Branches died one at a time

I found budworms on a plant I had outside that I finished indoors. I picked them off then defoliated and put them under 12/12. Over the next 10 weeks branches would die off one at a time.

I noticed that they were drying out at the stem and I could see it turning from green to light brown then the foliage would wither.

I dunno what it was, but I had only one branch that made it to 10 weeks (Bubba's Gift). Expensive bugs because they wasted a lot of time of the growroom but if I ration I should be able to hold out until outdoor finishes.

My questions:

1. What bugs were they.

2. Can I reuse the soil (I soaked it through with h202 water) or should I ditch it into my veggie garden? I don't want whatever those things are to contaminate but I also am all about sustainability. The crisis!

stem rot. i had some this year with my outdoor grow too

was it like this?

I wouldnt use any soil that had been used outdoors in my indoor garden. Just asking for bug problems.
Check for borers in the stems. I had some last year outdoors that didnt make it. Stems just fell over and broke one at a time.

go go kid said:

was it like this? View attachment 4712569

Click to expand...

Not like this. It was like further up each branch.

Boatguy said:

I wouldnt use any soil that had been used outdoors in my indoor garden. Just asking for bug problems.
Check for borers in the stems. I had some last year outdoors that didnt make it. Stems just fell over and broke one at a time.

Click to expand...

Sorry to hear. It might have been the same thing but I haven't seen any more of this outdoors here.

out door soil might carry bugs and spores from outside,let the veggies have it and start with fresh soil for your indoor grow.

go go kid said:

out door soil might carry bugs and spores from outside,let the veggies have it and start with fresh soil for your indoor grow.

Click to expand...

Yea I'll follow your advices there. Thanks. Will also read up on the borers. Never had them before in 20 years of growing.

id herd of them, but never known a grower tohave them, but thats the problem with many strains theese days, the seed they come from has never been exposed to the elements and therefore the need to have natural plant imunity bread into them isn't nessesary.

go go kid said:

id herd of them, but never known a grower tohave them, but thats the problem with many strains theese days, the seed they come from has never been exposed to the elements and therefore the need to have natural plant imunity bread into them isn't nessesary.

Click to expand...

Was the first time i ever had them, and hopefully the last.
They had an entryway at the base of the plant, and little holes at the nodes. Some had what appeared to be sawdust coming out of the holes. The stems were full of them top to bottom.

Boatguy said:

Was the first time i ever had them, and hopefully the last.
They had an entryway at the base of the plant, and little holes at the nodes. Some had what appeared to be sawdust coming out of the holes. The stems were full of them top to bottom.

Click to expand...

The weird thing is I didn't see anything so still wondering wtf. If you saw alot but I didn't could be something else. Also no "sawdust" visible.