Questions Need help(out door grow)

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.

@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.  

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

Love your set up.

@monkeydo

I read that parasitic wasps & praying mantises can help ( If memory serves, I think on Royal Seeds website).

Other than what I read, I don't know how practical that is !

I picked this up and now I just 🤞and hope it works until I can enclose the whole hoop house. While I was spraying this guy flew off from under one of the leaves. Thanks for the help. Much appreciated 

Man. How unlucky 😵 

Got my fingers crossed for you too 🤞 hope it works, keep us updated 😬 

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.

@monkeydo you are next level 💚

@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.