PeeJay's Neophyte Breeding Adventure

Moth and butterfly - caterpillars that bore into the buds and wreak havoc. Poor Lem had to pull up his whole crop yesterday in a Hail Mary to try and save something. Lester has been digging them out of his colas with an ice pick. It seeks like they're everywhere in the outdoor journals right now.

Maybe not as many people are having problems as I perceive. Not many people really got ebola either, but I'm still escared of it.
 
Moth and butterfly - caterpillars that bore into the buds and wreak havoc. Poor Lem had to pull up his whole crop yesterday in a Hail Mary to try and save something. Lester has been digging them out of his colas with an ice pick. It seeks like they're everywhere in the outdoor journals right now.

Maybe not as many people are having problems as I perceive. Not many people really got ebola either, but I'm still escared of it.

Well, with the trouble I had with worms of all kinds here I can t-totally sympathize with those guys. I haven't had any that bore into the buds.......I'm lucky so far.
I'm sending non-wormy vibes over to ya so you won't be so "escared". ;-)
 
Moth and butterfly - caterpillars that bore into the buds and wreak havoc. Poor Lem had to pull up his whole crop yesterday in a Hail Mary to try and save something. Lester has been digging them out of his colas with an ice pick. It seeks like they're everywhere in the outdoor journals right now.

Maybe not as many people are having problems as I perceive. Not many people really got ebola either, but I'm still escared of it.

It's a good thing my friend has been staying at the shack cause of the little fluckers.... she has probably pulled a dozen or more off the girls cause she has inspected them fiercely this year.... and if she had not been there they would have won the battle long ago.... the lay their eggs then the eggs make the worms... then the worms make a cocoon web looking mess and the bud around it rots.... I doubt I have lost a lot of weight but have cut some where they made it through the cycle but thanks again to my friend... most were caught before any damage.... That is why they are so heavily defol'd... I think in the early spring of next year I will treat all that area back there with something horrible and kill them.... kill them all...:blushsmile: then give it time not to be able to hurt my girls and plant more marigolds and put some ladybugs out there... If I was a ladybug I wouldn't mind living there.... anywho... just wanted to confirm you theory of it being a really bad year for moth worms...:geek:.:circle-of-love:
 
What you need is wasps. Lots and lots of wasps. Big nests! That'll fix the fookers. Oh, you'll need one of those bee suits for tending the garden in, too.

Denise, there are some not too horrible things that can be used like pyrethrins. The problem is you don't want to be putting them on plants close to harvest. Close to harvest is when there are tons of moths and butterflies in egg laying stage. They drop a ton of eggs. It is hard to prevent what Lester calls "high flyers" from finding your plants. I keep the screen closed on the diaper most of the time and still find moths in there a couple of times a week with no clue how they got in there.

Manual inspection is the best defense but sometimes the numbers can become overwhelming. It'll be interesting to see how many of the little buggers you find when you trim. You have a lot of meds there either way.
 
This is sure to jinx me, but so far, so good in the worm department.
After Lem and Conrad, I'm freaked and look hard every day for the little bastardos.
 
This is sure to jinx me, but so far, so good in the worm department.
After Lem and Conrad, I'm freaked and look hard every day for the little bastardos.

This discussion prompted me to go out and check on my most mature outdoor girl.....and I found what I was looking for:

Worm_nest.jpg


Look for leaves being stuck together or curled under at an edge. ;-)

Blasted critters! :straightface:
 
This is sure to jinx me, but so far, so good in the worm department.
After Lem and Conrad, I'm freaked and look hard every day for the little bastardos.

Me either so far. Some places are hard to get to and there is no telling what horrors may be lurking in the depths of the diaper..

Hey PeeJay, you got seeds forming yet? I may have missed a post on that....if so....oops. LOL

You had to go and bring that up, didn't you Canna? So far I don't see anything I can definitely identify as seed making going on, It's been a while since I pollinated. At least three weeks. I'm a little concerned that maybe the pollen wasn't viable? I don't want to get rough inspecting the pollinated buds and am just sort of assuming that there will be seeds. If it doesn't work I'm going to be sad.

On a brighter note.

thisone11.jpg


thisone21.jpg
 
Thanks for that pic' Canna!

What makes this really scary is, I see cabbage moths all over the place, around and near my plants. They did a number on our broccoli and Brussels sprouts. I've been waiting for them to infect the MJ since before I heard about the problems others are having.

Stay vigilant!
 
Me either so far. Some places are hard to get to and there is no telling what horrors may be lurking in the depths of the diaper..



You had to go and bring that up, didn't you Canna? So far I don't see anything I can definitely identify as seed making going on, It's been a while since I pollinated. At least three weeks. I'm a little concerned that maybe the pollen wasn't viable? I don't want to get rough inspecting the pollinated buds and am just sort of assuming that there will be seeds. If it doesn't work I'm going to be sad.
Are the pistils where you pollinated shrinking back and turning brown? That was the first sign of my seeds beginning. I will go through my pollination journal and see what the time frame was for the seeds to start forming. Will let ya know later. :)
 
Okay, I did the pollination on the 16th of November and found seeds forming on the 23rd. About a week from dust to seeds forming.
Not sure how long into flower your girl was, but I waited for about 4 weeks into flower to pollinate.

This was indoors under HPS lighting.
 
Being an indoor grower I have never experienced budworms. Several different internet searches only tell me that the Budworm is the larvae of a moth. Some say Army cutworm, some say tobacco budworm and some say sprucebud cutworm. Regardless, they all start with a moth that lays eggs on your plant in the spring. The budworms are larvae and do not re produce. They will eat their fill then spin a cocoon and wait for spring to re emerge as a moth to stat the cycle all over again.
 
Being an indoor grower I have never experienced budworms. Several different internet searches only tell me that the Budworm is the larvae of a moth. Some say Army cutworm, some say tobacco budworm and some say sprucebud cutworm. Regardless, they all start with a moth that lays eggs on your plant in the spring. The budworms are larvae and do not re produce. They will eat their fill then spin a cocoon and wait for spring to re emerge as a moth to stat the cycle all over again.

Good info Llama. :)
This year I experienced, both indoor and outdoor, a problem with inchworms which are larvae of the common pug moth. They do major damage to leaves and then nest into their little cocoons in rolled up leaf edges. I killed several on young plants last week indoors.
Outside it was those as well as many other types of moth caterpillars. (I won't even go into the rest of the critters. LOL) It's been a battle picking them off this season.

If anyone gets a picture of the types of worms Lem and Lester have, I would love to add that to the "bad bugs" section of my blog here. :)

I got my first dust of pollen into the bag from the male plant today PeeJay. :popcorn:
 
There are bunches of different moths and butterflies. The cabbage worm varieties are the ones I see here all the time. Major sees those too. They have a seven week lifecycle, from egg to larvae to pupa to new high-flier so they cycle several times over a growing season. The larva will bore right into the buds and chow down. One mature butterfly can lay between 300-500 eggs a day...

Canna, for safety sake I went out and hit some more branches and was much more liberal with the pollen. I might have been too timid the first time.
 
There are bunches of different moths and butterflies. The cabbage worm varieties are the ones I see here all the time. Major sees those too. They have a seven week lifecycle, from egg to larvae to pupa to new high-flier so they cycle several times over a growing season. The larva will bore right into the buds and chow down. One mature butterfly can lay between 300-500 eggs a day...

Canna, for safety sake I went out and hit some more branches and was much more liberal with the pollen. I might have been too timid the first time.

Good deal PJ. :)
I've read that the pistils will actually reach out for pollen that is on a leaf within their reach. Amazing plant...so persistant and schmart. :)
 
Whew! Finally up to speed. PeeJay, I'm terminally stunned by the magnificence of your garden. May you find the inner reaches to be worm-free when it's time for harvest. It's so sad watching the outdoor grows deal with the pests. Is this a normal occurance or has this been a busier year? I was wondering if the extended heat waves might have complicated things this year.
 
Sue, it's a hyper time of year for anyone who is growing outdoors, in a real greenhouse, or a disposable diaper. Is this year worse than most years? For some it is. For others they will jump up and down with unbridled glee. The mother-nature driven grows that people share here represent an array of climates and genetic selections.

As an example, look at the Major. He hedged his bets by selecting fast finishing strains and is going to make a big haul even if he has to chop it all tomorrow.

Growing at the mercy of mother nature is much different than growing in the confines of a regulated indoor environment where you can fuss with fans, thermal climate regulation, add humidifiers or de-humidifiers, spray SNS products to thwart isolated pest problems...

There is going to be the thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat. As my buddy Alfred penned:

I hold it true, whate'er befall;

I feel it, when I sorrow most;

'T is better to have loved and lost

Than never to have loved at all.
 
Whew! I'm terminally stunned by the magnificence of your garden.

You say that to everybody, Sue. I'm doing pretty ok though. Would have been so much better if I dumped coconut water on 'em, sprouted seeds and ground them up with the soaking juice, bubbled up buckets of ACT...

I never seem to be on the boat when it sails.

This is the journal of missed opportunities. A sad sad place to visit. Sort of like the Island of Misfit Toys in the classic Rudolf holiday special.

:circle-of-love:
 
You say that to everybody, Sue. I'm doing pretty ok though. Would have been so much better if I dumped coconut water on 'em, sprouted seeds and ground them up with the soaking juice, bubbled up buckets of ACT...

I never seem to be on the boat when it sails.

This is the journal of missed opportunities. A sad sad place to visit. Sort of like the Island of Misfit Toys in the classic Rudolf holiday special.

:circle-of-love:

I mean it when I tell people their gardens are magnificent PeeJay, and yours shines just a little brighter than most. The fact that so many are extraordinary in no way diminishes the truth of the compliment. It's never lost on me that you do so with such little effort I should question my sanity for not copying you. I say that only half tongue-in-cheek PeeJay, because I really am in awe of what you do. I just really enjoy what I do too. :battingeyelashes:

I think you're so much fun to play with, and I never leave here without having learned something of value. I'm glad we can be so open with each other. In truth, you're one of my favorite people in the neighborhood. It's nice you tolerate me so well.

Oh yes, thank you so much for the literary reference. Lovely thought to end my day with. You really are the most amazing man. :Love:
 
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