Caterpillar advice - Budworms

[DudeDurban]

First time growing outdoors in the summer, I guess I have a huge moth problem where I live because there are bud worms on all of my plants that have flowered early. I have a critical kush that has some very dense nugs and every week I find more caterpillar after I have spent 20 minutes every other day picking them off. Obviously next year I'm going to go about things much differently because I don't have the time or patience to pick off caterpillars every day and still lose half my plant.

BT seems to be fine if the plant isn't flowering but once the plant starts developing fat flowers I don't see how one can get the BT in all the crevices. If anybody has an alternative opinion I would like to hear it. Maybe I just need to get a sprayer that creates finer mist? I ordered some trichogramma wasps which are parasites that lay eggs in the moth eggs. Still inconclusive on how effective those are going to be since I just released them on the plants yesterday, also I'm a bit worried about spraying more BT in fear of killing or knocking off the trichogramma wasp. If it was earlier in the season I could have purchased some Preying Mantis eggs and hatched those on the plants, unfortunately the mantis kills every bug it sees but many reviews seem to report significant pest reduction. I actually have a volunteer mantis that showed up on my critical kush plant and it is rather large so it's been eating something, but I doubt 1 mantis will make much of a difference. Also the Mantis is kinda large and like the BT, might have trouble getting at caterpillars until they decide to emerge from deep within the flowers.

I haven't really figured out the ideal solution for next year and I was hoping somebody with experience in this area could offer some advice or insight. The other solutions I have considered are wrapping white garden fabric around the plants and then bunching the fabric at the base and tying it but I think I would need to screen my plants with 30-40% black screen so prevent them from burning up. The other option is to build a really basic enclosure made of bug netting but if one moth got in that would screw up the whole purpose of the "bug castle" enclosure.

Any ideas on how to bring the hammer down on these green monsters?

Additional Info: Growing organic in 30 gal fabric pots

 

[Conradino23]

I have bud worm problem in my area, corn borers to be exact. A lot of corn is being grown here, so they spot my plants too... not all of them though. Typically I find them only in September. I sprayed BT once last season and in my 2nd bunch of gals I only had one plant infestated, the weakest one. Although I lose some buds to them, they never attack main colas and usually drill something in the middle. If it's early flowering cutting cola off works very well, it'll regrow later. Inspecting plant daily is a very good way to put things under control too, but if you're looking to prevent you can try Spinosad, my buddies swear by it. Also giving plants more balanced diet or growing them directly in the ground will make them stronger for attacks.

 

[kyleoliphant]

First time growing outdoors in the summer, I guess I have a huge moth problem where I live because there are bud worms on all of my plants that have flowered early. I have a critical kush that has some very dense nugs and every week I find more caterpillar after I have spent 20 minutes every other day picking them off. Obviously next year I'm going to go about things much differently because I don't have the time or patience to pick off caterpillars every day and still lose half my plant.

BT seems to be fine if the plant isn't flowering but once the plant starts developing fat flowers I don't see how one can get the BT in all the crevices. If anybody has an alternative opinion I would like to hear it. Maybe I just need to get a sprayer that creates finer mist? I ordered some trichogramma wasps which are parasites that lay eggs in the moth eggs. Still inconclusive on how effective those are going to be since I just released them on the plants yesterday, also I'm a bit worried about spraying more BT in fear of killing or knocking off the trichogramma wasp. If it was earlier in the season I could have purchased some Preying Mantis eggs and hatched those on the plants, unfortunately the mantis kills every bug it sees but many reviews seem to report significant pest reduction. I actually have a volunteer mantis that showed up on my critical kush plant and it is rather large so it's been eating something, but I doubt 1 mantis will make much of a difference. Also the Mantis is kinda large and like the BT, might have trouble getting at caterpillars until they decide to emerge from deep within the flowers.

I haven't really figured out the ideal solution for next year and I was hoping somebody with experience in this area could offer some advice or insight. The other solutions I have considered are wrapping white garden fabric around the plants and then bunching the fabric at the base and tying it but I think I would need to screen my plants with 30-40% black screen so prevent them from burning up. The other option is to build a really basic enclosure made of bug netting but if one moth got in that would screw up the whole purpose of the "bug castle" enclosure.

Any ideas on how to bring the hammer down on these green monsters?

Additional Info: Growing organic in 30 gal fabric pots

Hey buddy you get the caterpillars because moths will lay their eggs on one leaf so look under the leaves every day or so and find the one with white shit on the underside of one leaf. Or multiple moths equals multiple leaves. They suck. Once they get in they grow on it eating the good parts (trichokes) and shitting and pissing all over the bud causing mold. BT spray is gross and should not be used unless you plan to wash your bud, cool technique. Look it up. BT says it’s not harmful to spray the “fruit”, but says nothing about herb you are combusting and putting in your lungs and bloodstream.
Also, to help you should trim your plants from the inside, making them easier to spot the eggs. And best solution overall is a moth net. Good luck