On average, how much % of your harvest is lost to carerpillars?

FirstCavApache64

Well-Known Member
Yes I agree spraying right after the sun is off them is the best time I have found. I have been using the cease biofungicide for botrytis and pm prevention. along with the bt.
This is my first outdoor grow and I was wondering about doing a fungicide or not since I have fans running on them all the time it's not raining on them and they aren't real dense. I don't get a lot of direct sunlight though, especially in the morning and we have really cool damp mornings in the mountains. Is the Cease you're talking about able to be used into late flower, and will it affect taste profile at all do you know? I am growing two plants with really strong orange terps in smell and taste and just don't want to risk losing or changing the flavor. I'd rather risk a small loss to bud rot if that might happen. Thanks for any advice you can give.
 

See green

Well-Known Member
This is my first outdoor grow and I was wondering about doing a fungicide or not since I have fans running on them all the time it's not raining on them and they aren't real dense. I don't get a lot of direct sunlight though, especially in the morning and we have really cool damp mornings in the mountains. Is the Cease you're talking about able to be used into late flower, and will it affect taste profile at all do you know? I am growing two plants with really strong orange terps in smell and taste and just don't want to risk losing or changing the flavor. I'd rather risk a small loss to bud rot if that might happen. Thanks for any advice you can give.
The fans are a really good idea. I've been using them for a few years they really help alot. September and October are when the buds will get very dense and problems can happen. I honestly don't spray anything on them late in flower. In about 2 or 3 more weeks I will stop. harvest around 3rd week of October. Hopefully! if all goes well :weed:. I was using serenade fungicide for the last few years it was basically the same as cease. I have never even thought about it after harvest all the bud is great. If you were even worried about it you could wash your buds after harvest. Do a search there's alot of info on it. Anyway botrytis is not always losing a few buds. before using the serenade/cease I have lost whole plants. since using it I have not.
 

FirstCavApache64

Well-Known Member
The fans are a really good idea. I've been using them for a few years they really help alot. September and October are when the buds will get very dense and problems can happen. I honestly don't spray anything on them late in flower. In about 2 or 3 more weeks I will stop. harvest around 3rd week of October. Hopefully! if all goes well :weed:. I was using serenade fungicide for the last few years it was basically the same as cease. I have never even thought about it after harvest all the bud is great. If you were even worried about it you could wash your buds after harvest. Do a search there's alot of info on it. Anyway botrytis is not always losing a few buds. before using the serenade/cease I have lost whole plants. since using it I have not.
Thanks for the reply. I have seen systemic botrytis in pictures only fortunately but I'm sure it's something I'll have to deal with at some point the longer I grow outdoors and the larger my plants get. We have just been so wet the last ten days I thought I was in the Pacific Northwest instead of the East coast. I live deep up in the woods though and the moths don't have a lot of lights around here to be drawn to so any of them nearby are drawn in like a beacon at night. Might be time to break out the ancient bug zapper from the 90s and put it about 100 yards away from the house. Draw them away and finish them off.
 
First outdoor grow this year. Found 30 or so small caterpillars one morning that weren't there the previous day. Removed them with tweezers and sprayed the plant with BT. Found 7 the next day and a ton of eggs. Knew I had to stop the moths from laying eggs so I added a mosquito net around my PVC trellis frame. Hit her with BT one more time and haven't seen a single caterpillar or egg since. Kill the current worms with BT and prevent new eggs with a mosquito net!
 

Attachments

FirstCavApache64

Well-Known Member
That's a great idea for next year, I love it. I just don't have the time, budget and planning skills honestly to come up with something to survive the wind we get where I live in time and I have to keep moving mine to chase the sun. I wanted to do a rolling scrog cart type of thing for two of them but time just didn't allow for it. I'm in week four/five of flower and so far they haven't been bad at all so I am going to just keep up with the vigilance and spray them again only if I have to. I have one bat house up on my property and a good population of bats to do battle with them every evening so maybe I might look into another bat house at the other side of the field to boost their numbers.
 

DCcan

Well-Known Member
I'm tank mixing Botanigard or LalStop with the BTk, Venerate, Regalia, instead of Cease.
Botanigard will attack pathogens as well as bugs and live on in the plant tissue, no one is applying that in flower or using it at all?
 
Last edited:

sirtalis

Well-Known Member
I'm tank mixing Botanigard or LalStop with the BTk, Venerate, Regalia, instead of Cease.
Botanigard will attack pathogens as well as bugs and live on in the plant tissue, no one is applying that in flower or using it at all?
First time I've heard of it. Looks like it's a bacteria?

My rule of thumb is I'm fine spraying bacteria on buds, they get combusted anyway. I don't really get why state testing cares if there's heavy microbial load on the buds. Maybe they're scared of consumers getting e. coli?
 

Sir Napsalot

Well-Known Member
yeah quit spraying them with pesticides when you see them.....and leave a little water out for them...they'll do the rest...rather you know it or not.....they're actually cute little insects and yes they hurt if they get ya...
Wasps need water and wood pulp to build their nests- I frequently see them gnawing on the top of my fence and drinking from our bird bath
 

DrOgkush

Well-Known Member
Why would you kill bees? And I try to keep control of my wasp populations lol. The desert. All it takes is owning pool and your set up for an army haha.
 

a2lute

Well-Known Member
Hey, first time outdoor guy here, there are KILLER moth traps that get rid of the bug issue before there are even caterpillars. the commercial product is called a DT2000 I think. I made one out of a fan, light bulb mount, a few buckets, and a UV bulb. killed so many moths in spring I don't even see them outside anywhere now. I also spray the surrounding area for bugs, but not my plants.
 
Top