Caterpillar in buds during harvest

joedaddy805

joedaddy805

Well-Known Member
Well i just started to get ready to harvest and found these damn caterpillars again. It doesnt look like many so far but im sure there is lots of them. So my question is what to i do. Is the bud still good if i pick what i find off. Can i just put the buds under water to kill them and dry the buds after that so as to they wont stay alive during dry time. If i just try and cure it wont they still stay alive and continue to eat buds. I had sprayed a few days ago with some bt spray. What would you do?
 
I have been picking them out. As for washing ive been washing all my buds since i grow outdoors and lots of crao stick to it. So now i was everything to get rid of dirt and all other crap thats on it. Thanks for the answer. So would drowning them not work place the buds under water for about an hr then dry them out?
 
I really have no idea on the effects of a long term water bath on either the caterpillars or buds to tell you the truth, it might work and then again it might not. I just know I wouldn't enjoy the resulting buds that much if there were any possibility of them containing anything non-cannabis.
 
Im afraid you will have to pick them all out and bud wash as been suggested my friend. I certainly wouldnt want to be smoking my ass off knowing im smoking caterpillar as well
 
You want to control this problem long before harvest time.

I'm almost guaranteed to find a few worms here and there every time around. Some years are worse than others based off temperatures, and just flat out bad luck with some of the differing moth species that are so brutal. I make sure to find them as apart of my manual inspections of the buds. On top of the granular BT dust that I usually sprinkle around. I use an ice-pick to catch them out without destroying the buds too bad. As you know, they can be find traversing the most tidiest intricate nooks and crannies of the buds. And in some cases actually bore into the stems and travel unnoticed. Usually the green ones (loopers) are not nearly as bad as some other species. The looper saliva that it travels with does not directly promote botyrtis mold, while other vareties do. When I find the worms, I remove them, stomp them out, and then I also cut out and remove infected parts of the buds.

If infestations are let gone wild, you will usually see them dropping out with their silk weaves from the buds when the buds are cut and drying. But for many of them, they have made the buds their home, and so they get very feisty about leaving. Often times, when I first started growing, I actually found them coming up in the curing jar, climbing on the inner walls. Because they were still alive when they got jarred, there was no air so they would climb the walls to find air. Learned a lot sense then not to let it get that far. It can get really bad and that's what we pray everyday hoping doesn't happen. It's mother natures way of getting her share. So yeah, I would suggest a bud washing of any salvaged infected buds, but I wouldn't leave them underwater for an hour, that's far too long. It is possible some of them will drown on site, and their bodies will stay INSIDE the crannies of the buds, rendering them almost impossible to find unless breaking up a bowl to smoke. That is why it may be encouraged to "coax them out" by putting them into an airtight jar for about 20-30 minutes to see if they will start to climb up the walls.

Moral of the story, do more manual inspections so there is no big surprises come harvest day.

:goodluck:
 
Consider Lady Bugs, you can buy them at a nursery, or have them mailed to you, I pay 7 dollars for 1000. They won't get inside your buds, but they will kill/eat what they can reach. Here's one of mine from last year. The BT works good too, I'm not sure how close to harvest, you can apply it, lester will know. Good shares guys & great idea for a new thread.:goodluck:


LadyBugKill.jpg
KillerLadyBug.jpg
ladybugEatsInchworm.jpg


remove all the eggs u see while looking for the worms, here's scary egg shot I took last year.

tripleEGGS.png
 
A verry good day to all...

WOW Lester you never seize to amaze me with the amount of info you put in your comments, Yes i must agree with Lester the manual inspection EVERY day is a must, i have found with my Monster grow that if i skip it for just 2 days the worms took over.

Ok so on that note i did my harvest most recently and Also found some worms in the bud and i found that you have to like Lester said pick out as much as you can, then when you get to the Bud washing the first container with the Lemon Juice and Baking Soda kills the worms in the time that you are shaking the bud in the water now when the bud goes to the second container with the hot water you just shake the bud around up and down and because the water is hot it will open the bud up and all the worms fall out, then the rapid cooling of the next container together with the bud hanging to dry will close the bud up again.

Well i can only speak for what worked for me, Also like Lester said i would mos def not put those buds under water for an hour that seems WAY to long for me.

Best and blessed!!

:420:
 
please post pics of your biggest buds, i don't think the water idea will work, but it could, if we see how big the buds are, thanks
 
Insanerooster said:
A verry good day to all...

WOW Lester you never seize to amaze me with the amount of info you put in your comments, Yes i must agree with Lester the manual inspection EVERY day is a must, i have found with my Monster grow that if i skip it for just 2 days the worms took over.

Ok so on that note i did my harvest most recently and Also found some worms in the bud and i found that you have to like Lester said pick out as much as you can, then when you get to the Bud washing the first container with the Lemon Juice and Baking Soda kills the worms in the time that you are shaking the bud in the water now when the bud goes to the second container with the hot water you just shake the bud around up and down and because the water is hot it will open the bud up and all the worms fall out, then the rapid cooling of the next container together with the bud hanging to dry will close the bud up again.

Well i can only speak for what worked for me, Also like Lester said i would mos def not put those buds under water for an hour that seems WAY to long for me.

Best and blessed!!

:420:
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Really good post. Glad you all can help out my friend.
 
Thanks for all the help I put some buds in a jar and I have it real close to a light for heat I'm gonna see if I can get them to try and come out if it don't work I'm gonna try the lemon juice and b soda the buds aren't that big but I'll post pics once I get them away from the light
 
peroxide will clean better than baking soda or lemon. I cleaned my bud rot with two peroxide baths. buds were not the same after bud washing, but what can you do? dip into a 1:1 peroxide to water mix then into a plain water cup and leave out to dry.
 
SmokerJoe said:
Im afraid you will have to pick them all out and bud wash as been suggested my friend. I certainly wouldnt want to be smoking my ass off knowing im smoking caterpillar as well
Click to expand...

hey if tequila can have worm in it, why can't bud too. :hmmmm:
 
Well if you need the protein that bad... but I wouldnt want it in my buds at all. I probably wouldnt smoke a bud if a worm has ever touched it.
 
ez on the spray if u choose not to use the BTdust , i got mold from using the SAFER spray on fat buds last year, THIS YEAR i HAVE NETS.

i should have listened to lester!! (HE USUALLY GETS THE LAST LAUGH WITH ME) DOH!
 
:wood:should have had this last year, 10 dollar rig, I spent hours & hours last year pulling off over a dozen eggs a day,

P5177632tri.jpg
 
Trichomes, for growers who are inland, spraying liquids are usually OK depending on how dry the weather is. It is being on the ocean that makes the biggest difference.

About the tripod, how much did the thing cost? I wouldn't want it to get ruined and oxidize (rust) by being in the salty ocean air. I would try to assemble the rig in a different way. I would have bought the mosquito material as a roll of fabric, and then formed it around a make-shift greenhouse using support forces.

Just my two cents
 
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