Originally Posted by CrazyChester

I went out this morning and after 3 doses of BT I still had worms. So I decided to start taking the plant down. As I started manicuring the buds I learned a little about Bud Worms. They seem to hatch and grow from the inside of the bud and then eat and crap their way out. Sometimes they take a round about way out to the surface and sometime they come straight to the surface. I had one work its way half way up to the top of a nice cola.
To me it stands to reason that the moth comes in and lays its eggs on the buds, then the plant grows the bud around the eggs, then after the bud has developed the worms hatch. This makes it real important that you start spraying early because its hard to get the BT deep enough into the bud to kill the worms when they first hatch. You can spray late and still kill the worms that are already on the surface and you should, but the damage has already been done once you see the worms on the surface.

Conclusion: Follow fdd's advice and start spraying early and spray often. I think that if you did this you could use lighter concentrations of BT.

Fortunately I've had a lot of worms that made for the surface right away. So I've only lost about 8 buds, which were all at the top of the plant. The lower limbs have little to no damage so far. I'm glad that I cut it. Two more weeks and I would have probably lost half of the plant. And when you're only growing two plants that's a lot of loss.

I would have taken pictures today but my hands were so stickey that I didn't want to pick up my camera.

I do have some Pics of the plant just before I started chopping it. The first four pics are of the infested plan and the rest are from the other plant that needs at least another three weeks but seems bug free so far. I'm sure bummed that I had to cut her down early. But its better than giving half of it to the bugs.

Originally Posted by potroast

For budworms, you should spray your plants every 3 weeks with BT, a beneficial bacteria, throughout their veg state, and the first half of flowering. That will keep the worms from growing on your plants. And that way, you don't have to spray your ripening buds.

BT will affect the taste of your bud if used too late in the season. It's just fine to wash your plants before harvest. Even my indoor plants are sometimes taken outside on harvest day and sprayed down well with a fine spray, and then dried for a couple of hours and harvested.

HTH

Originally Posted by CrazyChester

Chowing down on your buds at this very moment. At least their chowing down on mine. I hit them with some with some BT this evening.

I have a question or two for those who have used BT in the past. Does it effect the quality of the weed. (Taste, Buzz....) And is it really safe for smoking. How long do you have to wait after spraying before you harvest. I've been using BT on my garden for decades without any problems but I always wash the food I grow before I eat it. But I'd have to be crazy to wash my weed before smoking it. Though I could give it a little spray down a few days before harvest. Any suggestions?

Here's some pics of my two plants progress. You can see the damage done to one of the buds and one of our crawly little pests.

If anyone has any idea of the strains I'm growing I'd sure like to know.