I have found 2 kinds of bud borers so far. I have maybe 100 kinds of butterflies flying around. I try to smash everyone I find on plants. I examine the buds maybe 10 times a day searching for these bastards. I have trained my eye to spot small bad colored spots on buds. Then I dig into that bud and find the borers and smash them. I find them deep in the bud next to the stem but usually they are already gone. Predated I hope. We have several kinds of predatory wasps here that are voracious on caterpillars. After removing bug it is necessary to remove all bug poo to prevent bud rot. I hope to get some suggestions from you all.
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Howdy desertdan, Glad that You found some of the damaging critters. Unfortunately, the predator insects (wasps, lady bug larvae, etc.) will not completely stop the problem because most of the damage will be done (by the borers) before the 'good' bogs can get to them. You could put screen wire tents or covers over the plants to prevent the moths and butterflies from getting to the plants to lat their eggs. The down sides would be the cost of the screen wire, supporting structure, and a reduction in the light reaching the plants, the screen will 'shade' the plants slightly.
Avoiding pests and 'nosey' neighbors, is why I grow indoors.
I hope that You can work this problem out, good luck!Smoke weed,.....grow peace! -
Those are the little jerks that plagued me a few years ago on my outdoor girls. I declared war on the bastards. I found each hole the bored in and injected a drop of neem oil with a syringe and then sat there with a pair of tweezers and waited till the popped out. It was boring AF but I got them before they did too much damage. Good luck, I only had 4 6' plants. Your 12 might take a different approach.5x5 Gorilla tent
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From the title of this thread I thought this would be a musical group, Welcome the Smashing Butterflies!
Watch for a small brown moth, are the borers whitish or orange? The orange are Eurasian Hemp Borers, there is a wasp for them, but I have not yet found where one can buy them.
I pluck off all damage and stuff it in a gallon jug sealed and set in the sunshine, that should cook anything in there.
I will burn all stems limbs etc. from all plants as they can winter inside them. This is my first year dealing with these that I know of, never before seen this kind of damage. Are the cartels bringing in bad bugs so we have to buy from them when our crops fail? Is this bug warfare? It really seems that since we went legal med here, we have way more bugs to deal with.Comment
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use BT on them.Comment
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desertdan This had to be funny if any one seen me. Out in the patch, as i was picking off bug damage when I found a pair of moths like in your first pic. They went fluttering away, and I killed one of them, thats when the other got a bad attitude. Damn thing must have thought it was a wasp as it started attacking me, flying at my face. Now can you picture an old hippie jumping all arround while swinging the arms wildly trying to kill this damn bug in the pot patch? I finally got it, both now smashed.Comment
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Rwise, it sounds to me like you might have disturbed the piece...hahahaha!
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