Bud Worms! When to know to give up or keep fighting!?!

Hello you guys, i have an alcapulco gold x GDP at 8 weeks of flowering an a platinum girl scout cookies at 7 weeks of flowering. They Gold GDP is starting to get nugged up, not so much the girl scout. I noticed budworms a couple days ago an have been fighting them, this morning i went out an one of the top cola's had been wrecked. Should i keep fighting them by searching up an down the buds every hour or pull it! Will upload pics

That sucks just found some on my little plant that are around 3 weeks They basically top my plant but I have been spaying them with bt I hope mine make it.

if you have the time and patience to fight them i would. but if not, then chop. its all up to you/

I started out using Monterey with spinosad when I first noticed the budworms and I got some Safers Cat. killer B.T. Both seemed fairly effective, kept the problem down to a minimum. Didn't spray about 2 to 2 1/2 weeks before harvest, so right around harvest they started showing up again. Both products are said to be safe up til the day of harvest but i dont want to take a chance, fiqured about 2 1/2 weeks would be safer. And i would have rinsed mynplants before harvesting but we got some good rain, so no need. Luckily they didn't do too much damage. I'm in a windy area and I think that might have kept some of moths away. It seems like everyone uncovered outdoors deals with budworms. I hate them things.

Keep fighting! I use tweezers and a pen razor. Question to anyone who uses monterray...My Connie Chung's are about two to three weeks out from harvest. I'm getting bud worms again and its been weeks since I sprayed last. Can I spray one more time with harvest only a few weeks away or is that cutting it too close? Thanks and sorry SleepyD for cutting in on your thread

Oops, I just read BWG707's post after posting. Looks like I should be good to go with the spinosad Good luck with the rest of your grow and harvest!

You'll never get rid of them b y hand. As said above, use spinosad or BT once a week and it'll keep them from ruining your crop. And you can use right up to harvest....although I wouldnt spray any within a few days of harvest

But I'm literally two weeks from harvesting an there coming in full force, lost a big cola just over night, I don't wanna lose my whole crop to these things thx for all the advise you guys! I was talking to the local hydro store an they said by the time I spray from them an it affects them it'll be harvest time, he said not to spray since the buds are formed

use bt. use bt. use bt. also, post in the top thread, why make your own? You special, bro?

good luck finding bt locally. budworm is huge in the central valley of california and there is no bt to be found. I have scoured my city. order it online. and next season order it in gangbusters. hopefully you'll be lucky and can find some. if you can't find any and you have to order it online I know what can get you by. chop up 6 jalepenos, 6 serrano peppers, 4-5 thai peppers, 1 entire head of garlic cloves, 1 whole onion and add to 1/2 cup crushed red pepper, 1/4 cup cayenne pepper. cover with water, bring to a boil and simmer until all the peppers are soft. strain through a fine mesh strainer. allow to cool. when it's all cool add an entire bottle of 3% peroxide. douse all your buds in it. it does work but you have to be careful to dry your plants and make sure you don't get too much moisture. trust me nothing lives through that. I have been using that recipe along with giving my plant foliar spray of 1/2 tablespoon baking soda to 32 ounces of water. it kills the worms and stops the fungus caused from the worm poop. good luck. hopefully you find BT.

Order this stuff through Amazon or ehydro, for goodness sakes. 2 day delivery. I hear where others are coming from, regarding not spraying too close to harvest. But to me it's damned if you do, damned if you don't. As mentioned, tweezers are fine, but they won't stop the problem. So I am about 2 weeks away from chopping and I am still using Safer and Monterey. I lost too many buds to stop prevention now. If you're worried, as mentioned, use 3% hydrogen peroxide (1/4 cup per gallon) and wash your buds before drying (this will also remove any PM...lol)
Krispies....check the PGSC closely. Them lil shits just love GSC's I lost 8 big colas, on my PGSC alone, cuz I got a clue too friggin' late...lol Shame on me! Bud worms is something that happens to others, right? My smaller GSC faired only a little better. They definitely go for the big buds and they like some strains more than others. I have 2 Humboldt Snow plants (purty pink pistils) and only lost 1 bud (out of maybe 40) between them. Whereas the GSC's lost probably a third of their large buds....wahhhhhh It's all good, gonna still have a nice harvest and learned a ton And I loves ta learn

Good luck to all you CA growers!

R2T

That is strange, budworms attacked my TNT Kush and my Cherry pie but barely touched my Girl Scout Cookies. They do seem to go after your best and densest buds- little fu-kers!

Never give up ! That's part of outdoor growing, " Bud worms and never give up " Next year be prepared with BT or Spinosad and start spraying right when flowering starts. Caterpillar killer is hard to find this time of year. Safer Brand Caterpillar works too if you can find it . Even with spraying you will still have some worm damage, just part of the game.

Finding BT is out of the question, went to every hydro shop an they didnt have shit other than the granuler stuff that takes a week or two to kill them. Been out at my girls 2-3 Times a day searching the buds. Finding the pesky works in fours it seems like ha!

Rold2Tight said:

Krispies....check the PGSC closely. Them lil shits just love GSC's I lost 8 big colas, on my PGSC alone, cuz I got a clue too friggin' late...lol Shame on me! Bud worms is something that happens to others, right? My smaller GSC faired only a little better. They definitely go for the big buds and they like some strains more than others. I have 2 Humboldt Snow plants (purty pink pistils) and only lost 1 bud (out of maybe 40) between them. Whereas the GSC's lost probably

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You'll have to forgive my ignorance but you lost me on pgsc and gsc's.

They do seem to go after your best and densest buds- little fu-kers!

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that's because moths and butterflies that fly around your garden are laying eggs on your newly formed flowers. Those eggs become encased in the warm sticky gooeyness that is the inside of your bud. after a time the eggs hatch and the worms eat and poop their way out of the top of your buds to get some sunlight. other times they stay snuggled up inside your bud. eating your high. if you were a caterpillar wouldn't you wanna be where it's warm and sticky?

Never give up ! That's part of outdoor growing, " Bud worms and never give up " Next year be prepared with BT or Spinosad and start spraying right when flowering starts. Caterpillar killer is hard to find this time of year. Safer Brand Caterpillar works too if you can find it . Even with spraying you will still have some worm damage, just part of the game.

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oh I have a plan. we are building a greenhouse. I'm gonna regularly use peroxide, baking soda, vinegar and bt in my garden from start to finish. let me catch just one mother effin bug of any kind and I'm am gonna go so apeshit bugs from every goddamn inch of california will run in fear of me. I will show up to my next growing season (whenever that may be) armed!

PGSC=Platinum Girl Scout Cookies GSC = Girl Scout Cookies I thought I saw that you were growing Platinum Girl Scout Cookies? Sorry for the confusion, mus' be my meds

R2T

oh I have a plan. we are building a greenhouse. I'm gonna regularly use peroxide, baking soda, vinegar and bt in my garden from start to finish. let me catch just one mother effin bug of any kind and I'm am gonna go so apeshit bugs from every goddamn inch of california will run in fear of me. I will show up to my next growing season (whenever that may be) armed![/QUOTE]

that's damn funny!!!! GL

Rold2Tight said:

PGSC=Platinum Girl Scout Cookies GSC = Girl Scout Cookies I thought I saw that you were growing Platinum Girl Scout Cookies? Sorry for the confusion, mus' be my meds

R2T

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no but I will damn well eat your Girl Scout Cookies!

Best thing I ever did was grow tomato patch next to my spot, instead of them coming to my babies they went for the tomatoe, they can eat the tomatoes all they want. Lol

The tomatoes leafs