Hey everybody i need some advice on a Caterpillar problem. I’m still a new bee to grow and I have had 2 indoor harvest under my belt so I decided to give it a shoot out side. I built a hoop house with raised garden bed. I planted some autos and photos in it. Well my autos were just about finishing up and I noticed a caterpillar’s On one of the Autos. I picked it off the next day I noticed that the buds were starting to look funky and looking dried and chucks of the buds were falling off. I started looking closely and then and noticed more and more caterpillar’s on them. Over the weekend they have devoured the whole damn plants. So I got rid of the outs out of the garden. I’m going to inclose both sides of the tunnel with screen but what will work best to get rid of the remaining caterpillars and prevent them from attacking the remainder of the photos
Not exactly what a home grower wants to see, a plant full of caterpillars. As long as the plants are still in veg you should be able to use a product called BT (Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki). It sounds way worse than it really is because it is a biological control for caterpillars. You spray it on a non blooming plant and if a caterpillar eats it this will paralyze the digestive track of the bug and it will stop eating and die. It is only dangerous to caterpillars, not mammals, but should never be applied to your buds, only the foliage. I use this every year on outdoor citrus trees to prevent the Giant Swallowtail caterpillars from destroying the young trees. It’s effects last a while as long as rain doesn’t wash it off the plants and there’s no systemic effects from this stuff, a good thing for weed.
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@pollinatedhi Monkey is correct on the BT. It definitely works wonders for caterpillars. You can also use a bug net around the plants. Generally the caterpillars come from moths laying eggs on the plant then caterpillars hatching directly on them. Goal is to keep the moths away and you shouldn't see any to begin with.
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One thing I also do on my young citrus is to remove the eggs left by the butterflies by hand. I know this sounds impossible and I missed many in the beginning but once I learned what I was looking for it was simple to spot. You will have to do some investigation to figure out what they look like, each species is a little different but it’s definitely the safest way to intervene. In my case I was looking for 0.5mm light tan balls on the young leaves, yours will be different size and color. Caterpillars prefer the tender young leaves so that’s a good place to look. Hand picking the bugs is always an option too.
If you can post a picture of the critters maybe I can identify the species. Knowing the enemy is a good starting point
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This is what those pictures look like to me
Chloridea virescens, commonly known as the tobacco budworm, is a moth of the family Noctuidae found throughout the eastern and southwestern United States along with parts of Central and South America
Females generally produce 300 to 500 eggs in the wild. Eggs are deposited on the blossoms, fruit, or terminal growths of host plants, you’ll want to focus on the growing tips mostly. When you discover exactly what you’re looking for the job gets easier. They are initially whitish or yellowish and turn grey as they age. With a radius of 0.5 to 0.6 millimeters, eggs are generally spherical with a flattened base where they are attached to the plant. Manual control will require daily examinations of the plant to remove and eggs and caterpillars by hand. The BT should help massively, read the label and reapply as needed.
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@mrsm I fought these a couple years ago and beat them. The plant lived but the buds ended up getting rot when a hurricane came to visit. Such is the risk of outdoor growing in my climate.
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