Does anyone have a silver bullet for caterpillars? I just ordered some BT Amazon.com: Southern Ag Thuricide BT Caterpillar Control, 16oz - Pint : Patio, Lawn & Garden , but it doesnt really prevent em, just kills em after a few days. And are these little fuckers interdimensional travelers?! I can take an hour methodically open each flower, pick off 20 and feel good about killing each one. The next day there is somehow 20 more, and sometimes big ones… Where the actual f were they hiding!!? Did they all crawl up the stem in the middle of the night? Did 20 eggs hatch and they grow incredibly fast? So fn over it. I just had the best auto plant, was Lemon Amnesia, ive ever personally seen or grown get decimated in a week and a half at the very end of flowering. What are secrets you guys use to get these bud worms to f off?
I slacked on my IPM last season and got destroyed by caterpillars, this season its been neem oil every 3rd day for 12 days, then on the 15th day it’s Captain Jacks then repeat. No bugs at all so far…
BT, Neem, and manual extraction…if it’s really bad outside, maybe predator wasps or something??
Not really a lot you can do about caterpillars. Once you got em you got em. They were always a major issue growing In NorCal. Honestly, i would cut away the infested branches or plants and you don’t want other flowers or “pollinator friendly” plants near by. That just brings the butterflies and caterpillar eggs right to you plants. Best of luck, it’s tough problem to tackle.
ive had little green ones in my indoor drobes this year and cos i never expected them ive not been watching out for them and they been busy sticking foliage together and eating!never seen or had them indoors and quite at a loss to work out how firstly they gained entry and 2ndly how to get rid and be sure ?sneaky little shits. good luck
I had a major infestation of wingless grasshoppers and all sorts of caterpillars last season. I found neem and white oil effective, it coats them in a thin layer of oil so they can’t breathe.
I just had one on one of mine and it ate it almost completely. It will probably die but im hoping for the best. I just wait until evening when they start to eat 4-6 PM and i pick em off(not using chems). Someone on here recently said planting field velch nearby is a good idea.
This season I’m spraying twice a week. Once with BT and once with Dr Zymes, Regalia or Spinosad. Sulfur in a week or 2. So far so good. Once flower starts we’re gonna hope for the best. The struggle is real.
They’re mofos
I use BT-k and neem oil when I can in Veg.
Spinosad only for home grows and not industrial. Even then, i dont like to use spinosad because it obliterates other goodies like fish and bees, but its also not something thats studied extensively enough for me plus no studies at all of health effects of smoking it. Really, almost zero products are studied for smoking. Kinda sad, kinda scary.
Right now, we are dealing with Japanese beetles and they suck. Doing beetle trap bags and spraying my mix of potassium silicate, essential oils, and neem, as well as a chitinase i made from crustacean meal soaking in vinegar and fulvic acid. The tech who sprayed this weekend said its the first time hes seen the beetles and moths actually fly off the plants during spraying.
Oddly, we also have problems with corn borers. Lil fuckers eat out the main stem. BT-k and chitinase to prevent/kill the moths.
What essential oil do you use and what ratio per gallon?
Thyme, rosemary, clove, mint and any others lying around but those four are the key to it.
Usually 20-ish drops per gallon, and about 3-5mL per 150gal sprayer.
You find a farm in NY to work on? How are you?
Yup, I did.
I’ll announce it officially in the next week or so, but its in the Hudson valley 
Im doing soo much better now, thanks.
That’s awesome! Congratulations buddy. I live in the Hudson Valley. Tag me for your announcement. Happy to hear your doing better.
Thanks. Im near Livingston, across the river from Catskill, where Sour was made 
Any idea whether Beauvaria Bassiana does anything to Japanese Beetles?
I’ve been tempted to try it… but it’s supposed to kill a lot of insects, which makes me a little hesitant. The spiders are a bit of a pain but they do a pretty decent job of killing pests, I’d hate to hurt them while killing off pest insects.
I try not to use it
That and regalia i just dint trust. Ive seen Bassiana kind of kill thrips, so, it works, but not as well as spinosad.
Honestly, the only thing I feel good about is potassium silicate, essential oils, and neem.
Just outside of Kingston. The Weasel sour?