Pest/Worms Help!

[Keefman]

So I have 3 autos and 2 reg plants..
Outdoor grow in the woods. Autos are
Month out from being harvested I
Notice a brown like mold in the buds and
A few along the stem. Later learned it
Was worms eating there way inside the
Stem and bud. It's moved onto my reg
Plants is it to late? Is there any methods
Or products that could help with this.
( they are like a half an inch little
Green worms)

 

[goodwine]

Auch.. That sucks..
I am sure that there is something you can do for the girls, unless it has gone to far. There is probably a spray of sorts you could use to get rid of these critters. I hope you caught it in time tough.. It does not sound to good..
If you could provide some pictures it would be so much easier for us all to find out what kind of worm/caterpillar it is and take it from there.

 

[Lusi]

These are likely the borers that come from these evil white butterflies. They lay one white egg at a time on the underside of bud leaves. Where you see one there will be a hundred more! It is physically impossible to remove all the eggs or caterpillars! They hatch and while still only a few mm long head towards your stems and buds then burrow into stems. You will most likely see the droppings sticking to the trichs in your buds more than see the worms. BTW, these butterflies seem attracted to corn, cabbage, and broccoli. Hopefully they are not so common in the woods! I hate them, thus this giant post on the topic.

The buds they burrow into will turn brown in the spot they enter then turn moldy. You can smell it... The damaged bud will pull apart with your fingers. These are a total loss and the mold can infect healthy buds and other plants near by! Before I screened in my outdoor grow, here is what I did to rescue my grow at the point you are at. I can't promise it will work!
1) make an anti-fungal spray. I found one on this website using milk and water. You can buy fungicides, but must make sure they are safe for buds. Since moisture on your buds can create mold, it has to be dry out to make sure your spray dries even inside the dense buds. Hopefully yours are not this far along at this time! Anyway, spray your caterpillar damage buds at least. This is a precaution to keep the mold spores from spreading. My climate is dry so I sprayed everything... Be sure to spray your nippers and hands as you go to disinfect.
2) Cover the moldy buds in a plastic bag as best you can and cut them off at least an inch below the damage. You will see the hole from the caterpillar. Be sure to throw these out far from your grow! Keep in mind you only see the damage after it is not reversible and there are even more caterpillars already at work on other buds that will show up in the next few weeks...
3) Buy BT which is an organic caterpillar killer at your hardware or grow shop. This will not damage your buds though I'd not use it close to harvest. Other people here will know more about it. It works slow and starves the critters to death. Avoiding damp and humidity, spray the hell out of your plants. The caterpillars have to ingest this for it to work. It won't keep new eggs from being layed or hatching, so keep it up along with handpicking eggs and tiny caterpillars. Check the underside of leaves and follow any chewed leaves inward towards the stems. Brown patches and mold are too late for your buds! The poo looks like square pellets, easier to see than the worms.
4) You will still be finding these as you harvest and trim. If you miss one, they eat your drying buds too! Be sure to cut away the poo too...

I had my plants where I could check them daily and managed to save most of my harvest. You should get some feedback from other stealth growers. Perhaps they have a good way to repel the butterflies or fry the eggs before they hatch. I'd be curious to know as even with all this some still got in my buds! The buggers lay eggs on any leaf that touches my screens since the eggs fit through the screen. This year I will spay the outside of my growhouse with BT to hit any buds close by. Spider mites are easier to keep in check!

You can rescue bits of damaged buds with a water cure if desperate. It actually looks funky but sweetens the taste. There was a good tutorial somewhere on this sight. I did try a slightly moldy bud and some that had bad mite damage plus some that smelled funny from fish oil too close to harvest. Those were the days every bud counted. I just do water cures now to have something different to try. Lol


It's not great news, but I hope it helps. Good luck!!



Lusi

 

[Austinve]

So I have 3 autos and 2 reg plants..
Outdoor grow in the woods. Autos are
Month out from being harvested I
Notice a brown like mold in the buds and
A few along the stem. Later learned it
Was worms eating there way inside the
Stem and bud. It's moved onto my reg
Plants is it to late? Is there any methods
Or products that could help with this.
( they are like a half an inch little
Green worms)

There are some home remedies of treating these microscopic pests. However, if you feel that that the infestation are really severe then consulting with any expert is a great idea. I was having the same problem then a friend of mine who use to work for exterminator brooklyn suggested me to use garlic oil spray over them and you know what, that really worked.
So try garlic oil spray.