees out and I have no AC and the buds are drying quicker than id like them to.
 

pabloesqobar

Well-Known Member
Hey Nost, I don't recall, but did that Sativa have worms in it? If so, did you go through the buds during the manicuring process and find more? I did, and I did. I did some more trimming and hanging this evening and found 2 live worms squirming around on the shelf below. That must have been from the fresh stuff I put in there today, which makes me think there wasn't any in the stuff I hung 2 days ago.

It's been in the '80's here in SoCal. I went to 2 stores today to find a small fan to put in my closet to blow on my buds. No fans at both stores. Came home and realized I had one of those dual window fans stashed away. It works perfect.

Good luck with your remaining plants.
 

Blue Moonshine1

Active Member
man these things suck!!! my niece always finds these little bastards in the back yard. i hope they dont get me! i use fox farms dont bug me and so far has kept every thing off, im gonna really look inside tomorrow!
 

Nostradamus

Member
i would get the fan off those buds. that makes them dry to quick, hence the hay grass smell.

yes i find worms as it's drying. i look in the closet at least every few hours or so. i only found 2-3 worms during drying of the unknown sativa and that is out of like 4-5 ounces i will get. The cats seem to like the trainwreck more and i am sure i will find more on the plants outside and as i harvest and cure them. funny thing is i had these for my rookie grow last year in a bagseed plant and found them as they were drying last year too. i am a complete idiot for forgetting about them this year. The difference this year is that i am getting them while still on the growing plant.

not sure which socal part you are from but it was 103 here today and will be 103 again tomorrow and 104 saturday they say.

Anyone know if 103 will harm the budding plants?

also bluemoonshine, i hear that is some bomb soil but these caterpillars do not come from the soil. They are coming from tiny eggs which moths leave in the mornings and night. you're lucky if you don't have them in socal. I heard a rumor the last 2 years have been horrible for moths and caterpillars in socal.
 

pabloesqobar

Well-Known Member
i would get the fan off those buds. that makes them dry to quick, hence the hay grass smell.


not sure which socal part you are from but it was 103 here today and will be 103 again tomorrow and 104 saturday they say.
I read your post last night and immediately turned off the fan. I read on this site that a fan needed to be in your drying room to circulate the air. Go figure.

I'm close to the ocean, so it's been in the 80's here. But, yeah, definitely going through a heat wave in the past several days. Best of luck with your harvest.
 
Hey guys I am really glad I found this thread. I live in SoCal too, and have a huge problem with these catapillers. Entire tops of buds have been eaten overnight to my dismay. I find myself going into the grow room and cavity searching my poor clone every 4 hours. Recently I have been finding 1-2 cats each time... They do this sneaky viet-cong thing where they take eaten plant material and combine it with some sticky spit stuff to re-build a portion of the bud to make it appear like it's never been eaten, AND THEY HIDE UNDER THOSE! I have been getting really good at spotting these hide-outs lately, and destroy them with some tweezers and eradicate the inhabitant.

I haven't used any insecticide on my plant since it started flowers. I just have some organic insecticidal soap that I occasionally use if my plants are being eaten, but my clone is so far into flowering that I'm worried to use anything on it.

I wanted to look into the idea of the marigolds. I mean, if moths really don't like marigolds, it seems like we're going to have to expand our gardening abilities into other flowers to protect the harvest haha. I'm willing to look into it and have a pot of marigolds in my grow room.
 
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