Insect help!

[meffa]

I'm 4.5 weeks into flowering and I noticed some leaves that look like they've been munched on, and now I've found some black droppings similar to what I've seen caterpillars do to the leaves on trees in the neighborhood.

I have neem oil that I can mix up, and I just ordered some Monterey Bacillus Thuringiensis Worm & Caterpillar spray, though that won't arrive for a week or so.

Lights just went out for the night so I have until the morning to figure out what to use and how to attack this.

I'll inspect for sure, though beyond that does anyone have experience with this? Should I mix the neem and spray the leaves? Will neem or the Monterey BT mess up my buds? Should I specifically keep both neem and BT away from the buds?

This is what separates the amateurs from the seasoned vets, and I am for sure an amateur. I guess this is all part of the process!

HELP!!!!!

 

[Oz3]

I'm 4.5 weeks into flowering and I noticed some leaves that look like they've been munched on, and now I've found some black droppings similar to what I've seen caterpillars do to the leaves on trees in the neighborhood.

I have neem oil that I can mix up, and I just ordered some Monterey Bacillus Thuringiensis Worm & Caterpillar spray, though that won't arrive for a week or so.

Lights just went out for the night so I have until the morning to figure out what to use and how to attack this.

I'll inspect for sure, though beyond that does anyone have experience with this? Should I mix the neem and spray the leaves? Will neem or the Monterey BT mess up my buds? Should I specifically keep both neem and BT away from the buds?

This is what separates the amateurs from the seasoned vets, and I am for sure an amateur. I guess this is all part of the process!

HELP!!!!!

Alright, well you need to inspect underneath all the leaves now.

 

[Oz3]

Alright, well you need to inspect underneath all the leaves now.

Take a pic

 

[meffa]

Take a pic

Will do both first thing in the morning.

 

[Oz3]

Man. I couldn't fall asleep like that. You'd be surprised how quick a catapillar will take out. I'd be taking care of that!

 

[Nunyabiz]

For caterpillars make sure its BTK not BTI.
Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki is what you need for them.

and any BT is pretty safe for buds, although I dont think I'd spray it Monday and harvest it Wednesday type thing but several weeks before harvest shouldn't be a problem.
BT is totally organic and it in all the soil and on all our food we eat, totally harmless to humans.

 

[Oz3]

For caterpillars make sure its BTK not BTI.
Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki is what you need for them.

and any BT is pretty safe for buds, although I dont think I'd spray it Monday and harvest it Wednesday type thing but several weeks before harvest shouldn't be a problem.
BT is totally organic and it in all the soil and on all our food we eat, totally harmless to humans.

That neem is pretty good ain't it. That's what I've had to use a couple times with other problems but it works great. I've never had anything real serious.

 

[Nunyabiz]

Neem is OK to a point but I wouldn't put it on buds.

IMO Azamax which is just concentrated Neem was the cause of this alleged "Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome"
Which I seriously doubt has a thing to do with cannabis at all, its the Azamax people have been using.

 

[meffa]

For caterpillars make sure its BTK not BTI.
Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki is what you need for them.

and any BT is pretty safe for buds, although I dont think I'd spray it Monday and harvest it Wednesday type thing but several weeks before harvest shouldn't be a problem.
BT is totally organic and it in all the soil and on all our food we eat, totally harmless to humans.

Thanks. My friend has been coaching me along and said he has Monterey BT that I can use. He's about an hour away so I'm heading there early so I have this on hand.

 

[philthegeek]

If its caterpillars go BT.

I have used Neem as a soil drench during veg. Worst i have had are fungus gnats at very low levels. Had no probs with Neem but never sprayed it on the foliage.

 

[SarahJane211]

I know I'll get slammed for this, but I always use household mosquito and insect spray.
Bit of a spritz in the tent, not on the leaves, fans off, tent zipped for an hour.

Don't wet the leaves ..... the plant will die.
(it's a gas not a wash)

 

[meffa]

I got up bright and early to check the ladies out and I can't find a thing! Even the leaves that I thought had been munched on don't seem to be found.

I watered on Thursday and did a bit of defoliating with the under growth. Maybe I removed whatever was there without realizing it. I dunno......

I'm still heading to my friends house for the Monterey BT to have on hand.

 

[Stunger]

For my grow just recently harvested I sprayed BT adhoc instead of every 1 - 2 weeks. Some caterpillars came back, not many and they didn't get to a big size, so if you're getting big size caterpillar shit you know they big. I have read reports that Neem actually breaks down in days. Later in my grow I got an infestation of red spider mites and hit them with a couple Neem sprays up until 2 weeks from harvest. I also sprayed with Dr Bronner's liquid Castille soap (1TBL to a liter), I gave a couple of those soap sprays in the final 2 weeks for bugs and also as a soap to perhaps help clean off anything unwanted. The plants also took one good rain event in that final period. I can say I have detected no Neem residue in my testing since, the buds smell dank and vapes beautifully. Bug infestations can be seriously damaging. Next grow I wont fuck around but plan of spraying to a regular schedule. Also that Potassium/Surgical soap is good too. I am only interested in the natural/organic approach and from now on I will regularly spray, I am sick of the damage that often doesn't show until some later when the damaged bud dies, the damage is done but doesn't show until later. Good luck.

 

[bobrown14]

Red mites are beneficial.

Neem you cant spray on flowers it will burn them and taste like ass or worse.

Monterey is the way to go as @Nunyabiz mentioned. After harvest think about bud washing and look up that very easy and your flowers will taste good without all the "dirt" left behind.

 

[meffa]

Red mites are beneficial.

Neem you cant spray on flowers it will burn them and taste like ass or worse.

Monterey is the way to go as @Nunyabiz mentioned. After harvest think about bud washing and look up that very easy and your flowers will taste good without all the "dirt" left behind.

I sprayed all of the plants with Monterey. Half way through I realized it prob wasn't the best idea doing it in the middle of the day with the lights on though. I turned the intake and exhaust fans up high and they're drying pretty good and everything looks happy. Maybe it is better during the day though so they're not going into the night all wet?

I've been reading about bud washing the last few days. This is my first grow and I've been trying to take in as much info as I can and see where the overlaps are. Basically trying to stay in the middle of the road with tried and true methods. I'm not opposed to bud washing, I just haven't taken in enough info on it yet and haven't formed an opinion.

I'm just starting to map out my plan for harvest. I plan to remove the lights from the tent they're growing in and use that to hang them in, but I'm not 100% sure what the actual work is going to look like. I mean I'm not really sure how to cut these suckers. Do I use a knife or a saw, or pruning shears?

 

[Stunger]

Red mites are beneficial.

Hi Bob, I didn't realize red mites were beneficial. But perhaps I wrongly identified them altho I looked up pictures and I thought that's what they were. I noticed them appear in the middle of flowering and they seemed to have caused little silk strands.

Neem you cant spray on flowers it will burn them and taste like ass or worse.

I have read posts that attest to what you say, but I have also read other posts where such results were not the case. Perhaps it is down to the amount of Neem used, perhaps it is down to the particular formulation of the Neem product. But all I can say is I used it very diluted as the instruction stated on the bottle of the organic Neem oil I used. I am whole drying my plants (they are still hanging up). There was no burning that I was aware of, and as for tasting like ass, all I can smell is nice inviting dank bud, and when I get within 20 feet of the studio (separate from the main house) where I have them drying I can smell the lovely intense aroma of terpenes in the air. I have started some early testing by vaping and once again I have not detecting any Neem smell whatsoever. I have enjoyed reading many of your posts and totally respect your experience but I can't explain the differing results I got. I guess there is something in the old maxim of there being many ways to skin a cat.

Monterey is the way to go as @Nunyabiz mentioned. After harvest think about bud washing and look up that very easy and your flowers will taste good without all the "dirt" left behind.

I'm in New Zealand, I have not seen Monterey here. As for bud washing I haven't done this before but I did want to try it. The reason I didn't is I am whole plant drying and I couldn't see how I could bud wash the whole plants easily. Others may may say it is a piece of piss to do so, but if so they are probably viewing it from the perspective of their own grows, i.e. small plants are most likely going to be easy bud washing whole. My girls were grown in containers outdoors for over 7 months and trained to be less than 2.5 feet tall but they had quite large canopies, the biggest up to nearly 4.5 feet across. As much as I would have liked to have done bud washing I just could not see how I was going to do it with that size, I would have needed to wash them in a spa bath!

Hey, but genuine thanks for your thoughts, I'm learning as I am going!

 

[Oz3]

I'm 4.5 weeks into flowering and I noticed some leaves that look like they've been munched on, and now I've found some black droppings similar to what I've seen caterpillars do to the leaves on trees in the neighborhood.

I have neem oil that I can mix up, and I just ordered some Monterey Bacillus Thuringiensis Worm & Caterpillar spray, though that won't arrive for a week or so.

Lights just went out for the night so I have until the morning to figure out what to use and how to attack this.

I'll inspect for sure, though beyond that does anyone have experience with this? Should I mix the neem and spray the leaves? Will neem or the Monterey BT mess up my buds? Should I specifically keep both neem and BT away from the buds?

This is what separates the amateurs from the seasoned vets, and I am for sure an amateur. I guess this is all part of the process!

HELP!!!!!

You ever find out what you had?

 

[meffa]

You ever find out what you had?

No, I haven't been able to find anything that explains the droppings. I've had a small flying insect for months, but over time the yellow sticky strips have almost completely eradicated them.

 

[meffa]

You ever find out what you had?

Just finished watering and gave all of the plants a good inspection. I found something that looked like it might have been an egg that was brown/rust/reddish in color. It was on the underside of a fan leaf right at the base where the fingers connect. I tried to carefully remove it as I wanted to save it for closer inspection but it fell off the leaf never to be found again.

That one egg was the only thing I could see.

 

[Kodiak420]

caterpillar shit you know they big.

Hahahah perfect wording

As much as I would have liked to have done bud washing

I meant to ask you that if you found away to do it.

Just finished watering and gave all of the plants a good inspection. I found something that looked like it might have been an egg that was brown/rust/reddish in color. It was on the underside of a fan leaf right at the base where the fingers connect. I tried to carefully remove it as I wanted to save it for closer inspection but it fell off the leaf never to be found again.

That one egg was the only thing I could see.

Hopefully that was the only one,