What Can You Do For Caterpillars In Late Flower?

Discussion in 'Growing Marijuana Outdoors' started by StaffOfPower, Sep 24, 2014.

  1. I've been finding caterpillars on my plants the last couple days, despite trying my best to remove all the caterpillar eggs before they hatched. I can't see any damage that they've done yet or anything, but I have found 3 so far, various sizes. So I know it's only a matter of time.

    What should I do? It's way too late to spray neem oil. At least I think it is. My plant only has about a month left.

    I've been finding praying mantis around and putting them on the plants, but they seem to just leave without doing much. I don't know what else to do. I'd really rather not harvest this early, though.
     
  2. You're right. Don't spray neem. Get some BT or Spinosad. BT is specially made to kill caterpillars and is safe for EVERYTHING else. Spinosad will kill a wider range of bugs. Both are made from naturally occurring bacteria that is totally safe to people and pets. Fully organic. I use them both.
     
  3. Also, pick through the buds with some tweezers and pluck out and worms you can find. If you are seeing them, chances are there are lots more hiding in the buds. Look for anywhere with damaged or dying leaves, chomped off pistils, and/or brown dry spots in the bud. Those are signs of caterpillar damage.
     
  4. I would inspect my buds daily and remove the worms by hand and then smoke the eggs. I have smoked mold and spider mites too.
     
  5. Find spiders mate and put them in your girls as many as you can it keeps all sorts of insects away


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  6. Buy some type of bug repellant. Your main concern is fungous flies thats the last insects you want. Its not a big deal, check your plant everyday and you should be fine

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  7. You must not have dealt with very many pests. Out of all the pests out there, fungus flies are about as harmless as they come. Just top your soil with sand or let the soil dry out more before waterings and they're gone.

    Caterpillars on the other hand can devastate entire crops. They eat the buds from the inside out, chew threw stems and kill entire buds, and shit in the buds causing mold in what they don't eat. Besides mites, caterpillars are about the worse thing you can get.
     
  8. I am right as well :) they lay eggs in the soil

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  9. Thanks for the advice everyone, I picked up some Safer brand Caterpillar Killer. It's BT, so I'm going to spray all my plants first thing in the morning. I picked a total of four caterpillars off the "problem plant" today (it's been somewhat contained to one so far), the most I've ever found in one day. So hopefully this will take care of the problems.
     
  10. #10 carlsbarn, Sep 26, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 26, 2014
    Spray em down in the evening...BT breaks down in sunlight.
     
  11. That won't cause my buds to get moldy??
     
  12. I sprayed my plants at like 4 or 5 this afternoon. It was semi-cloudy so I figured the couple hours of filtered daylight wouldn't break it down too bad. It also gave it some time to dry out before night time combined with the wind.

    I'll probably spray again tomorrow (I'm going for spraying every other day for like a week.) gotta make sure and wipe these little fuckers out.
     
  13. #13 mjmama25, Sep 27, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 27, 2014
    The only time I've seen Spraying BT cause mold is where the caterpillars already did damage and the moisture combined with the caterpillar shit caused mold, but that mold probably would have happened anyway.

    Bottom line, the caterpillars are a way worse threat of mold than the spraying is. Spray away. Any I agree to spray at night. Although it's good to spray the entire property besides the plants in the day time to make sure you blast any white butterflies before they get to your plants. Prevention is key. The more you spray the rest of your property the less you will have to spray the buds.
     

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