Worms in heads

[Channon]

G'Day peeps,

 

Just wandering if anyone has had any experience with little browny worms chomping the crystal heads apart? They seems to be in amongst some of the heads, and these look a little shrivelled because the worms are eating them apart.

 

Is there an organic spray you can make that worms don't like? I've been checking every head looking for them and killing them with my fingers, but that's a bit of a process. Will a spray taint the flavour?

 

Some beautiful plants under attack........

 

Channon

[Reverend]

Yates make a product called success which kills caterpillars.

Gills

[Channon]

Yates and organic, I don't thinks so man. That shit would have to be chemical in nature hey

 

Channon

[67Special]

That's bad news mate.

 

I reckon whatever you spray is gonna affect the taste of your buds

 

Have you considered pulling em early, before those bastard worms decimate what's left.

[failure]

Yates Success breaks down over days to become water! Although I do not "grow", I have used this on garden plants with good result.

 

EDIT: I can't find the document I that mentioned the breakdown. I guess it may not be the best to use. Hmmm.

 

http://www.yates.com.au/Products/PestContr...sNaturalyte.asp

 

Yates also make a pyrethrum spray. Pyrethrum does break down quickly under sunlight. I googled it and found it recommended by cannabis culture.

 

http://www.yates.com.au/Products/PestContr...Insecticide.asp

http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/2614.html

 

If you search for "pyrethrum" and "cannabis" on google, you'll find loads of commentaries.

Edited April 14, 2008 by failure

[freddie]

I would just squash them. It wont take long unless you have a heap of plants. Anything you spray that is effective will be bad for your health IMO.

[RobbieGanjaSeed]

Sounds like HELIOTHOUS moth. I can't be sure of the spelling. If you're going to your patch and finding heads on the ground, this is evidence of these buggers. They live inside the stem, and burror along the stems, sometimes exiting in the head, sometimes slicing the bud clean off, and leaving a bloke to wonder why the fuck are all these buds on the ground.

We expereince them int he warmer climates around head season, they live in the trees on the edge of roadways, around commercial broadscale farms etc as moths and drop intot he feilds at night to lay eggs this time of years. If you have bean growers in your area it will be worse. It happens in dry years worse than wet years.

 

Mate, all you can do is pull them if they're close enough,or suffer the tatse. I can't recall what I used when I had this problem (twice in the time I grew outside). All commercial insecticides break down IN THE HUMAN BODY in 24 hours to become inert. (I'm not questioning whatfailure said, poisons are always progressing, or at least..changing..and I havent looked into this for some years) So if you get insecticide poisoning, you wont die of it these days (more than likely). Just get very, very sick for a day or so. Believe me, I've had it and it's serious. Not from spraying plants. We had a funnel web infestation in a house I lived at in the bush over the years. I sprayed the poison myself and must have copped a bit somewhere. But that was the most intense, serious arse spray that could be bought, bar none. I have kids and every time we lifted a hessian bag, moved the toy box, anything, you could expect anything from a single huge mother of a funnel web, to maybe 20 of them all hiding where the kids play, so organic/deadly chemical..it had tobe done. (this also happens this time of years)

 

For the buds, explain the situation to a serious garden outlet, explaining the tomatoes have been blown by tomoatoe grubs, they pose similar problems and would be killed by the same poisosn. Tell the guy you have Tomatoes ready to pick, some ripened already, but the bulk of what's left is "turning" now and it's touch and go if you have 2 weeks or not before they need picking. There's usually a two week with holding period for safty, for taste.. I have no idea.

 

i do know whatever I used to kill them in my grass didn't leave any tatse, they grew another fortnight or so after spraying and then drying/curing. The poison seemed to have completely broken down both in danger and taste in that time. I noticed no bad taste at all. I recall using a bottle of some stuff that was ready to spray, in a yellow bottle. Maybe ayates product. Sorry I can't do better than that, the old memory is failing me.

 

Good luck, but whatever you do don't leave what you choose to do drag on. Those bastards can ruin a plant in days! Go to your patch and find heads all over the friggin ground, hanging by a thread from the main stalks...it's terrible.

 

good luck

rob

 

ps. I dont want toput you off using pyritherum or other natural products, but nothing natural touched the bastards when I had them. if we are talking of the same heliothus moth. (we didnt have neem those days but. And to be truthful, I dont know if neem would work either, just letting you know all I tried, what was and wasnt available when I had them) Maybe it was because they actually live inside the stems? I dunno. if u use a natural product, be sure to check them every day and as soon as any lack of success is detected (if that happens), be ready to act more serious. If you have any buds that seem to be wilting, and you are prepared to sacrafice the bud 9you may most likely be going to loose it at that stage anyway)...you can see the bastards in action by slicing the stem open just behind the bud. It will be down inside the stem as I said.

 

I sincerely wish u the best.

 

One more thing. Beware of re-infestations. The trees (if these are the moth I'm thinking of) are alive with these pricks by the time they start to attack grass. They usually are happier with more succulient plants like beans. Soya beans specifically. If you use a spray that will break down quick to save you suffering any taste problems, thismust also indicate the quick vulnerablility of that spray when thinking of re-infestation. the bastards flutter down every night to lay eggs, so if whatever u use disipates quickly, then nothing willbe present to kill the re-emerging catapillars.

 

Carbyrl (I think that's how u spell it) is ideal for this kind of problem, but it's a serious chemical spray. It leaves a coating on the plant to protect it against anything even getting so far as to lay the eggs. I'm not saying to use this stuff, just thinking it's something to consider, as in how it works, by leaving a "paste" like skim on the plants. Maybe there's something you can mix withthe pray u chose, to keep it on the plant, rather than just running off, killing only what it contacts. Maybe a light soap inthe apray might keep it onth eplants, and protect them somewhat from re-infesation? I'm totallyguessing at this now mate.

 

Just a thought.

[failure]

^

You have detailed and interesting posts. You're very helpful RGS!

[Channon]

Thanks heaps Robbieganjaseed,

 

There are no buds lying on the ground and it is not getting any worse as I have been hand killing squashing them. I will continue the procedure and hopefully it will work. When I squash them I try to leave them on the plant so the others piss off. There are a few buds where the head is all brown and dead so i nipped them off and killed the offender. I didn't notice if they were going down through the stem but I will do some investigation and let you all know.

 

Channon

[Luke Skywalker]

BT or dipel is another caterpiller insecticide, very effective and safe. It may be budworm too, this occasionally attacks cannabis, although not as often as you might imagine.

 

That Success stuff is organic, it's a bio-insecticide based on bacteria. BT/dipel is another bacterial spray.

 

Perhaps some photos may be in order? Good luck with it. Sounds like a right bitch of a thing to find.