Yuko â?¹ Pests

[Esteban1]

Mates, never had these guys before & they're clipping me colitas. ☹ ..... Peace.




A few of these guys were plucked




Attachment 294850




Leaving me this trash!





Attachment 294851



Anyone out thar with a remedy?




& yea, I kilt it!

Esteban1 Reviewed by Esteban1 on 09-21-2013. Yuko â?¹ Pests Mates, never had these guys before & they're clipping me colitas. ☹ ..... Peace. A few of these guys were plucked Rating: 5

[Jbone77]

Dont know how far into flower you are but anything with BT in it will help, Safer brand caterpillar killer has BT in it. Pull as many as you can find and use something like that

[Esteban1]

BT? Would a "neem oil/soapy water" spray be on par?? Thanks for the quick reply! Btw, researched the topic & like ya said, been picking them off (5-6 to date & 1 a few days prior).

[catbuds]

From a side view; did it have little orange eyes running in a row up both sides? If so, that would be the tomato horn worm. Also would have a horn sticking straight up from the back end. Nasty hungry little pests. I hate chemicals, so I pick them off, drop them into a cup of soapy amonia water. You have to do this earl am if you decide this instead of chemicals. They still would have eaten on the leaves, but if early enough you can catch them before the get to plant stems. I use chems on everything surrounding my grow as an effort to keep bugs repelled. Bummed me out the few times I actually had to put any chems on my girls. I love soapy water spray. I always try to be 100% organic, but sometimes Mother Nature just tries to pick a fight with me! LOL!
~~~~~~~~PEACE!~~~~~~~~

[Esteban1]

Thanks, picked them off & squished 'em. Please don't tell me I screwed up by not dropping in soapy water! Will they rise from the dead?? Oh, no horns, know THEM very well..... were on my tomato plants last year! These were medium size. Think I got 'me all until the next round!

[Jbone77]

My understanding is that BT is organic, different manufacturers add different things to the sprays, some organic, some not, but safer brand is organic. I look at bugs like I look at powdery mildew, theyre easier to prevent than to get rid of. Neem works great for prevention but once you have something established on your plant you need to use something else. The BT will kill caterpillars and worms in a couple days and its cheap. You will keep finding them until they get all they can out of your plant.

[tlranger]

The trouble with a caterpillar invasion is they usually come from laid eggs, so you got to really look for the beggars when their tiny, so the chem industry wants you to spray, is BT a systemic deal, so not much help here.

But all the stuff it the pile, I'm thinking cut worm, and they can invade check all around.

[catbuds]

Oh no babe, I just like to watch 'em squirm! Nice & sloow my way! Doesn't really matter what kind they are, they all eat & die the same way. Yeah, you're probably good to go till next year. I've not seen any of the green caterpillars come out for a whole season. The ones I've seen have all been a quick one shot deal. Once they're gone, thats it. By the pic, looks like the little demon munched a lot of soft growth tips for you. Ohhh, I bet you were pissed!

[Jbone77]

Long read but this is what it does.
Environmentally Safe, Effective Worm Control

We should be cautious when using pesticides because, obviously, they are poisonous. If they weren't poisonous, pesticides wouldn't kill pests. There is, however, an alternative to pesticide use.

Insect larvae, or worms and caterpillars, can cause considerable damage to gardens. Good news! There is a pesticide which kills worms but is not poisonous to man or beast. The worm-killer is the bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis, or BT for short.

When ingested, BT produces a toxic substance within the cells of its victims. Only certain species of caterpillars are affected by BT. The infection occurs only when the caterpillars feed on plant foliage which is being protected by BT. Adult insects which feed mainly on plant nectar are not affected. Only the destructive caterpillars are killed; the good bugs are spared.

BT is not a merciful killer. Death is slow and painful. The first symptom experienced by a BT victim is "gut" paralysis. This means an immediate cessation of foliage ingestion. But BT doesn't stop there. Eventually, it causes a breakdown in the gut wall and leakage of contamination into the body cavity of the larvae. Since the body cavity tissues of a caterpillar are bathed by blood in an open circulatory system, the larval blood offers an ideal growing condition for growth of this contamination.

BT contamination produces spores which rapidly divide. In fact, a new generation of spores is produced every 20 minutes. Therefore, after just 12 hours, one spore can produce 6,719,476,736 new BT's. Obviously, this quantity needing nourishment from caterpillars has a devastating effect.

BT is terminal. All infected larvae become sick and most die. This is because insects do not have an effective immune system as humans and other mammals do. In theory, lack of an effective immune system dictates that susceptible species will not develop a resistance to BT.

Outward symptoms of caterpillars infected by BT are manifested as behavior, color and morphological changes. As soon as they are infected, larvae quit feeding. They usually move from their normal feeding sites to exposed leaf surfaces. Before dying, they become sluggish, discolored and usually exhibit regurgitation and diarrhea. Cadavers of large larvae become limp, but do not "liquefy" as viral-infected larvae do. Cadavers of small larvae are often difficult to find because they turn black and shriveled.

Usually, one taste of BT is enough to destroy susceptible larvae. However, in some instances a larva may not die from BT, but suffer a fate worse than death. These symptoms include:
A predisposition to other naturally occurring pathogens, such as other bacteria, fungi and viruses.
Starvation due to digestive track disruption.
Failure to pupate due to physiological malfunctions.
An increased susceptibility to predators and parasites as a result of sluggish movement and migration to exposed leaf surfaces.
Increased sensitivity to harsh climatic factors, such as high or low temperatures.
Reduced reproductive potential. Infected larvae that do successfully mature are abnormally small and weak adults. They are significantly less fertile than normal adults and incapable of successful mating.
Anything which causes as many horrible symptoms as BT does should certainly be respected. The alkaline pH gut (pH greater than 7.0) of susceptible caterpillars activates BT. Acid-gutted or stomached creatures cannot be affected; thus, humans and mammals are not in any way affected by BT. Only susceptible caterpillars have the necessary combination of pH, salts and enzymes in their digestive system to activate BT.

BT was discovered in 1915 by a German named Berliner. He isolated this unique pathogen and named it Bacillus thuringiensis after the town of Thuringia, Germany. BT is a naturally-occurring bacterium that causes a deadly disease specific to certain Lepidopterous (caterpillar) insects.

BT products do not have any of the hazards sometimes associated with chemical insecticides. BT is biodegradable in the environment, and rapidly deactivated in soil with a pH below 5.1. Rainfall, exposure to sunlight and, in some cases, the type of foliage on which it is sprayed may cause BT spores and crystals to lose their viability over time. The bacteria may remain effective for as long as 22 days, or may become ineffective after 24 hours, depending on conditions. Under normal conditions, BT products are active for three to seven days after spraying. In comprehensive spray programs on some crops, repeated application is recommended at regular intervals.

BT is available in local nurseries under the names of Thuricide, Dipel, Bactus, Biological Worm Control, Leptox, SOK, Novabac or Tribacture. Since BT is such an effective plant-damage deterrent, it should be spread around - especially on the surface of leaves. This can be accomplished by adding a teaspoon of liquid soap per gallon of spray. The soap breaks the surface tension on the leaf's surface and allows the BT product to spread evenly. This allows more leaf area to be protected by BT.

With BT, you can rid plants of those devastating worms without endangering yourself or the environment, a truly EARTH-KIND practice.¶

[Esteban1]

Very po'd @ 1st but chilled knowing its part of the cycle. Did get most of 'em. They
leave behind this black pellet like sh-t too. Cleaned all (yea cut some too.... yut... lol). Hopefully my karma has been good & positive vibes are redirected.