Help! Tiny white, hairy maggot/caterpillars eating the leaves!

[YoJoLo]

I found one leaf set today that had what I thought were tiny white spots on it. It was almost entirely covered. I cut it and was shocked at what I found. There were minuscule see through dots where something had eaten the meaty underside of the leaves but the top membrane of the leaf was still there. When you held it up to the light you could see through the eaten areas but they were not holes. Pretty much the whole underside of three leaves had been eaten

On the underside of the leaf I found these tiny, white hairy caterpillar/maggot looking things. They're not even the length of an eyelash. I looked through a jeweler's loupe and I could see they had gray hairs all around and had a tiny black dot on one end like a maggot. The hairs are so fine you cannot see them with the naked eye. The jeweler's loupe is 10x magnification and that's the only way you see the fine white hairs all around the body of the caterpillar???

I also found a few thrips when I was looking through my plants. I know the caterpillar/maggot things are not thrip larvae because I looked at images of the larvae online. So I know I have at least two problems. Thrips and leaf miners??? I cannot find what these hairy worm-like caterpillar/maggot things might be.

I have an indoor grow in a closed in basement. It's cool, not damp and stays about 55-60 degrees during this hot summer in Washington state. I only have two large plants and 6 six-week old clones. I have ordered neem oil and spinosad and paid for overnight shipping but I'd sure like to know what I'm dealing with and if either of two things will kill those suckers.

There is a picture and those six longer white things on the lowest leaf of the picture are the maggots. Sorry I couldn't get a better one. But you can see the leaves are almost see through. Any one here know what they are?

 

[BudBorer]

Sounds like a leaf miner of some variety. Shouldn't be difficult to eradicate.

 

[YoJoLo]

That's what I thought-some kind of leaf miner. The leaf miner larvae appear to look like what I've got. My husband and I spent about two hours yesterday looking through as much of the plants as we could and there were no more leaves that appeared like this. WE DID find thrips and killed about 6-7 of those. They're a very tiny white bug and they hop almost like a flea. The thrip larvae do not look like these maggot worms. I'll spray some very diluted neem oil on them and on the soil today.

 

[GeorgeFoster]

those are leaf miners.....as they age they progress into bud tips and wrap themselves within with silk/glue type stuff.

Mostly seen in PNW outdoor grows I do believe, but I'm sure they are common elswhere.

I have been plucking 1 or 2 from bud tops recently as I find them the next morning wrapped in the bud tip new growth leaves.

Some growers call em "Bud Worms"

 

[YoJoLo]

Yeah Heady I live in the PNW but I was surprised because this is an indoor grow. Do you know if the neem oil will work on them? I also got Spinosad but don't know yet which one to use. From what I've been reading 4 Tablespoons neem oil to 1 gallon water with a small amount of soap (not detergent) and spray the plants and the soil every 7 days. Then I read somewhere that neem oil is really nasty and your bud will taste awful. They're still vegging right now and we'll be putting them into flower in about two weeks. I'd like to know for sure I've controlled both the leaf miners and thrips before I put them to flower. Any info you can give about neem oil or spinosad would be appreciated.

 

[GeorgeFoster]

I have not had em bad enough to spray, I remove by hand.

They are basically just a caterpillar/moth larva.

I use only 3 products for bug defenses(mites and thrips)....1tsp pure neem oil with 1/2tsp azamax and 1/2tsp of yucca extract instead of the soap....mix with 32oz of warm water and apply with a spray bottle...

my second line of defense is mighty wash......I only spot spray with this in flower as needed.

Never used spinosad so I cannot comment....as long as you are in veg you can hit em every 3 days.

When I have had bugs I like to hit em 2 days in a row, then every 2 or 3 days for a week.....continue to watch closely.

I also spray the soil and around the pots.

Sometimes those things with age will turn brown and cling to a leaf with their mouth and will look like a thin brown twig....I have found with the leaf miners that plucking and pinching/squishing works well.