thanks so much I apply neem once or twice a week but those things jump off when they get sprayed and then come right back to the wet plants lol. That's what i wanted to hear about the stems. I'll go get bt and apply it into the holes this evening. Do you think i should get a syringe and inject some bt in from the where they entered and then maybe another inch and a half above? First time I've seen them in 4 years of outdoor.
Yeah! It's Bud Worm Season. Pics
- Thread starter CrazyChester
- Start date
pabloesqobar
Well-Known Member
Thanks VG. I'm going to try your tip of rinsing the plants prior to chop. ChemoBoy, I believe the rinse is just to rinse off any remnants of BT that didn't naturally go away. Unfortunately SoCal decided not to have warm sunny mornings this year. I'm hoping that changes soon.
ChemoBoy
Active Member
Thanks! I'm in San Diego and had my outdoor plants start flowering during late June when it dropped below 50 at night and was cloudy for days. What a weird year to start my first grow...lots of learning.
pabloesqobar
Well-Known Member
Hey Zig, any update on the effectiveness of the wasps?
veggiegardener
Well-Known Member
Bt, bug shit, bird droppings, and dust.
pabloesqobar
Well-Known Member
Makes sense. Not sure why I didn't think of doing this before now. I guess there's no concerns with spraying the plants down whilst the sun is out at this stage.
veggiegardener
Well-Known Member
Another couple of things.
Regular bathes help strengthen stems and naturally causes the branches to spread. A sort of impromptu LST.
Plants love it.
I try to do this early in the day to avoid minor burning from a hot overhead sun, when droplets can lens sunlight.
Regular bathes help strengthen stems and naturally causes the branches to spread. A sort of impromptu LST.
Plants love it.
I try to do this early in the day to avoid minor burning from a hot overhead sun, when droplets can lens sunlight.
ChemoBoy
Active Member
I'm getting close to 3 weeks since my last BT spray, and I just found two 1/4 inch budworms right there in the flowers. One had damaged a stalk but hadn't gotten in yet. Those two got two-finger insecticide with extreme prejudice. Once it cooled off in the evening, I sprayed Safer BT with a 2 tsp/gallon dilution bottom and top of leaves and misting every flower. So far it seems like the little dudes always take a bite out of a small new leaf first, even though I find them in the flowers. So I keep looking for any little hole and if I see one I get in there.
If you have any other suggestions, please let them flow....
If you have any other suggestions, please let them flow....
if it's in a screen cage it will probably keep them out.
veggiegardener
Well-Known Member
Bud worms aren't borers, at least, in my garden. If you see another, a few good pix might identify it. I'm not certain that Bt will work on the borers but a good pic could confirm that, one way or the other. There's only one bug that I hate worse than bud worms.
Squash Bugs. The only thing that works well against them is hand picking. I put them in a glass jar and leave it in the sun for a few days. I usually wash the jar out, and pour the buggy water on my squash plants. I can't say for certain, but that seems to deter them.(TMI? If you grow veggies, and like like squash, pumpkins, melons and cucumbers, it would be good to find out what they are. In large numbers they can make a garden look awful, and kill all the stuff mentioned.)
Squash Bugs. The only thing that works well against them is hand picking. I put them in a glass jar and leave it in the sun for a few days. I usually wash the jar out, and pour the buggy water on my squash plants. I can't say for certain, but that seems to deter them.(TMI? If you grow veggies, and like like squash, pumpkins, melons and cucumbers, it would be good to find out what they are. In large numbers they can make a garden look awful, and kill all the stuff mentioned.)
ChemoBoy
Active Member
Bud worms aren't borers, at least, in my garden. If you see another, a few good pix might identify it. I'm not certain that Bt will work on the borers but a good pic could confirm that, one way or the other. There's only one bug that I hate worse than bud worms./QUOTE]
That's my mistake on the budworm damage, VG. I saw damage on a soft stalk and assumed it was trying to bore in there. Here are the pix:
At 100x:
veggiegardener
Well-Known Member
Thanks!
Bud worm, definitely. Bt will kill that little fucker.
Bud worm, definitely. Bt will kill that little fucker.
ChemoBoy
Active Member
I sprayed yesterday. I hand misted a quart of BT solution on 6 plants, CAREFULLY. I actually think that fucked up part of the worm on the left side of the 100x picture is the BT taking it out from inside. He was barely moving. Cruel at that magnification, but I can live with myself.
By the way, I think these pictures below might be an earlier stage of the larvae. They appeared as black dots on the smallest leaves and buds where a moth might land. They're smaller than the 1/4th the width of a fingerprint, and I couldn't get a totally sharp shot at 200x, so I thought they might just be poop. Now that I've seen the (relatively) big worm shape, I'm wondering:
Yeah, I'm neurotic. Sue me.
ChemoBoy
Active Member
Oh, not to try to school you or anything, but I spent a good part of my childhood chasing squash bugs. Have you tried putting out a board or paper or something under the plants? The bugs go there at night and you can get them in the early morning before they go out to play. We mostly got them at egg stage -- made it a game and all the kids helped. Free labor ftw. I think malathion also when they got the upper hand, but that shit is dangerous. If memory serves, they eat Sevin like it's candy. Marigolds would help RIGHT BY a leaf, but you couldn't plant enough flowers to really help a big yellow squash grow. The best thing was to do what we called outrunning the bugs. We'd use a cubic meter of compost every 6 feet or so and the soil was BLACK. Once those plants got going, there wasn't a bug alive that could strip them down. You could SEE them grow. Anyway...there's some random info for you, VG. Hopefully it'll help as much as your advice has helped my buds.
veggiegardener
Well-Known Member
Thanks, CB!
My history with squash bugs is long and painful(mostly for them).
About thirty years ago, I discovered that drenching the plants during mid day was a great way to find them.
They hate getting wet and will climb to the top of the plants once you stop watering.
After doing this about fifty times in a row, so far, I've seen only one bug, this year. He's a large smear on the walk. Last year, during a hot spell, about fifty bugs showed up, all at once.(They fly during very hot weather.) It took me a week to kill all the adults, but I only found one small group of eggs. Some years, before I retired, I lost all my squash plants not long after they started producing. No time to pick bugs.
I think this year has been so cool, they just aren't migrating as they have in the past.
I'd never set traps for them. They gather underneath like snails would? When do I "harvest" them? Time of day?
I'll take any weapon I can get to kill them. I wax profane when discussing their futures, and ancestry.
My history with squash bugs is long and painful(mostly for them).
About thirty years ago, I discovered that drenching the plants during mid day was a great way to find them.
They hate getting wet and will climb to the top of the plants once you stop watering.
After doing this about fifty times in a row, so far, I've seen only one bug, this year. He's a large smear on the walk. Last year, during a hot spell, about fifty bugs showed up, all at once.(They fly during very hot weather.) It took me a week to kill all the adults, but I only found one small group of eggs. Some years, before I retired, I lost all my squash plants not long after they started producing. No time to pick bugs.
I think this year has been so cool, they just aren't migrating as they have in the past.
I'd never set traps for them. They gather underneath like snails would? When do I "harvest" them? Time of day?
I'll take any weapon I can get to kill them. I wax profane when discussing their futures, and ancestry.
ChemoBoy
Active Member
You love to wet those plants!
Yeah, you just put down some slightly damp newspaper or cardboard on the ground next to the plants during the day and they may congregate under at night when it's cool. You just have to get to them early morning before it warms up enough for them to fly well. Lift and smash, or smash and lift and smash. Smashing is the important part. Unfortunately, they don't like beer as much as snails and I don't know any other way to bait them, but YOU drinking beer helps the problem not seem so bad. If they're breeding and/or sleeping elsewhere and descending on your crops during the heat of the day, you're pretty well fucked unless you're patient and have LOTS of chasing/smashing time.
Yeah, you just put down some slightly damp newspaper or cardboard on the ground next to the plants during the day and they may congregate under at night when it's cool. You just have to get to them early morning before it warms up enough for them to fly well. Lift and smash, or smash and lift and smash. Smashing is the important part.
Unfortunately, they don't like beer as much as snails and I don't know any other way to bait them, but YOU drinking beer helps the problem not seem so bad. If they're breeding and/or sleeping elsewhere and descending on your crops during the heat of the day, you're pretty well fucked unless you're patient and have LOTS of chasing/smashing time.
veggiegardener
Well-Known Member
LOL!You love to wet those plants!
I guess it seems that way, but I only wet those that benefit from it.
For instance, I never wet tomato or pepper plants once they start setting fruit. Calyx end rot will appear immediately if I do.
I think I started "washing" plants after reading an article in Organic Gardening a few years before I started growing Cannabis. My Grandmother washed her garden plants frequently. Living in the middle of a huge expanse of great farmland exposes everything to a lot of dust. I remember seeing the dust jump off her corn plants when the water hit them.
If you haven't tried wetting down the squash plants, maybe try it, and let me know what you think?
ChemoBoy
Active Member
I don't do veggies anymore, just stinky flowers.
veggiegardener
Well-Known Member
A veggie garden makes it possible to burn a fatty, and deal with the munchies without going indoors. I've got Red Flame grapes, and free stone peaches getting ripe, along with figs and tomatoes and cucumbers.
I'm getting hungry!
LOL
I'm getting hungry!
LOL